Reworking the familiar: Contents

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Reworking the familiar: Contents
Originally uploaded by Phoebe Rees

As a way of working with a broader range of layout methods and creating my own personal layout style, I took inspiration from a different magazine, Drummer, for my contents page.

• The key concept of a contents page is to present the reader with information, therefore, many features of the page are designed for ease of reading. Both magazines do this by splitting the textual information into two sections, features and regulars with are clearly identified with bold headings.
• In the case of a young audience, which Pulse especially targets, information is more effectively perceived through images, which both contents pages make frequent use of. Corresponding page numbers make it easy for the reader to locate information of interest.
• The contents page is a progression from the front cover and must therefore provide a little information about each article as an incentive for the reader to take a look without giving the whole article away. Both magazines do this, in a simple, easy to read, column layout and the main articles of the issue are highlighted with tags saying "cover story", suggesting to the reader that they are features of interest.
• The colour scheme of the contents page presents the house style for the rest of the magazine. For Pulse, I have chosen blue to reflect the sense of luxury and relaxation that comes with reading a magazine. The colour also has an element of freshness which represents young people and new music. The main photograph for the Pulse's contents page corresponds with both the colour scheme and the double page spread. This is also true of Drummers main photo as the black and white doesn't overcomplicate the simple, yet bold colour scheme. The colours used are loud and aggressive which perhaps reflects the sound of drums.
• Both magazines feature a bold heading in their contents page but whereas Drummer has chosen to to use the title of the magazine, in Pulse I have preferred to use the word "contents" so the page develops it's own identity and doesn't become a replica of the front cover. It can also be clearly identified as the contents page. The date and issue number feature on both magazines to indicate the connection between the articles and the time they were relevant.