Contents Analysis #2

Analysis of Q Contents Page

There is a lack of contents pages which can be located on the internet for my chosen genre: Indie. Because of this, I have not been able to match the cover analysis with the contents analysis, therefore must analyse a different contents page to cover. Though, this is not a great problem, as I am able to look at a wider range of Indie magazines. The target audience ranges from the ages of 16-30, it appeals to a youthful audience because older people tend not to enjoy this particular genre of music as it is not what they are sued to, and a lot of them do not want to be associated with another generation concerning music taste. Again, like each of the other Indie magazines, it attracts an audience demographic of B-E social grade, and also white heterosexual males. In terms of Marxism, second class white heterosexual males are in control of the media and choose to allow the audience only to consume certain views.

The mast head is incredibly sophisticated, and I personally do not feel as though this flows appropriately with the central image, it is too elegant to juxtapose with an image of which is overly casual.  The abbreviation 'Q', short for question, has been used because producers, editors, and even the general public believe the misconception that teenagers are fond of this type of lexical feature, as a lot of people use abbreviations within text conversations. The red gives an appearance of which resembles the tabloid press, attempting to attract and invite intellectual people to purchase the magazine, igniting excitement within the audience. This intelligent targeted audience must also enjoy the genre of the magazine, as they would be purchasing it for no particular reason if they did not. Concerning the actually typography of the masthead, I feel as though it is relatively feminine, but in a sophisticated fashion; the stereotype of females tends to be through such small things as typography, especially this particular font used, as it is 'fancy'. This could be to draw in a secondary target audience of females. White also represents purity, and as the font also appears pure, this connotation could be a portrayal and representation of the stereotyped secondary target audience of females. The centre circle of the 'Q' is tilted at an angle, connoting that the magazine are venturing out to make their masthead distinct and unique, rather than conforming to what other magazines incorporate into their own mastheads. Whilst the masthead appears to be feminine and a symbolization of purity, 'Contents' contrasts to this strongly. The lexis typography is white on black contrasts highly, meaning that anyone can easily read it, and ensuring its simplicity at the same time. It is also in capitals, but uses a thick, casual font that the reader is comfortable with.

In terms of imagery, the magazine succeeds in fulfilling its purpose of attracting the correct target audience. The main image is stereotypical of an Indie band when it comes to band posters and photo shoots, as they often appear seldom and professional in a casual sense. Though one of the photos has been produced with sunlight and a summery tone, the other also conveys this feeling, despite the grey clouds in the background. The miss-en-scene of the sunglasses trick the audience into believing that the band is stood on a hilltop which is surrounded by sunshine, but it is only when you look closely that you acquire a taste of what is realistically happening. Sunshine is associated with happiness, naturally making the readers immediately feel happiness. Photographers like to make band photos with an element of fun to them, so that the audience do not think that they are solely about professionalism and money, but also having a good time and a general optimistic outlook on life. In almost every band photo, what has happened here will have occurred; the front man has been placed slightly in front of the rest of the group to convey to the readers his dominance, and how he is the one who leads the band. The 'second in command is usually the guitarist, and the bassist and drummer are often placed behind. A common convention of the central image is eye contact between the individual reader and the model on the page, allowing the audience to feel as though it is personal to them, and they are included and invited into the text. Both of these long shots are shot in areas which are not considered to be mainstream concerning the music industry in photography, connoting how they are endeavoring not be observed as a mainstream magazine, quite rather a niche, and want to be as far away from it as possible. This is why sometimes people who are Indie are related to 'hipsters', who want to be the opposite of mainstream. The rural area is considered to not be mainstream, which makes them seem even 'cooler' to the audience. The two males on each end are both wearing jet black t-shirts, a portrayal of how people from this industry have been stereotyped to wearing dark clothing, and be interested in dark things.

Typographically, the contents page appears to be sophisticated, yet is able to attract the likes of the youthful target audience. As what is seeming to be a common convention of Indie contents covers, the page numbers of each article in the magazine are red, to ensure they stand out against the rest of the writing, and also to separate them from the descriptions, a crowded page with a lack of colour would not be suitable in regards of attracting the target audience. 'Oasis special' and the page numbers within that section are in a thin  font, which is quite difficult to see and is not noticeable.  Though, the gold-like colour adds a hint of importance, as this is a colour associated with big events such as the Oscars, which makes the reader feel as though they are special just by reading the magazine. It is unique to the other colours of fonts on the other page, adding another colour to balance out the use of red. The subheadings are larger than the descriptions, naturally, to draw the eye and summarize what will be in each section, making it easier on the reader to find what they want, rather than allowing them to get frustrated about not being able to easily locate articles and deciding that the magazine is too difficult to figure out. They are also capitalized, shouting out the words to each person who comes across the page and putting emphasis on certain areas which is entirely necessary if they want to ignite excitement within the audience. An issue number and date are side by side, as these two are closely related in magazines, in a white font formally. Not many factors of this magazine are formal due to the target  audience being young and the overall informal tone of the contents. The sub-subheadings, such as 'Buskers' give a quick overview of what each article will be about, these are black, capitalized and in a smooth simplistic font. This is because they do not want to complicate the visuals of the typography, but rather ensure they are simple and do not clash with each other. The description underneath each one of these is a lot smaller, as it is not important as the simple overview, nor are they capitalized because they do not need to be shouted out at the audience. Usually, this is not what gets their attention, therefore is not as important as many other factors.

Again, sections of different articles are separated by subheadings, which I have found to be another common convention of Indie magazines, this organizes the text for the reader, so they find the contents page much easier to file through and find what it is that they are looking for, or what they find interesting. The review has been located at the bottom of the page, in line with the feature article, though is not of high importance in comparison to the feature itself, and has a smaller section of which it is confined to. This itself is important, but as the feature is always the most important part of a magazine, the review is smaller as not to take away focus from the feature. The list of content has been placed down the left hand side of the page, like NME's contents, but on the opposite side, suggesting that this is a common feature. Most magazines consist of contents which cover the length of the page, as there is a lot of information in magazines, and so a lot of space is necessary to inform the reader on the information. Subheadings are above each different section of articles in the magazine, 'Feature' Oasis Special' and 'Every Month', to ensure the audience are aware of which article belongs to which section, therefore what they are about concerning the subject; this also makes it easier for the reader to comprehend and understand what is going on in the magazine in this particular issue.  There is a horizontal band spreading across the top of the page, because people tend to read from the top to the bottom, which means that they will pay attention to what is at the very top and immediately be aware of what the page is about. Next to this is the date, issue number, and website address. These three are together because they are minor parts of the page, and should not be spread out because it would be very confusing and would not look professional.

To conclude, I feel as though this contents page has been built with a large amount of sophistication, though manages to attract the youth regardless of this. Personally, I dislike the masthead, as it reminds me too much of a newspaper and does not, in my opinion, cater to the needs of the specifically chosen target audience. The band picture is both appropriate and suits the genre of the magazine well, therefore is easily understood to be the genre of Indie. What I would love to incorporate into my own magazine is the subheading to the section which reads 'Every Month'. I feel as though this gives the readers something to look forward to every month which carries on through each issue.