Analysing contents pages of music magazines

The main convention of a contents page is the 3 colour scheme. The 3 colour scheme identity of the magazine which is featured on the front page should be the same on the contents page as it reinforces the magazines identity. This is what the NME magazine has done; they have kept the NME brand colour of red, white and black. However, Mizz magazine has gone against the convention and have added more colours to the subheadings of the contents page. Mizz magazine have used different colours for the subheadings so it is easier for the reader to navigate their way through the magazine and to keep an eye out for each section they are looking for. They have done this because their magazine is aimed at a younger demographic which has made the magazine look more feminine, childish. Mizz magazine is coded for a different target audience.

The contents page tends to be organised and ordered into sections which helps the reader find the way through the contents page. Both magazines do this as the NME has 3 sections; band index, cover story and the subheadings and feature stories. Another way the NME helps the reader steer their way through the contents page is by having ‘NME’ and ‘band index’ in red and ‘This Week’ and the rest of the page in black. ‘Mizz magazine also has 3 sections; welcome (which includes pictures of feature stories), contents (which included subheadings and other feature stories) and mizz. These subheadings help the reader through the magazine and find the part they are looking for.

The contents page name is usually named ‘Contents’. The convention is to place the title on the top right hand corner of the page. NME magazine follows the convention of putting the title on the top right hand corner of the page, however the NME is breaking the convention because instead of calling the contents page ‘Contents’ they called it ‘NME This Week’. Mizz magazine is not following the convention also as they called the contents page ‘Welcome!’, and place the title on the top left hand corner.

Usually recently an editors letter has become more common in magazines, however both the NME and Mizz do not yet have an editors addition. However, Mizz have incorperated their editors addition into their contents page.

The convention of a contents page is to have images of artists with page numbers written over them on the bottom right hand corner of the image. The NME is breaking this convention by instead of having images; they have the band’s name in the section ‘band index’ and have the page number next to them. Mizz however follows this convention by having images of famous pop stars that the younger generation will like with the page numbers next to them. The images with page numbers next to them are usually the most important or most interesting cover story in the magazine. The page numbers usually help the reader look for the story or celebrity they want to read about.

At the bottom right corner of the NME contents page, there is a small caption showing the reader where to find the ‘gig guide’. It is in red so it stands out from the black and links in with the ‘band index’ section.

Another convention of a contents page is to have a little copy of what the cover story is about. In the NME they follow this and also a quote from the main feature story is also a convention; ‘...Oasis kicked off their world tour’. Mizz magazine contains a little bit of a story, however does not have a quote and so it is therefore breaking the convention. Although both magazines follow the same form and convention, they are both aimed at different audiences so their differences is what is used in order to attract their target audience.