Before creating my contents page for my magazine i had to look at some existing contents pages of magazines. The first contents i chose to analyse was the one from the magazine NME. By analysing this contents i thought i could relate back to the front cover because of the colours and key themes.
The NME logo is situated in the top left hand corner and this is the same as the front cover displaying similar codes and conventions. Having the logo on the contents page of the magazine in the same positioning as on the front cover gives the reader a constant reminder and a sense of reassurance about the actual magazine that they are reading and a chance to embed into themselves.
The colours that are used throughout the contents page are the same as those that are used on the front cover. Having the same colours throughout the magazine gives a consistant and professional look to the magazine. It is more appealing to the eye to look at something that you recgonise because it is seen on every issue of the magazine.
The layout of the front cover is very structured and everything is set out in specific places. The images are in the middle just underneath where the masthead is situated. They are both taken in a live concert/gig situation and are both relatively small compared to the size of the one used on the front. Both images are mid shots and represent and show the way in which the reader can get more involved in the genre they are very much interested in and even watch their favourite bands and artists live.
The way in which the magazine is split up into smaller sub categories means that it is alot easier for the reader to locate the exact piece of information that they are looking for. It also means that they can specifically skip out the things that they are less interested in, making the reader feel as though they have more power and control over what they do.
Aswell as analysing the contents page of the NME magazine i also felt it would be beneficial to look at the contents page of another magazine and for this i chose too look at Q.
The contents page of Q is set out in a sightly different way to the NME contents page but it still appears to follow the general codes and conventions that follow an average contents page. In the top right hand corner is the masthead/ logo of the magazine and once again this is reapeated inside as it gives the reader reassurance and reminds them of the particular magazine.
On the contents page of Q the image is situated to the left of the page and it is alot larger than the one that is on the contents of NME. The photograph has been taken in an outside location and is more of a long shot as the whole of their bodies can be seen. Q have also chosen to take a photo of the whole band rather than just single images of a particular member of the band. This is the opposite of NME because on their cover they have used a whole band shot and on their contents they have used single images. Whereas on Q the front cover has single image of Lily Allen and on the contents page it has a whole band shot.
Also the sub headings and information about whats on each page is located on the left hand side of the page compared to the NME sub headings and list which is on the right hand side. Although it doesn't matter what side they are presented on as long as these codes and conventions are shown.
This contents page is slightly less full than the NME one but although this is the case they both convey the correct codes and conventions that are expected when looking at a contents page of a magazine.
