Colour Usage - The main colours used on the contents page of my magazine are black, grey and purple like on the cover. The continued use of these colours gives the magazine consistency and also gives it a clear house style. The shade of purple which I have used isn't too feminine and therefore doesn't put the male population off buying my magazine. The way in which purple is the main colour leaves the option to change this colour each issue by simply replacing every purple item with the same in another colour. This is use of one bright colour is a lot like Q magazine, which I took inspiration from as regards to where to use the purple. I have used it as a highlighter to draw the reader's eye to certain aspects of the page, to ensure the most important things are definitely read.
Image Usage - I am planning to use a variety of images on my contents page to make it attractive and eye catching. Most of these images will be kept in their original state however I plan to cut some out and remove their background to make them interesting and make the most of the space. This will give some variation from the standard straight edged images that I will include a few of at the top of the page. One of these images will be the largest on the page, and will depict the cover model and featured artist 'Ellen'. The image will be different than the one on the cover and will show the singer in a much more relaxed atmosphere. I want her to have very relaxed body language, so it doesn't look like a contrived 'super-smiler' cover image like many pop/fashion orientated magazines include. This will set the tone of the main article and will give the reader an insight into the singer's personality instead of their public appearance in posed photographs or paparazzi snaps. I plan to use props for this relaxed image, to make it seem more fun and young, which will illustrate the singer's age and care-free attitude to life.
Text Usage - All of the text on the contents page will be either the title of the article or a short, snappy sentence describing what the article is about and who features in it. These will all be used as hooks of some sort to draw the reader in and entice them to take note of the page number and in order to read the article. I am including the masthead from the front cover of the magazine on the contents page to introduce what the page is about and form part of the title. The title all together will read 'THE DROP this week', letting the reader know that this page tells them what is in the magazine, without just having 'Contents' at the top of the page. By using small text boxes underneath each image I include, I am using anchorage to attach meaning to the images, instead of them simply being images which the reader knows nothing about.
Layout and Font - I took inspiration from the contents pages of LOOK magazine and NME magazine in order to design a layout for my contents page. I really admired the way in which these magazines find a good balance between text and images and make the most of the room that they have. Neither of the inspirational contents pages were too crowded, which was something I had to be careful of as my front cover (first draft) was very crowded. Therefore I made a clear partition of images and text through the middle of the page, with the exception of a few cut out images. This ensured that the reader's eyes were attracted to the large images at the top of the page, and then their eyes were drawn down to the text with the help of smaller, cut out images alongside the text. I have separated the contents into four categories which are arranged into a square, these are: News, Reviews, Up + Coming and Features. This makes the layout of all of contents much more manageable for the reader to take in and makes it clearer which articles include which content.
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