Magazine Contents Page Analysis- Chosen Genre

Q Magazine

• The name of the magazine is in its uniform primary optical position, which it is in in every Q magazine.

• Statistics such as ‘232 contents’ are used to give indication to the reader as to exactly how much information there is in the magazine.

• The date is placed in the top left hand corner of the page to allow the reader to keep up to date with each issue in chronological order.

• The large close up shot of James Blunt captured the readers attention as it is so ‘in your face’. James Blunt has been used as his persona and look matches the theme and genre Q magazine used; quirky. James has been instructed to look directly in the lens of the camera so it appears he is looking right at the reader prevailing a personal feel about the magazine, a direct mode of address. It’s also an extremely simple image which gives the magazine a sophisticated and classy feel.

• The contents of the magazine is split into basically two separate categories; ‘Features’ - which are articles and stories that only apply to this edition of Q magazine and ‘Every Month’- which crops up each and every month and which uniformly appears in each issue of the magazine.

• Furthermore, ‘The Lennon Issue’ section has been placed in its own segregated box and is highlighted above the rest of the articles because it’s the main story in the magazine and its also what the editors want the readers to take notice of first.

• The article headline placed at the bottom of the page adds humour to the magazine, so it appears to be more interesting then the reader first thought it’d be and it also gives the impression that the articles aren’t all serious.

• The colour scheme used are subtle and muted tones which are used to give the magazine a sophisticated feel yet again. However, red is also used to ‘spice’ the look of the magazine up a bit as well so it not only doesn’t look too dull but so it also matches the magazines iconic masthead.

NME Magazine

• The masthead on this contents page takes centre immediately due to the bold and vibrant block capital letters used.

• The categories presented on the contents page are there to give the reader an insight into what is inside the entire magazine and where to locate it. This just makes it simpler and easier for the readers.

• The main image relates to an article featured in the magazine, and it is also mentioned on the front cover. The amount of times this particular article is reinforced indicates to the reader that it is an important article to read, and that it’ll be worth their while reading it.

• The colour scheme used on the contents page stays consistent with the rest of the page and the cover page in particular. The white background is successful in not distracting the readers, so their attention is not taken away from the articles themselves.

• The sub-lines give the readers more specific details on the individuals featured in within in the magazine and within certain articles.

Billboard Magazine

• The title is simply ‘contents page’, it allows the reader to know exactly what page they're on and it also gives the magazine structure and makes it look neat and organised.

• The main image is of a band featured in the magazine, as the main focus of this particular issue is on them. The band/artist mentioned more often then not have a double page spread or an article about them in the magazine somewhere.

• Each and every piece of information and article is listed on the contents page and titled and underlined neatly so it could clearly be found by the reader.

• The summarised information accompanies the pictures which are usually presented on the contents page somewhere. Provides even more attention grabbing information for the readers to see before even getting to the article, giving them a catchy taster, spurring them on to read more.

• A Billboard of this weeks music charts is presented on the left hand third of the page, and this is a unique feature to ironically billboard magazine itself.