TOC Analysis and Plan

 

Table of Contents (TOC)

In any magazine genre, it is crucial to have a table of contents or TOC which presents the topics of the pages that would follow the cover. The content pages along with their main ideas are usually listed right after in order for the reader to have a guide. This allows for them to navigate your magazine more easily and without the magazine feeling like a lot of content put in with no guide. In fashion magazines, particularly, the table of contents is usually referencing the different interviews, most recent trends, and important fashion guides in the fashion world. Fashion magazine TOC's have all types of codes and convention that need to be followed in order for the perfect TOC design to be created. 

Examples:

On the left, you can see an example of a table of contents of a well-known fashion magazine, Vogue. Half of the page is an image of multiple models along with the actual table of contents right below that. The image is in landscape mode so that it can cover the whole top half of the page.  The main image consists of colors that match the main title; red and black. The two colors are very bold and elegant which is one of the coded and conventions of fashion magazines in general.  The image has a title to go with it so that the image has context and more meaning. The font used throughput the whole page is Serif which is used all over most fashion magazines because of its elegance and modernness. The month that the magazine was published is placed right next to the masthead to fill in the empty white space. To compliment the big, red masthead, all the text below is black. It states the pages in rows with big numbers so that the pages are emphasized and then the main take away of each on its right. This is a very simple method of organizing the pages while still keeping it organized. Since readers will read from the left to right and up to down, this method seems to work best for organizing the page numbers and their text. Overall, this table of content design is very common in fashion magazines because they like to make their magazines sophisticated and unique when this design is very unique and simple, making it is used by Vogue a lot. 

On the right, you can see a less common magazine table of contents design. This design is less colorful allowing it to include more detail and pages in the page. The masthead is placed on the top center of the page so that it tells the what the page is. On the top, there are four main images chosen that match with the overall genre of the magazine. They are arranged so that there is a row under each of the four pictures. This allows for a more put-together look. Each image is a different category with the pages that cover that topic put right below the image. That allows for a more organized design and makes it easy to navigate the content. The font used here is also Serif for the formality and elegance that it gives to the page. In addition, a white background is chosen to keep it simple and similar to every other table of contents page. A solid white with black text against it, makes for a complimentary pair. Black horizontal lines separate the pages in each row so that the text of each page does not get mixed up and confuse the reader. This technique is also another way of keeping the content put together is a unique design. Below each line is the page number with the content of the page placed right below in a smaller font size. Overall, this design for the table of contents is way less common in fashion magazines because of its sophisticated design which uses multiple images and barely any colors. 

Mockups:

For this mockup, I decided to opt for a much simpler design which can still look unique in my magazine. On the right, there are five images placed vertically in order to not distract from the actual table of content but still add a great deign on the page. They are placed on the right side because readers will read from the left making it less awkward to read. Each image is a different category of fashion including shoes, bags, makeup, accessories, and dresses. The images all go together with the gold color scheme that also matched the text on the left. The masthead is placed in between 2 horizontal lines which make it the main focus since it is not centered this time. Below it, there are the pages placed in asymmetrical rows so that they do not get mixed up right next to each other. The page numbers have a golden color and are also a bigger size. On the other hand, the topics of those pages are placed right below each page number in a small, black font. I decided to choose a Sans Serif font for this one so that it can be a little more unique and sophisticated from the usual tables of content that are seen in fashion magazines. Overall, this design is very different from the other two due to the placement of the content of the page. 

For the second mockup table of content page created, I decided to make a unique design that is not actually often used in the fashion industry. The main image is two models with one standing in front of the other. The pose of the models allows for them to be both visible to the reader. Then, a white vertical box is placed a little to the right so that it gives just enough space to the models to be seen. The main font of the whole design is Serif which is the most common font often used in fashion magazine because of its modern and elegant look. This time, however, the color scheme is mainly black since the main image takes most of the attention either way. The page numbers are placed on the left side along with their main topic written in a smaller font right below each of them. In an even smaller font below that is the takeaway of each page number. This is a very elegant and fashion magazine-friendly design because of its uniqueness and simplicity giving it a very modern look.  The overall color scheme put along with the design and layout produces an amazing magazine table of contents which has a great balance between the main image and the actual table of contents. 

Last but not least is this very unique and colorful table of contents. This particular design is less put-together and free-styled instead. The main image of the page is a model posing in very colorful clothing giving the reader enough color pop to focus on. Therefore, the actual text had to be white in order for it to be visible on top of the image and stand out a bit. The font Sans Serif is used here to give it a more friendly and less extreme look due to the amount of detail already included. The main title is centered on the very top as usual. Then, the date of publication is put on the bottom tight in a big size while being upside down. This was a very unique touch to add to the magazine so that the text does not just look layered, and the bottom empty space can have content. The actual pages are places under categories this time for even more organization due to the way they are placed throughout the page. There are bold, white horizontal lines with the category written right below them and the topics along with their pages on the right. They are placed around the model in the background so that they fill up that space around. This design is nowhere close to the usual fashion magazine table of content designs. This is due to the layout of the page, the format, the color scheme, and the font all put together produced a very unique and sophisticated table of contents page.  

Conclusion:

To design my mockup table of content pages, I used the Canva software and some images I collected from online sources. I was able to create multiple design dome following the codes and conventions of fashion magazines, and some not. Out of these three designs seen above, I'm leaning towards the second one because it has the right balance between following the conventions while staying unique and sophisticated. It also has a very simple color scheme and layout, but it looks very elegant in its own way, and you can clearly tell it's a fashion magazine. It mostly aligns with the genre in terms of content. However, the layout is very different which is crucial to creating a unique and eye-catching magazine. Overall, the design is very bold and modern looking which makes it a perfect match to go with my cover that I have created. 

Work Cited:

• Fashion staff, "Table of Contents", April 8, 2017, Table of Contents - FASHION Magazine