Research - Table of Contents

Hello beautiful people! Like I said in one of my other research posts, one of the components I need in my magazine is a table of contents, which I don't really know how to do for a magazine. So, I did some research, and here if what I found:

Pages

Some are two-page spreads and some are only one page. The only big difference I noticed is the ones that are two pages have more photos and a larger title, however, some of the one-page ones have a lot of photos. 

Photos

In terms of photos, some didn't include any, and some had only one or two. The ones that had multiple photos had the photos numbered, and each one corresponded to the page number of the article that it goes with, which I though was a really good idea, but I'm not sure if I'm going to have enough photos. 

Contents

All the examples I saw included a list of articles, and for the most part, they all had the same layout; Bold headlines with short article descriptions underneath. They also had the corresponding page numbers in large, highlighted font. I also noticed that font and colors matched the theme of the rest of the magazine, which makes sense. 

Overall, I don't think the table of contents will be super hard. I just have to decide how I want the layout to be, and come up with a bunch of fake articles. 

Research - Magazine Genres

Hello Beautiful People! I have to decide what genre I want to use for my magazine. So I researched all of my options and these were the main ones:

• Lifestyle & Culture
• Fashion & Beauty
• News & Politics
• Sports
• Special Interests & Hobbies
• Technology & Gaming
• Food & Cooking
• Literary & Arts
• Professional/Trade

My top 3 are Lifestyle & Culture, Fashion & Beauty, and Sports, so I did my research on those three:

Lifestyle & Culture

Lifestyle & Culture magazines cover topics like fashion, art, food, and travel in an entertaining manner, and are focused on daily life and social trends. Some of the most popular ones include The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and GQ. They often include celebrities on the cover, and are centered around recent pop culture trends. 

Fashion & Beauty 

Fashion & Beauty Magazines are pretty similar to lifestyle & culture where they cover the latest trends in celebrity style and high fashion editorial and makeup and lifestyle content. Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Vogue are the most popular. 

Sports 

Sports magazines offer deep dives, analysis, fantasy guides, and lifestyle content for different sports and athletes. The covers usually include famous professional or college athletes. Mainstream ones include Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Sporting News. 

After comparing the three, I think lifestyle & culture and fashion & beauty are very similar, and I'm leaning more towards sports, but I'm not really sure what photo I would use for the cover since I have to take them myself. 

Research - Magazine Conventions

 Hello beautiful people! I decided that I'm choosing the magazine for my project and the first step is researching all the components that I will need. Thankfully, we already learned about magazine cover conventions in class, and I had some practice with my Landscape magazine, so I already have some prior knowledge. 

The first page is obviously going to be the cover, which I have already had practice with. These are the components from my notes that I will have to include in my cover page: 

• Masthead

• Title of magazine
• Printed in large font, spans across the width of the cover

• Cover Image

• Close up/mid shot
• Image is connected to feature article

• Feature Article

• Longer article which is more in-depth than other coverage
• "Exclusive," usually appeals to broader audience
• Larger lettering is used on cover for prominence, contrasting colors to cover image

• Coverlines

• Catchy phrases to tell you about articles
• Bold/italics used for emphasis
• Teases reader to buy magazine
• Color could be used for emphasis/cohesion

• Puffs, Plugs, and Boxouts 

• Puffs/Plugs: Graphics that are not squares used to draw the readers attention
• Boxout: Box used to place text that provides readers with contrast 

• Strips and Banners

• Strips: include information on minor articles and features
• Banners: larger version of strips

• Dateline: Month, issue number of magazine
• Direct Address: the audience is directly addressed "you"
• Barcode: usually in the bottom corner



This is my labeled example of a cover page from my notes:








The other components I will need are :

• Table of Content page
• Double-page feature spread
• Feature article needs to be original and relate to the genre of the magazine
• At least 7-8 original images taken by me