Contents Page Evaluation - CLASH

Audience

CLASH is a specific genre music magazine and is not very well known so people that enjoy the genre are most likely their target audience. the images of people like James Blake and Adele connote the audience to be youth. The contents does not appear to be negative towards youth however and so therefore yet again disrupts Halls storm and stress model.

Layout.

The magazine contents page is a double page spread and clearly follows suit. Each page is divided similarly. One column for text and one for supporting images this features on both pages.  Each column has different features that appeal to different audiences the very far left has text regarding the feature articles this would help direct consumers that have only purchased for a particular story that is headlined. The column featured under the blue heading features the common aspects of the magazine in what is normally inside the “bread and butter” of CLASH. The last column however is interesting it is a fashion common which could only connote that CLASH is trying to appeal more to the feminine audience now this could be for one of two reasons;  The magazine its self’s main audience is female and is trying to be a female only magazine, however the more likely is that many females did not originally purchase CLASH and so therefore this is stereotypically what women would want to see as essentially its now two magazines in one.  The location of the “Free music download” is very big and it is bold so stands out now this could have been used to encourage an audience to buy the magazine and is a big selling point of CLASH this use of promotion could connote that the magazine has seen better days. The layout is interesting when applying to audience as it orders to each audience and type of reader.

Colour

The colour used in the contents page is vibrant at the same time as being stylistic. The main colours used are blue pink and black. The black is a common used text colour epically on white background contents pages as it gives a clear distinction of lettering and is a lot easier to read. The interesting aspects of colour is the blue and the pink used it is almost segregating the magazine based on gender stereotypes. The fashion section for example is headed with a pink title connote that it is intended for a female audience as appose to a male cleverly it is tied in further as each image containing a woman also has the pink containing the page number where the article related is featured. The blue is used in a similar way but in the vies versa it is used on the male images instead. The blue is also used to highlight the common features this could connote the magazine is trying to show its not stereotyping however sub consciously it is stating that a male audience would prefer ___ where as a female ______ and therefore pushing certain audience into a stereotypical criteria. The use of colour yet again also disrupts Hall as the majority is bright and not depressed like he stated most teens where.

Imagery

Out of all 7 images the largest of all images is of James Blake and this instantly connotes that he is the main article of this particular issue interestingly his image is the only image that breaks the colour scheme and actually features a red circle as appose to a blue as what would be expected. The colours use connote that it is supposed to stand out and draw a audience’s attention to this article more than any other.  This image its self is fairly “attractive” the image is very clean cut and professional James Blake himself could be described as a handsome man this helps  with the selling of him as a main image. The image to the left which features a close up which could be described as Adele can be applied to Mulvey as she is not being eroticised which disrupts Mulvey this in turn supports that this is supposedly a attractive article to a female audience as she is just pretty not put in any sexual context (even though the mouth open could be described in such way). Each image is neutral colours but features one bright image this gives the almost “funky” feel towards the page and this applies to the audience well as the music mainly featured in this article can be described as funky.

Typography/ Text

The type of font used is simple modern and tall this can be applied to the audience as they are aiming at people with interests in modern music. The height of the text makes for easy reading and a stylistic font which helps the fashion article fit in with the whole magazine.  It is clear that the important aspects of the contents have been highlighted in one way or another, rather with colour or bolding text. The amount of text gives the idea of their being a lot of content which connotes that it is worth the money paid. This applies to gather more audience as new readers are more likely to buy again if they think it is good value for money.

In all the contents is a great example to appeal to and audience and a very neat tidy modern way to deal with mass amount of content.