Content page analysis, Mens lifestyle magazine: FHM.

FHM is a men's lifestyle magazine that is owned by Bauer Media. The magazine focuses on content like fashion, cars, sport and women as well as other things that are present in a mans life, and is the biggest men's lifestyle magazine and media brand in the country. Audience profile:

"Men, aged 18-35. FHM is broad in its appeal, and has a wide range of readers and users, typified by mid-twenties ‘work hard, play hard’ guys. In the early stages of their careers and with an eye to the future, FHM readers are typically professionals, office workers, and university-educated. They may be dating or living with a girlfriend, but they still take holidays with their mates. With good incomes and few financial commitments, these are high-value consumers, eager to invest in fashion, grooming, gadgets, travel and cars."

Like Glamour magazine, the contents page is across two pages, which means that the content of the page can be spread out and more images can be used to show a visual means of letting the readers know what is shown in the magazine. However the first contents page shows and elaborates on the articles show on the front cover. Underneath each title on this page, there is a brief-ish description of what the article is about, which is unusual for a contents page, as they usually just give a title with a line underneath. As these articles are the ones on the front cover, they have some importance to the specific issue, and so they have a description to let the reader what is so important about the articles and to make the reader read on. On the other page though, there are all the other articles in page order without the brief descriptions like the other page. They are split up into sections, and each section has a description underneath of what each section is about.
On the first page, there are eight images present, but five or six of them are just small images of each DPS that is talked about on the page. This means that is is easy for the reader to relate the article to the image on the contents page, and it means that the magazine didn't have to get more images to show the content of the same articles. On the next page, there is just one dominant image that takes up nearly the whole page, apart from a small panel along the left-hand side. This image is of the 'December Girlfriend' and shows the other side to FHM; the women. As this is the only image on this page, it gives the article itself importance.

The contents pages are really structured, with the articles in page order on the left-hand side and the images all on the right. This is a continuity thing as it is present in all the FHM magazines and it makes the page easier to read as you know all the text is in a certain place.

The pages don't contain a logo or the title of the magazine to remind readers of what they are reading, but at the top of the page is the word 'contents' in capitals and in red. On the next page is the word 'regulars' in exactly the same style, just smaller. The use of capitals and a bold colour like red, make the words stand out on the white background so that the reader can see the title of the page easily. The red used is the red from the title, showing continuity in the magazine. Also the titles are boxed off making them separate from the rest of the page, which makes them stand out.

All the text is in black apart from the page numbers that are in red, making them stand out. The titles of each article are in bold and capitals, which lets the reader know that they are the titles. The rest of the text is ordinary looking meaning that it is easy to overlook, and so the reader actually has to read the page instead of just glance over it.

Contents page analysis, Women's lifestyle magazine: Glamour.

Glamour is a women's glossy lifestyle magazine, aimed at women aged 18-34 who have a passion mainly for fashion and beauty. Mission statement:

"Glamour is a magazine that translates style and trends for the real lives of American women. Our award-winning editorial covers the most pressing interests of our 12.4 million readers: from beauty, fashion and health to politics, Hollywood and relationships. We’re often optimistic, always inclusive, beyond empowering and can always separate the Dos from the Don’ts.
Our readers live for fashion, live for beauty and most of all, live for Glamour."






The contents page of this magazine is spread across two pages, meaning that the page can feature larger pictures and can spread out the text on the page making it easier to read.

Firstly the page only really contains one large and dominant image on the first page, that relates to one of the articles in the magazine. Although on the second page it may look like their are other images, these are with regards to a competition, and so are not relevant to the contents pages. This one image, however suggests that this article, which happens to be a fashion shoot, is the most important in the magazine. As it is a fashion based article and the mission statement states that their readers "live for fashion", it makes sense that this image is the main one. Yet there are no images relating to the front cover, which you would assume to be the main article in the magazine. The use of one image is very unusual for a contents page, yet it does mean that the reader can get a sense of what the magazine classes as important easily as well as making the page look less cluttered and more structured.

The page doesn't show a logo, but at the top of the first page 'Glamour' is present, in a large font and in bright colours making it stand out on the white background of the page. The bright colours also give the page a fresh and cheerful feel to it as they are reds, oranges and yellows; which is fitting for a 'new season'. The title is also present on the other page but slightly smaller as it isn't the main contents page. 'Glamour' is all in capital letters giving it a bold look about it, which also goes with the colour scheme.

Underneath the title is the website address (www.glamour.com) and the issue date (February 2011). These two are in black and are in a font which gives the text a slight edge. Again this is present underneath the title on contents page two which provides continuity for the magazine.

The articles are separated in sections like in most magazines, meaning that the reader can find articles easily as well as giving the page a structure. The section titles are in the colours of the the title: so the colour of one section is the colour of one of the letters of the title. Again this provides continuity for the readers across the two pages, as well as giving the page a splash of colour which makes the page more eye-catching.

