As mentioned in my last blog post, I had some doubts about
my Compass of Contents layout because I felt that it looked a little weird when
I put it together on Adobe Illustrator and the placements of where I could put
advertisements seemed odd to me. So, as I result, I had to do an investigation
by visiting Publix, a grocery store, and taking advantage of the array of
magazines available as I analyze magazines that have similar target audiences and
styles to my own magazine, Compass. The magazines I analyzed included Ok!, In
Touch, and People (among others, but which can be seen from the list, but they
all started showing a similar pattern and I only have pictures of the magazines
I just named and their table of contents). Enjoy the following photo album of
my adventure:
Also, these are some notes I jotted down while I
was looking through all of the magazines, specifically their table of contents
and advertisements:
I apologize for the messy handwriting, but do not worry, I will
explain my quick and jumbled thoughts.
The first topic that I analyzed are the advertisements. Originally,
when I was planning to include advertisements, I thought that I would end up
including advertisements that would be about phones, pets, or cars due to my
target audience typically buying, wanting, and interacting with such
commodities on a daily basis. However, after analyzing several magazines, these
goods did not appear as often as expected which really surprised me. As a
whole, I noticed that most of the advertisements displayed items meant to make
the consumer feel younger or more energized, as well as food of all sorts, and
clothing showing off the latest fashions. In terms of aesthetics, most
advertisements were very large, often taking up an entire page, as they tended
to utilize minimalism and simplicity to present their product. If the ad
included a person, he or she was typically looking directly into the camera in
order to make eye contact and, thus, a connection with the reader. Another
tactic used by the advertisements was humor, typically in the form of some sort
of relatable event or experience, which provided a positive connotation for the
product.
The other topic I analyzed was the styles of the table of
contents. What I noticed is that when the table of contents was only one page,
it would typically be seen on the right-hand page of the two-page spread, while
an ad was seen taking up the left-hand page of the two-page spread. If the
table of contents took up two pages, they were never adjacent to each other. It
almost always appeared with the first half of the table of contents on the
right-hand side and an ad on the left. Then, when the page is turned, the
second half of the table of contents is on the left-hand side and another
advertisement is on the right. As far as content goes, it was often split in
two ways: either cover stories and then the rest of the articles, or features
and then categories that are the same in each issue of the magazine. Moreover,
the table of contents included a lot of pictures that were associated with
articles in the magazine, which helped keep the table of contents engaging and
interesting to look at.
Yay! I really love the new look, and feel as though it is
more suitable for a magazine. I figured I needed to just let loose and have fun
with it. I changed the Compass of Contents from two pages to one, in which it
will appear on the right-hand page of the two-page spread and I will create an
advertisement that will appear on the left-hand page of the two-page spread. Each
color represents a distinct feature: the green boxes represent the placement of
pictures, the black boxes represent the placement of text, and the pink boxes
represent the placement of a number. Clearly, this is divergent from my last
table of contents. I added more objects to the page and made them smaller,
which helps make the page more engaging and visually stimulating to the reader.
I even added a new feature that I thought would be a cool and perfect inclusion:
social media. Below the “Science” label, I included placements of where I could
insert links to my magazine’s Twitter, Facebook, and website, where they can
find additional information.
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App Icon for Compass website
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As I move forward, I think I should do more research on both
how I should create a clever and successful ad as well as successful and
interesting articles that appeal to my target audience. I certainly have my
work cut out for me, but I am really liking the process and think that my
magazine is going to be amazing!
Work Cited
“Cover, Table of Contents” Ok! Magazine 28 March 2016: Cover,
4. Print.
“Cover, Table of Contents” In Touch Magazine 28 March 2016: Cover,
1. Print.
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