Re-construction: Contents Page first draft

First Draft of my Contents page: I have decided to keep the to the house style of my construction last year as I got positive feedback from teachers and young adults who link in with my target audience. Although my front cover no longer includes the use of a range of pastel tones, I think they are needed to brighten up the Contents page in order to make it appear more interesting. It could be seen that I am challenging typical codes and conventions within a Real Media Artefact, as I have not included all of these pastel colours on my front cover or double page spread. However, I don't think the overall house style is effected by this, as I still have a clear style to my magazine, which the use of pastel colours do not disturb. Although I have not used all the colours I have included the blue in this contents page with features in all my Magazine pages, so I therefore think it looks professional and links in with the overall house style of the Artefact. The layout of this Contents page follows common codes and conventions as it includes three columns which are each individually titled as either "What's happening?" "Exclusive Interviews" or "Regular Features" I have included this so that the reader has a clearer idea of where to find things on the page, making the Contents easier to read and seem more organised.

I plan on asking 5 people that fit into my target audience what there initial thoughts on my Contents pages (above) are so far. Although the drafts are not quite complete I will be telling them how I am planning to fill the gaps and taking into account any criticism in order to ensure that I am targeting them in the best way possible.

"I like 3 columns it helps to break up the page well and gives off a professional feel. The use of grey in the background suits the front cover but it does look a bit dull. I would add a different coloured column just to spice things up a bit. Pastel colours look great and the font is easy to read and quite unusual which I like, it's quite hippy/alternative which I suppose works with the genre! Plus, Carys look like a proper Editor! Can't wait to see what you do next."

"I would try and make the title CONTENTS seem a bit more interesting by adding in more colour? That would definitely make it stand out more on the page, which it needs to, instead of blending into the background. Apart from that I'm glad that you have kept to the original style from your final draft before. It worked wonderfully last time, so you can do it!"

"I agree about the colour of the columns, you need to break them up by making the middle one black or white? A colour would not work with the pastels used in the text so a plain colour like that might work? I would also try to avoid using only black and white images, it make the page look flat and doesn't pop out to the readers eye. Make it more eye-catching!"

"All of your pages have quite a masculine and boxy theme to them - I'm not put off by this as [as a woman] I just think it is unusual. It looks very modern actually and works well with Holly [the main artist featured]. Woman are way more likely to buy a magazine that looks a bit manly than the other way around. Men would never buy a girly magazine so you are targeting both genders well by doing this."

"I would use a different image of Holly [The main artist Avery-Rose] for advertising the double page spread. You've already got one of her smiling so use something different or funny to add humour and make the feature stand out more on the page."