The rest of the text on the page is in black and in a standard font such as Time New Roman, which means that the text doesn't stand out as much as the coloured text. The titles of each article are in bold though which does make them stand out more then the other bits of text, but the reader still has to read the page in order to find out what content is in the magazine. However the text on the large image, although follows the same pattern as the others, is larger making it easier to see and read.

Analysis of a Double Page Spread: Smash Hits.

This is a DPS from the special edition Smash Hits which is entirely focused on Lady Gaga.

First of all you notice that the article is in black and white (apart from certain aspects) along with a mock masthead titled 'Smash Hits Daily'. This gives the article the impression that it is from a newspaper as what is discussed in the article is the sort of thing that would be in a tabloid newspaper. It also makes the article more interesting to look at and so people are more likely to read it.

However the use of red for quotes and other text, means that it stands out on the page, making it eye-catching to the audience. This means that the reader is more likely to read the article. Also the colour gives the article an interest, as just black and white can be boring for the reader, whilst showing what are the important quotes and points if the articles. This red is also the colour from the masthead on the front cover, showing a continutiy in the magazine.

The images show all have a paparazzi feel to them which again fits in with the whole tabloid newspaper feel to the article. As the images are all 'pap-like', however it means that there are no staged and glamourous images and Lady Gaga is shown to look less like a 'superstar' and more normal. Readers can relate more to the normal Lady Gaga and so are more likely to read the article. Also readers are going to want to delve into the life of Lady Gaga, and so with images like these, the article seems to promise information that the readers want.

The title and the sub-titles of the article are all in capital letters meaning that they stand out on the page, with the sub-titles ending with an exclamation mark to make the statement seem even more important, and drawing the reader in. They are also in bold, which again makes them stand out on the page as well as making them seem important in the article. The font used has a bold and edgy feel to it, adding to the tone of the article.

Analysis of a Double Page Spread: X Magazine.

This image of this DPS is from the fashion part of the X Magazine.

As it is focusing on fashion, there are more images on the page than text, and as you can see, there are six large images with six smaller pictures which complement each other. As the focus of this particular page is of everyday people and their fashion choices, it makes sense that they are the larger images. This also means that the reader is drawn to them more and so they will take note of what ordinary people aspire to dress like, which is the point of the magazine. The purpose of the magazine is to make women aspire to be like certain celebrities and this is achieved in this article but putting the music style icons for each person at the bottom of the page. Again this means that the reader focuses on the larger images instead of the smaller, as everyday we see what the famous style icons wear.

The title of this article is simple: 'Your Pop Style Liverpool'. The use of the word 'pop' means that the music element of the magazine is included into the article, and it also makes the title sound more feminine. 'Liverpool' is included to let the reader know where these particular group of people live and it also give the impression that this is a continuous thing; every issue of the magazine shows that same page but with people from a different place each time. This will make the reader intrested in the article and the magazine itself and so are more likely to continue buying it.

Although the page doesn't contain the X Magazine logo, it does include the 'logo' for the section which is show on the contents page: 'Style File'. This lets the reader know what section of the magazine they are reading without having to read the article itself.

The page itself has a very feminine feel to it, which is fitting for the topic of the article. This is achieved by the use of colour and font in particular. The title is in italics which gives it the stylish look it needs, with the black and pink writing making it seem feminine. Also as the title isn't in bold which means it doesn't stand out as much and makes the whole title look like something that a female would write in the first place. As the background is in white, the pink of the title along with the other parts of pink writing show up and adds to this feminine feel.

As already mentioned, there is more images than text on this DPS, however the text that is present explains to the reader, why this person chooses to dress like the music icon they have chosen. The language is informal and casual as it is what the person is saying and so can be related to more by the reader.

Contents page analysis: Smash Hits.

Here is the contents from Smash Hits, Lady Gaga special edition.

1. Like the contents page of the X Magazine, the contents page has an editors letter which lets the audience know why they have chosen to create a special magazine that is dedicated to one person in the music world- Lady Gaga. The language used is slightly informal yet it has an older tone to it, which suggests that the target audience for this magazine is older teens, like the original Smash Hits.

2. The page shows four images that relate to Lady Gaga, such as her in crazy outfits and other artists who 'want to be like her'. However the images are grouped together at the top of the page, which seems slightly box-like and makes the page seem really structured.

3. Unlike the X Magazine, the articles in the magazine are just listed in page order. This is because the magazine is dedicated to one person and so the reader doesn't really need to find certain sections of the magazine. However the articles are listed so that the reader can find out what sort of things are mentioned in relation to the artist.

4. The contents page doesn't feature a logo like the X Magazine and so the audience only know what magazine they are reading from the title.

5. The page has a slight variation in fonts yet they give a clue to the target audience, as the fonts are sophisticated and sort of normal and so you assume the target audience is older teenagers e.g. 15-19 year olds. The titles of the articles are all in capitals so that they stand out against the smaller print.