Table of Contents Research

In this post, I will be analyzing the Table of Contents of different magazines that are in the same genre as mine which is Animals and Nature. I believe doing this will help me plan and prepare my own TOC as I learn different techniques that can be used to make one as well as the general composition of a magazine TOC.

Why We Love Cats #1 TOC

Number of images: 4

Description of each image: A patterned cat in between a person's legs that is being pet by them. A woman kissing the head of the black cat she is holding. A small kitten peeking its head out as it sits over books on a bookshelf. A relaxed cat being brushed on its head.

List of Sections: Untitled Section, Behind the Bond, Understanding the Bond, Understanding Your Cat, Cat Care.

Number of Articles: 21

Highest Page Number: 96

Articles Font Format: Serif font.

Color Palette of Fonts: Black.

Stylistic Features: "Contents" is separated from the rest of the page with tight multi-dotted lines.

Title of Page: Contents

Number of Columns Per Page: 1

Inside Your Dog's Mind #2 TOC

Number of images: 4

Description of each image: A person holding 3 white puppies. A smaller white dog with its mouth open, hovering over a bigger patterned dog. A furry dog with its head out the window and their tongue out. A mom laying with her child and dog as she holds them both while they are all sleeping.

List of Sections: Happy Hearts, Healthy Habits, Safe & Sound, Energized & Engaged.

Number of Articles: 17

Highest Page Number: 92

Articles Font Format: Black Serif.

Color Palette of Fonts: Black, white, red.

Stylistic Features: Red ribbon over "Contents", red line in between each section and a grey line in between the columns, and "Editors Note" in a red rectangle.

Title of Page: Contents

Number of Columns Per Page: 2

National Geographic #3 TOC

Number of images: 6

Description of each image: A smiling woman that is dancing while wearing a white dress at a festival, 2 people inside of a buoy surrounded by ice caps, 2 cacti in the desert, a lit-up historical building during the night in Monaco, a visual of a baby dinosaur while still being in its egg, a beautiful picture of a lake during a sunset.

List of Sections: None

Number of Articles: 6

Highest Page Number: 112

Articles Font Format: Bold Sans Serif.

Color Palette of Fonts: Black.

Stylistic Features: Yellow National Geographic logo, line separating part of the "Departments" section.

Title of Page: National Geographic

Number of Columns Per Page: 1

Section Summary

Why We Love Cats

• Untitled Section

• Behind the Bond

• Understanding the Bond

• Understanding Your Cat

• Cat Care

Inside Your Dog's Mind

• Happy Hearts

• Healthy Habits

• Safe & Sound

• Energized & Engaged

National Geographic

• None

Why We Love Cats did not have descriptions for their articles and National Geographic did not have sections

Photo Summary

• The average amount of pictures in the TOC in the animal and nature genre was about 5.

• The types of shots and angles in these photos ranged a lot but for the pet magazines, they almost always had a pet in the foreground of all the images.

• The TOCs in this genre usually had one page be mostly composed of just one large photo or a few smaller ones together.

• At least one of the pages usually had photos taking up about half of it.

Page Number

• The average TOC in the animal and nature genre has about 15 articles with the magazine's length being an average of 100 pages.

Fonts

• In the first 2 magazines, the title/description articles were in Serif font while the 3rd was in Sans Serif.

• In the National Geographic magazine, the names of the people credited were all uppercase.

• The titles were all in Sans Serif font and the descriptions, if included, were all in Serif font.

Comparisons

Similarities

• All three magazines used a black font for their page titles and had the page numbers on the image to be able to find where they belong to.

• Both Why We Love Cats and Inside Your Dog's Mind had "Contents" as their page titles and had images that would take up more than half or more of the page.

• Why We Love Cats and National Geographic both used 1 column for their list of articles.

• Inside Your Dog's Mind and National Geographic used black Serif font for their descriptions.

Differences

• National Geographic had no sections and used its masthead as its page title.

• They all had a different amount of articles and pages.

• The 3 magazines had all composed their articles and pictures differently and uniquely.

• Inside Your Dog's Mind had their articles in red font while the others had it in black.

• National Geographic only used one page for their TOC as they had smaller images unlike the other 2.

I think all of the magazines organized their TOC well and in a way that was easy to understand and use. They also gave me the idea to use bigger images as that it what I found most visually appealing and showed me that the page title didn't have to be limited to just the word "Contents" or "Table of Contents". Along with this, they presented me with more options and choices of how I could split up the sections whether it be with lines or simply just using a different font. My favorite magazine TOC was Why We Love Cats because of its simplicity and modern look as it didn't have too many overbearing details.