Analysis of 2 Contents pages

Analysis of two existing contents pages

NM E

NME labels their contents page with ‘Inside This Week’ which is different Q Magazine. This could be because the target demographic age of the audience is younger so therefore, they approach them in this way as this is more their style of language. It also uses a considerable amount of pictures which you would not usually find in other magazines of a similar genre. However, I think that the amount of pictures relates to their target audience. Younger people are more likely to want to look at pictures than read a lot of writing. It also illustrates what is in the magazine well.

Compared to Q magazine it isn’t clear to distinguish the feature articles and regulars straight away. However, it is easy to understand that the feature articles are illustrated with pictures whereas, the regulars are under the ‘plus’ list. The page numbers are bigger and clearer to see for the feature articles than those in the regular section. This could be because they want to draw the audience’s attention to them as they are likely to be what the audience are going to buy the magazine for. It could also be because regular readers will already expect to find the things in the regulars section so they feel they do not need to draw attention to these items.

They also use a range of fonts varying in size and the use of italics and bolds. This makes the page more interesting and less repetitive. However, I feel that perhaps the number of different fonts has been overused and makes it harder to read.

This contents page also includes an advert for their subscription. This could be to attract more of an audience, because when the reader reads this they will automatically feel that is a good offer and subscribe to get every issue which would boost sales.

Q Magazine

This contents page is split into Features and Regulars, which is typical magazine feature. It also has a separate reviews section. However, the reader always expects this and in the regular section they will always expect to find things like: Q mail, Subscriptions and a crossword.

The main image is of a band which is the main feature of the magazine. This associates with the oasis special. This is highlighted in a bold colour, gold, which stands out from the rest of the page which shows the audience exactly what the main articles of the magazine are about. They have stuck to one large image and a smaller one which is different compered to NME which has lots of pictures. This could be because of the target audience as they may prefer to find out what is in this issue by reading text rather than looking at images. Again, it has stuck to key colours, red, black and white which is typically used by magazines. It also ties in with their own front covers which consist of the same or similar colours. At the top it clearly shows the issue number and the date. This allows the reader to clearly see what issue this is. It’s clear and easy to read layout may attract an audience in to reading the rest of the magazine. It also helps as it is easier to find what articles the reader is looking for. I think this contents page is clearer to read than that of NME because of the smaller amount of images and the use of only a few fonts.