I carried out this research on school magazine contents pages in order to give me an idea of the techniques that make a school magazine contents page look effective and the techniques that make a school magazine contents page look uneffective. This will help me when designing my own school magazine contents page for my preliminary task.
2. The masthead is quite faint, therefore it isn’t very clear and it isn’t eye-catching to the reader. The different sections of the contents page have different sub-headings, this makes it clear to the reader what articles are on which pages in the magazine. The photograph of the student is a close-up, this is effective because the reader can see her facial expression which is happy, this reflects that the school is a happy school. The girl in the photograph has her head to one side, this makes the opposite side of the page empty to fill with information. The word ‘contents’ is in bold text and is placed over the top of the photograph of the girl; this makes it eye-catching. ‘Contents’ is outlined with two black bold lines in order to make it eye-catching. The layout of the page is spread out evenly, this enables the reader to navigate their way through the magazine easily.
3. The masthead is difficult to read as it is placed behind the word ‘contents’. The colours used (blue, orange, yellow and black) clash, this makes the contents page look unprofessional. The font used isn’t very clear and it is also quite difficult to read. The photograph of the two girls is a long shot, this is effective as the reader can see their body language. They look relaxed and happy. The layout of the page isn’t spread out evenly as the masthead and the sub-heading ‘contents’ are squashed together, making it difficult to read the masthead. The masthead should be clear and legible as it is an important part of the contents page.