Research - Music Magazine Contents Page - Similar Product Research

By Emma Hall

This is a single page contents which is divided into sections by thin lines. This gives the page a very structured look, with lots of straight lines and boxes. This is made more modern by the different sizes of box, and the stacked nature of the page, which is very unique, and part of this magazine’s house style. The background is a sophisticated white, with the main title in a black serif font that is quite regular, but its use of bold block capitals helps make it stand out enough to be read whilst not distracting from the page. Black and white are the only colours throughout, which gives his page a simplicity that will be appreciated by its older readership. The text around the page is one of two fonts: an italic serif font, or a capitalised sans serif font. Both look modern and are interchanged throughout: the block font is used for the title in one section, then the main body of text in another. The use of two different fonts and varying font thickness helps distinguish the headings from the text. The page numbers are in a big, bold, black font in a white square which cuts into the photographs, making it clear to the reader which photo belongs to each article.

The photographs used are all quite dark in colour, using muted tones of grey and black to keep them complementary with the black and white theme of the page. This also allows an advert in the bottom right corner to stand out, as it is bright blue. It advertises the magazine’s subscription, and so highlighting this advert to the reader will encourage further sales of the magazine. Another bright area is an image of the cover in the top right, which is also tilted slightly, making it stand out from the regulated boxes. This is a promotion for extra content, which is a unique selling point for this magazine, and is made to stand out so if a potential reader flicks through the magazine in a store, they will be encourage by this ‘exclusive extras’ feature to buy the magazine. The extra itself involves a numerical code on the cover, which can be typed into a computer to unlock content. This is a code found to be growing in popularity in recent magazines, as we move into a more digital age; magazines integrating technology will attract customers who, like my target age of 20+, are confident with computers. It does this by offering something ‘exclusive’, that no one else will see. I can use this code in my own magazine ideas.

The biggest image is also the central image on the page, with a mid-shot of three men laughing. Although their dark clothes, long hair and cross necklace are all indexical signs for a rock band that tend to be shown in a dark, gothic manner, this image instead shows them all smiling, and the central figure laughing genuinely. This, along with their grey hair, suggests an older band, past its prime, who are more amiable and approachable than in their heyday. This is reflected in the use of past tense in the text below it, and the words ‘legends’, ’tales’ and ‘early days’, which suggests a nostalgic article that is written in a happier vein than how most bands of this genre are usually represented. Any dark imagery is also lightened for the purposes of this magazine as it has a readership that prefers lighter music. The photograph does not hide from the fact the band is slightly older, showing hoe indie magazines defy most popular conventions of representing young, bright and beautiful artists. Neither are the band shown to be jaded by their age, but look lively happy.

The smaller pictures are about the same size as each other, including a picture of Bombay Bicycle Club, who were the cover story and are heavily feature inside the magazine, so only receive a minimal section here. The majority of the images are of male artists, as the magazine has a mainly male readership, with just one image of a woman at the bottom, who is represented very differently to the male artists. Her photograph is a lot lighter, with blonde hair and white clothing, a sign of innocence and peace. Zola Jesus is quite thin and shown in a beautiful vein, to make her appeal to the male audience in an aesthetic way. The edginess that is prevalent in the other photos is present here as well in the oversized black sunglasses, but this image is mainly showcasing Zola’s beauty, in contrast to the male photos, where their individuality is highlighted.

The contents page puts emphasis on the featured articles and interviews and leaves its regular features to a small, thin ‘PLUS’ slither that could easily be lost on the page. This suggests the magazine has a loyal, steady readership, meaning they don’t have to make a feature of their regular content, as the readers will already know about these things. Instead, the magazine emphasises this week’s unique articles, using images of people’s favourite bands to encourage regular readers that this issue is one they definitely must buy, and isn’t just business as usual.

Each section of the page is headed with a pulled quote from the artists, which is largely quite informal in tone and casual in register, and in some cases humorous, in order to put the reader at ease and feel comfortable immediately. The heading ‘Hello. Have you been a playboy bunny for long?’ is a question that is quite blunt and unusual, and intrigues the reader to read the small section underneath where the quote is explained. It also uses the language sign ‘playboy bunny’, which has different connotations depending on the reader. For example, it wouldn’t be understood by a child, while an adult woman may find the term offensive. The intended audience of adult males, however, will see the term as signifying desire and beauty.

