contents page reserach

Contents page examples

NME
NME's contents pages are incredibly consistent in terms of layout and that is what I would like to incorporate into my magazine. They set their pages numbers and index all up the right hand side and then highlight the key features on the right hand side in bigger and more bold font. They only use on image which is of the main topic of the weeks issue but I would like to possibly have one or two more than this but I would like to also use the idea of having an example picture and using it in the subscription section of the contents page.

NME second contents page 2
This copy of NME has a slightly different layout in terms of the contents page as it is far more spaced out and rather simple in comparison to the original two in terms of the bhouse style but that is because it must have a link in terms of style with its front page and the corrisponding front page for this conetnts page is different in terms of style aswell as it is more formal and basic but does still have a slightly urban element with he font and yellow colours. This contents page has far more images and far less content than the original NME but what I like about this is the fact that although it has gone for a far more image based page; it has not lost the vita; information that is essential for a good contents page and this is the iea that i would like to use as i would like to make my contents page rather easy on the eye in terms of visuals but also do not want to lose the necessary information and features and to do this you must use the space well and I believe that this is what this page has done.

Kerrang

Kerrang has recently changed their contents page setup but I decided to use these two slightly older examples as they highlight ideas that I like and would be interested in using in my contents page. In these two they have used far more images than the examples of NME and I prefer that as it makes the contents page a little less text heavy without making it seem to simply with too many images. The idea of more images also adds a slight bit more clarity to what is in the magazine to the reader as sometimes people may only know people through faces and no their names. Another idea that they have made consistent in their contents pages is the idea of using two key colour throughout for font and that is again an idea that I would like to use, in these two they use the two contrasting colours of black and yellow, in mine I would most likely think of using gold and white possible as these two colour features heavily throughout my front page especially golf which is the colour of my masthead.

Billboard

This example of a billboard contents page connotes a more simple idea as it is far less busy than the other two and does not use as many content sections or separate features', it simply just lists the more important features and that is it. It uses one image of what is clearly the headlining/main topic of the issue it then fits the text around the image. I do not like the idea of only using a small amount of magazine content but I do however like the idea of moulding my text around my main focus images and avoiding separation between the images and text and therefore I may think of incorporating this idea into my work in some way.





Rolling stones magazine

This copy of rolling stones magazine is similar to Billboard in regards to the layout with the content all forming the right hand side of the page and images being used on the left. In this there is far more content and it is divided up into sections as well which makes it far more organized and easier to navigate for the reader. The use of images are slightly different as they are images of different covers used by the magazine and there is no separate image of the main topic of the magazine or artist involved which makes this contents page far different from others and although I would like to use the idea of advertising the magazine subscription by using an image of a front cover; I do not like the idea of not using an separate images and not highlighting a key point or topic of the magazine.

Rock-sound

The contents page of Rock sound is rather similar to Billboards in terms of the lack of text and having just one large, dominating image that takes up half the space on the page. This image is a nice image that shows all four members of the band in a rather comical way with the animations of animals on their body. This idea of the animations is meant to link with the title of the extract which is on the front and that is "inside the mad world of panic at the disco", this links well with the idea of madness as these animations are rather peculiar and extra ordinary which can constitute madness.The colour used on the contents page are rather basic yet work quite well with the idea of the red used to highlight the  numbers and main features title linking to the red in the sofa and several items of clothing that the band members are wearing.One thing that i certainly would change about this image is the fact that the band members are all, wearing the same clothes that they wearing on the front page and therefore there is no variation or change between the two images in that sense.

Magazine analysis of NME

The cover

 The title of the magazine is NME which is a short abbreviation for 'New Musical Express'. The title originally was New Musical Express in the early years when it was a music newspaper as a suppose to magazine but in 1978 the title was changed to the currant abbreviated title and soon after this in the early 1980's it changed from newsprint and into a music magazine.  The title was abbreviated for several reasons, one key reason is that the old title was simply too long especially for the magazine format which they were planning to move towards when they made the change. The second reason is that the abbreviation comes across more urbanized and has a younger feel to it which links heavily to their urban, young target audience. 






