Contents Page Research

Before creating my contents page, I decided to do some research on contents pages from different magazines. I decided to look at NME and Kerrang to give me an idea on what to do for my contents page, however I found that Kerrang magazine suited my target audience more. So I mostly used ideas from that magazine in order to help me create my own contents page.

NME Magazine 

The title of the NME magazine is in red and therefore stands out from the rest of the writing. It is also bold and when the reader turns over to look at the page, the first thing their eyes will draw attention to is the title. Also beneath this is the date that the magazine is released. This is important because it gives tells the reader how new the magazine is. There is also a picture of a band called Kasabian. This image is quite large and takes up quite a lot of the page. This suggests that it is a main story with a little bit of information underneath the picture previewing what the article is going to be about. It may even be a short story about the band that is  quite important therefore it is on the contents page. The little red arrow in the right hand corner is used to attract the readers and make them want to read on. Some readers only like reading up on their favorite bands. Having a 'Band Index' in this magazine gives the reader an advantage to look up their preferred bands instead of flicking through the whole magazine. There are also subheadings which help the reader go to a certain page of the magazine that they wish to read up on. And finally in the bottom left hand corner there is an advertisement telling readers to subscribe to the magazine, this will get more costumers to buy the magazine and will also save them over £45. 

Kerrang Magazine

The image above is a contents page for the Kerrang magazine. Within this contents page, there is a good use of colours to emphasize the most important bits which are the titles on this page. As well as this the subheadings are also important and stand out with the same use of colours. The colours yellow and black really stand out in this contents page and the bold writing at the top tells the audience that this is the contents page and with those colours being used below it show what will feature in this magazine. Subheadings are good for the audience to go to whatever page they want without going back and fourth through the magazine. The picture at the top indicates that this magazine is related to the genre of rock. This can be shown in several ways such as oli sykes' (Bring me the Horizon) hairstyle and the full arm tattoos. On the left of this picture there are articles showing what will be featured in this magazine. Show the articles in the contents page may grab the readers attention and get them to flick to that article and make them want to read it. The font used is big and bold and also easy to read helping the reader look for what they want to read about easily. As well as this the layout of this magazine is neat making it easy to read. Each of the front cover stories have a 'Front Cover' logo next to them and a bit about the article as well. This is another way of grabbing the readers attention. Finally in the bottom left hand corner there is a good use of advertising being shown, where the reader can purchase Kerrang and get it delivered to their door for a cheaper price. This is a good promotional  offer that will help Kerrang to get more customers to buy the magazine. I have decided to lay out my contents page similarly to this one as it really grabs the readers eye and because it will relate to my target audience.