The short explanations underneath the headings are more formal and use a consultative register to show professionalism, as they are written by a journalist. The article as a whole uses more sophisticated vocabulary and topics than a pop magazine would ‘It’s about contemporary war’, whilst even the formal sections still retain the light heartedness that imbues the whole page ‘lying in bed watching Loose Women usually works for us’.

This contents page follows the main conventions of Q’s house style that I analysed in my joint contents page analysis below, in that it uses a similar layout, colour scheme and font style. This helps regular readers find the things quicker, and makes Q a very recognisable brand. The font style and colour scheme work in every context, as they are both very simple, subtle and neutral, complementing articles about old emotional songs just as well as articles about upbeat new hits singles. The layout is very regulated, with square banners and neat sections divided by thin lines which keeps the varied elements on display looking organised and under control, and not messy. However, three elements do not follow the pattern of being in neat squares: a radio DJ section and a feature on a hit TV show have images of people that are cut out of their backgrounds, while a Top50 ‘weedy record’ feature has an old-fashioned cartoon border that sets it apart from other features. As these three sections are not strictly about modern music (which most readers buy the magazine explicitly to read about), they are given a different presentation to make them both stand out from the endless band interviews as something unique and different, whilst also making them more appealing to those readers who are only interested in the interviews.

The two most noticeable elements otherwise, are pictures of Alice Cooper and Kylie Minogue. Alice Cooper has a 4 page spread inside, which is second only to the cover story’s 8 page spread, and so understandably is heavily promoted with the biggest photograph of the contents. Kylie’s photograph is used to advertise the regular ‘Q Review’ section, using her famous image to encourage readers to look at this otherwise quit standard section, although Kylie’s part in the section is only three short paragraphs long.

Alice Cooper’s photograph is unusual; it is a full shot of him sat on an ordinary doorstep. He is holding a piece of paper as if he has just read it, which links to the title of the section ‘Alice Cooper answers your questions.’ Alice has a public image of wearing quite Gothic makeup, outfits and long black hair. His attire here is what people come to expect from him, and mean he is instantly recognisable, with his trademark black eye makeup and leather boots. This is also a typical representation of his genre of music, which would normally be accompanied by a dark background to suggest night, if the image was feature in a rock magazine. However, the rock aspect is toned down for the less-heavy Q readers, leaving only enough visual rock references for him to be recognisable.

Instead, the photograph takes a distinctly comical stance, as he has an exaggeratedly shocked and bewildered expression, and is sat in broad daylight surrounded by skull, skeleton and pumpkin props. These props are indexical signs for Halloween, and could signify death and darkness, which is what you’d expect from Alice Cooper. However, these props are quite cheap looking, and seem to be more childlike decorations for fun. In this setting, Alice’s own attire begins to look comical too, for example, his blooded shirt appears funny as it is obviously painted on, instead of sinister. This makes him look less of a stereotypical ‘Goth’, and more of a father engaging in a seasonal Halloween dress-up for his children. This not only normalises him by making him look a bit silly, but also represents him as a kind, family-man figure instead of the isolated rock hero one might expect. All this is done without losing his recognisable image and individuality. This defiance of what people expect to see is something I can use in my own photo shoots.

Conversely, the picture of Kylie Minogue is exactly the pop image you would expect, with her in direct mode of address, looking at the (typically male) reader with an alluring expression. The makeup is all very complementary, while her blonde hair cascades down her back in a princess-like fashion. This fairytale image is also reflected in the gold-leaf hair decoration, and in the glittery background which signifies both something magical and something showbiz. Kylie is represented as an object for men, with her beauty enhanced and focused on, to encourage readers to buy the magazine without letting on she isn’t actually featured much in the main magazine.

The contents pages are written in a consultative register that, for the most part, is fairly formal when talking in the music domain, being also quite sophisticated for the 20+ audience: ‘sensitive compassion-rockers’. The tenor becomes less formal when the articles are about the singers’ life outside of music ‘Voice of an angel, mouth of a docker’. As a consequence, they also become more witty, to prevent things sounding like gossip, such as you’d find in OK or Hello magazines, which are designed for a female audience with vastly different interests to Q readers.

A small section in the bottom right corner of the second page stands out as it is backed by black, which contrasts the elegant white background used elsewhere greatly. This section uses the language of advertising as its domain, due to the fact it has to promote the magazine subscription, and so uses statistic ‘37%’ and exclamations to encourage readers to subscribe.