The title logo has white writing with a red box surrounding it. The font is a very basic style but is large and bold and sticks out on the front page which is obviously what is required for a title on a front cover. The red box also separates the title from the rest of the front cover images and writing in order to ensure to the reader what the title is and to make sure that it does not get taken over by all of the other parts of the cover.
There is not so much of a strap line but there are four names of singers that are in the same font colour and style as the title that are joined on to the title, these names are PJ Harvey, Lars Ulrich, Haim and Toy and these are four artists who appear throughout this weeks issue.
Although there are several pictures on the front page the one that sticks out as the main one is the picture of the artist Jake Bugg. I believe that this is the main picture because it is the largest and therefore takes up the most space on the front page, also the title is directly put on top of his body which could be the creator's way of emphasizing this image and artist. He is gazing into the camera and this could be in order to make it seem like he is looking into the eyes of the person who is reading and buying this magazine. I believe that they chose Jake Bugg to be the main stand out image on the front cover because he is one of the leading up and coming artists in this genre and so he would signify what this weeks issue is trying to show and also he would appeal to a lot of fans of this genre and therefore more people would see him stick out on the front cover and automatically buy it . He looks rather relaxed with a very calm and motionless body language and from my knowledge Jake Bugg himself has a rather reserved introvert personality so this body language and picture suits him and the impression people have of him.
There are several other images on the front cover and they are all of varied size but are all of other singers that are appearing in this magazine, these singers include Palma violets, Wolf Alice and Drenge. All of these artists fit into the indie/rock style of the music that this magazine studies. Another very clever link between all of the artists on the front page is the theme of the issue is young people having fun and so all of the artists on this issue are all playing with fire extinguishers in order to make it look as though they are all together and behaving like the stereotypical young people that this magazine is aiming this issue at, by linking them all together it makes the reader feel as though all of the young people in the music industry at the moment are working together and are not competing against each other. 
The cover lines promote the main topic of this issue which is young British singer's and is illustrated by the large bold main cover line. Also there are small cover lines attached to each picture of the artists just simply saying who the image is representing.
All of the writing on this front page consists of very basic yet bold font which is used for every cover line, strap line and the titles. There are only two colours used for the font and they are royal blue and red lining to the theme of Britain which is the issues topic, also all writing on the cover is surrounded by a small box which is either red or blue depending on the font colour of that particular line.  This magazines style is rather different to other magazines simply because the font and style is far more basic yet bold and to the point. It gives off the impression to the reader that it is not trying too hard to stand out and grabs reader's attention simply with bold writing and noticeable colours that sticks out on the shelf. Its target audience is towards a rather young age group of around 16-28 possibly older and it is targeting the Indie/rock genre of music.
I like the idea of the fire extinguishers because it gives off the idea that all of these artists are young and enjoying themselves and also the idea that the front cover folds out is rather different and imaginative and just adds to the readers excitement, it also allows the magazine to target more things for example more artists pictures.

The inside

There is 66 pages and 15 of these pages are adverts. There are several different types of adverts in this magazine,  there health care products for men e.g. male electronic razors, food and rink items e.g. Jack Daniels whiskey and then there are concert adverts promoting upcoming tours and concerts.
List of articles and topics: sounding off column, 20 essential new tracks, festival drugs, the week, Lars Ulrich sound track of my life , radar, reviews corner , NME guide, young Britannia, state of Flux, from the vaults and lastly this week in 1991.
I would put these in to several different categories, one would be information and weekly catching up, artists stories, investigations, past music looking back at music from different generations and finally the main story which is young Britannia which has the most coverage.
There are 17 double page spreads and they consists of reviews, music updates, festival drugs, the weekly catch up and the young Britania topic has three double page spreads yet again confirming that it has been given the most coverage because it is most important main part of this week's issue.
There are several advertorials, there is one that is advertising reasons to subscribe to NME which is telling you good information about the magazine and what is in this could be seen as an advert for the magazine but it is unlikely as it is in the magazine itself which would make it rather strange to advertise for a magazine inside a magazine. There are also sections that are talking about upcoming tours for artists and it says reviews and how good/bad they are but because prices and dates are on there this could also be seen as an advert for these artists tours.
The house style is rather clear throughout, the background colour throughout is predominantly white and the writing is in a rather mundane black font. All titles of pieces stick out by being put in a very colourful font for example pink or blue which really stick out in contrast with the black font for the actual article itself, this house style is used consistently throughout the magazine apart from when it comes to the main topic of the issue which yet again links to the idea of making the Young Britannia article stand out because it is the main topic of this issue and so it is highlighted by the change in style from the house style. The house style relates to the target audience because the font is very basic and to the point and not too fancy which would appeal to the young target audience because that is what they would look for in a magazine, another thing which appeals to this area of people is the several bright colours and constant images throughout the magazine because it makes the magazine far more exciting to read and avoids the magazine becoming too text heavy.