2. TITLES
One convention of contents pages
is the title, which is usually
positioned at the top and reads
‘Contents’ or ‘Inside this issue’ or
something similar. These
examples from Q, NME and
Billboard magazines show how
magazines typically use a font
similar to the one in their
masthead and sometimes include
the company logo in the page title.
I followed this convention by using
the same font as I did for my
masthead but decided against
adding the logo alongside the title.
I didn’t think it suited the overall
look of the page and so instead
left it as just the word ‘Contents’.
3. ARTICLES
Contents pages conventionally list articles chronologically in a column, with page number
references for each one. I followed this convention so that my list of features looks similar to
existing products, as you can see in the examples below from Q, NME, Vibe, Kerrang and
Billboard. Following this convention makes the structure of my contents page more clear and
makes it easier for readers to find a particular article inside. It also means they can get a
quick overview of the content of the issue all on one page. Magazines often vary fonts or
colour in this list of articles to make certain parts stand out and I again followed this
convention, choosing to use different colours for different sections of the magazine.
4. SUBHEADINGS
Another convention of contents
pages is separating different articles
into categories using subheadings.
These examples from Top of the
Pops, NME and Kerrang show the
variety of subheadings that different
magazines use – news, competitions,
regular features, reviews, gigs etc. I
have chosen four subheading for my
own product in order to be
conventional: regulars, exclusives,
reviews and competitions. When
looking for inspiration for my contents
page I found that I really liked the
look that a lot of existing products
went for – using a block of colour for
the subheadings and then listing
articles underneath. I therefore
decided to follow this convention in
my own work.
5. SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscription sections are a conventional
feature of contents pages that I chose to
incorporate in my own work. They
advertise to readers and encourage them
to pay a monthly or weekly fee for the
magazine. Many magazines actually
choose to place them on a different page
to allow more room for feature listing on
the contents page, so I took inspiration
from NME who advertise subscriptions on
their contents page. I liked the look of
having a box that was a different colour to
rest of the page in order to make it stand
out, so I took that look and adapted it for
my own magazine. I also wanted to use
the idea of showing previous issues in the
subscription section and so I used some
other drafts of my front cover to do this.
6. EDITOR’S LETTERS
Editor’s letters – like subscription sections – are a convention of contents pages but are
often placed on a different page within some magazines. I chose to put mine on my
contents page like the examples here from Kerrang and Top of the Pops. I followed
conventions, keeping the letter relatively short and informal to address my readership. I
included a signature from the editor and positioned the letter in a corner again drawing
inspiration from existing contents pages.
7. ISSUE DATES
The issue date or number is
conventionally repeated on the
contents page of a magazine,
usually in a small font and
positioned near the title at the top.
I followed this convention, drawing
inspiration from examples like the
ones shown here from NME and
Q. I particularly liked the style of
Q, where the issue date and
number were placed on the right
side of a coloured bar across the
top of the page, with the title on
the left. I consequently decided to
use this in my own product.
8. SOCIAL MEDIA
An area that lists the company’s social
media accounts is another convention of
contents pages that I adhered to. Some
magazines, like Billboard shown here,
have a whole separate section for social
media. I didn’t want to take up too much
of the page with just social media so I
again drew inspiration from Q magazine,
listing my social media alongside the
issue date and number. I think this
ensures that it is still visible but doesn’t
monopolise a large part of the page,
which I like. This section encourages
interaction from my audience and
expands my readership by reaching
them in different media formats.
9. IMAGES
When researching existing products I
found that all music magazines follow
the convention of using images to
advertise articles. I chose to use one
larger image for my main story to ensure
that it is easily recognisable as the main
selling point of the product. As these
examples from Kerrang and Billboard
show, contents pages also often have a
minimum of three other smaller images
to advertise more feature stories. Again I
followed this convention, particularly
drawing inspiration from Billboard and
having the page references actually over
the pictures.
