Contents pages...

NME Contents
Firstly, the magazine incorporates a few pictures into the contents page, although the pictures do not stand out so much, but I think this may be a deliberate decision from NME. There is also not a lot of colour on the page, apart from the standard NME red and black. There is a main story that takes up most of the page, and then there are other features such as News, Radar, Reviews and Features lined up down the right-hand side of the page. I like the other feature they have used of having all of the involved bands lined up down the left-hand side in an A-Z style with page numbers for each so the fans can find their desired articles. There is also a small advert at the bottom of the page on how you can save money on your NME magazines, so they are trying to help their fans.

Q Contents
The big photo draws the attention of the reader, especially as they tend to use photos of bands that are big in their specific genre. A large proportion of the page is filled up by features that are lined up down the side of the page, although it doesn't give away all of the features that will be included. It also has an 'every month' part and a bit dedicated to reviews. There is not a lot of colour on the page as it would probably interfere as there is a lot of text and it would be difficult to read. The colours that are used follow the 'house colours' that are used throughout the magazine. The font that is used is the same as the font

used on the cover and throughout the magazine.

Vibe Contents

The page has no colour, which makes it look simple and elegant, but also makes it easy to read. There are not as many features as the other magazines, so there is a lot more free space to fill up. Vibe choose not to fill this space up, which makes the page look quite empty in a way, but also quite cool. The target audience is most probably men, so the main picture is one of an attractive woman, as it's sure to get the audience to read it. It is quite clever how the woman's legs make the shape of a V, which instantly makes you think of this magazine. I like how the word 'contents' is spread unevenly over 3 lines, but how you can still read it, as it gives it quite a cool effect.

Music Magazine Research

NME Magazine:
Audience is fans of popular music and artists. They like to find out what's happening with people like Pete Doherty that always seem to be in the news for doing something wrong. This intruiges the audience and people end up buying the magazine. The photo is just a picture taken from a standard camera, not anything glossy. The cover star is mentioned only by his first name, which implies that he is a regular star in the magazine. NME is more rock than Q is, but they are quite similar. The text is big and the cover is taken up mostly by one main headline and bullet points on the same story. There is one feature at the top of the page and some brief news at the bottom, but no other stories apart from that.

Q Magazine:
They've got a massively popular cover star which shows that their magazine is respected. It also says that it's 'The UK's Biggest Music Magazine', which shows that a lot of people buy it and it has a big audience. The photo is from a photo shoot which is more professional than a camera-phone shot from a fan. This also implies that they got an interview with Michael Jackson, which portrays them as a god magazine. The font and colour of the text is simple and easy to read. The bands that are mentioned are all rock bands, so the audience is definite. There's a medium-sized headline, and it is nearly the same size as some of the features. The features are all laid out together on the right-hand side of the cover, but are not all the same size. The magazine logo is bigger than any of the features, which shows the importance of the brand name.

Vibe Magazine:

Big cover star shows the magazine is popular. All the features are about R&B and Hip-Hop stars, so it show the genre of music that the magazine is about. The colours are quite relaxed, and the cover is laid out well. The font is simple and easy to read. Also talks about films as it mentions 'Notorious'. This is mentioned as it is a film about hip-hop music, so it still regards the same genre of music as the magazine involves. The cover star takes up most of the page, and also covers mot of the masthead, which infers that the magazine is quite a big brand as the name can afford to be covered up. There are quite a lot of features that surround the image, but there is only one that is related to it. The cover is all the same sort of colour scheme, and the layout looks quite modern with different sized words and offset text.

Starting the magazine task...

Just about to start the magazine task. Sounds pretty qualittyyyyyy.
The task we have been set is to make a music magazine, which is the best task we could've had i think :D
Although, i am not yet sure what type of music/audience that i want the magazine to involve/aim at. I need to decide this soon or it could potentially waste quite a lot of time.
Before i start, i will look at real music magazines such as NME and Q to get ideas and influences for my task.

x