This document analyzes the contents pages of music magazines NME and Q. It notes that NME splits its content into clearly labeled sections to help readers easily find articles of interest. Q's contents page focuses on promoting a feature about the Foo Fighters, with a large central image and listings of related articles divided by bold red lines. Both magazines use visual cues like fonts, colors and images that reinforce their established brand identities and draw attention to key sections.
1. The contentwith inthe magazine issplitupintoseparate
sectionsonthe contentspage thiswill make ita lot
simplerforthe readertosee what isinthe magazine and
assesswhatarticles theymayhave an interestInreading.
Thiswas achievedbyusingsubheadingsinwhiteona
blackstripas a backgroundto make the title standout
more.
People maysee somethingthatwaswithinthe magazine
advertisedonthe cover,andthiscouldbe the reasonthe
boughtthe magazine.Nexttothe sectionsonthe contents
it hasan arrow pointingtosome of them,thisarrow says
“on the cover” thiswill enablepeople whoboughtthe
magazine purelyforwhatwasadvertisedonthe coverto
findthe sectionwithinthe magazinequickly.Theycan
lookdownthe side of the page andread the titleswiththe
arrows nexttothem,that waytheycan eliminate sections
of the magazine theyare notinterestedinimmediately.
Theyhave usedthe advertisementbox atthe bottomof
the page topromote an NME subscription.Nmehave
chosento make thisa stand outpointon the page as of
course theywantto grab the reader’sattentionand
informthemaboutthe subscriptionasthismaymake
them,more money.Theyhave usedablackbox withbold
yellowfont.Thisisthe onlyyellowonthe page which
make sitstand outevenmore,andthe fact itis againsta
blackBackgroundhighlightsthisfurther.
One of the mainfeatureswithinthe magazineisthe ‘gigguide’informingpeople about
upcominglive musicevents.Thisissomethingthatpeople maybe interestedinsothey
have chosento promote itcolouredinwhite ona redbackground.The onlyotherredon
the page isinthe masthead,andthe use of red isa traitto a lotof nme magazines,thisis
keepingupwiththe brandidentityaswell as makingthisgigguide feature stand outonthe
page.
All the titlesonthispage (the mainone andthe subtitles) are all in
the same font,thisis a commontheme throughoutthe magazine
as all titlesorimportanttextstaysinthe same NME text,helping
to maintainthe NME brandidentity.
The page includesonlyone image.A large image in
the centre of the page,thishelpsdrawattentionto
the image and putsthe readersfocuson the artist
featuring.This mayintrigue themandencourage
themto readthe article aboutthe artist.
The arctic monkeysare a bandwitha lot of fans,
NME knowthata lotof theiraudience are
interestedinthem.Thiswaswhytheyhave printed
theirname on the frontcover.But not onlyhave
that theyprintedthe name ina largerbolderfont
to the textaroundit so that itstandsout even
more and grabs the reader’sattention.
2. Thisis a contentspage froman issue of Q
magazine.Itisslightlydifferenttothe
contentspagesproducedbyNME so
analysingitwill give me abitof variety.The
contentspage fitsthe typical conventions
of a Q magazine,redisalwaysthe
dominantcolourwithinthese magazines
and there isno change withthispage.The
bannerat the top is colouredred,the titles
downthe side andunderlinesinred,and
the t-shirtof the artistwhois a memberof
the Foo Fightersisalsored.Keepingthe
everpresenttheme of redhelpsfitQ’s
brand identity.
Thisissue of Q was a specificrelease
focusingonthe Foo Fighters,the fontcover
containedanimage of the leadsingerand
there isa large sectionof the magazine
dedicatedtothem. Thistheme is
maintainedonthe contentspage aswell,
the leadsingeristhe mainfocusof the age
and a large image of himis arrangedinthe
middle of the page withtexttothe side of
him. Asa readeropensthe magazine this
image will catchtheireye straightaway,
therefore remindingthemthe foofighters
feature withinthe magazine,thiscould
encourage the readertoread the article.
An image of the magazinesfrontcoverat the top
of the contentspage justto drawfurther
emphasisonthe fact thatthis particularmagazine
has a focuson the Foo FightersDownthe side of the page isa listof featuring
articles,includingthe page numberinwhich they
are on anda little descriptionunderneath.Thislist
issplitup bythickboldred linesthatrunbetween
each topicbetweenthe listedfeatures.Thisdoes
twothings,itmakesit a loteasierforthe reader
to readthe listasit is all splitupand clearer.It
alsohelpsmaintainthe Qbrand identityasitis
anotherpointinwhichthe colourred isfeatured
on thispage.
Picturesof variousotherartists/bandsalso
feature onthe page,suggestingthatthere is
diversitywithinthe magazineregardingthe bands
the bands/artiststheyfocuson. Howeverthisone
mainlyfocusedonthe footfighter,bythere is
otheroptionsof topicsto readif someone may
not be interestedinthe foofighters,thisisall
evidentonthispage.