Textual Analysis- Contents Pages

This contents page, taken from the rock/alternative music magazine 'NME', is very crowded and busy in order to appeal to their target audience of young teenagers.

This is done by presenting lots of articles available within the magazine as well as a band index so that readers know if the band they like is in there. This therefore widens the target audience due to the amount of artists within the magazine as more people will look for an artist they like and if they wish to read about it they will purchase it. The contents page also uses the name of the magazine to again make it stand out and also use a form of masthead to show that it is a weekly magazine by using 'THIS WEEK' followed directly by the date below it. This therefore reminds the reader of which issue of the magazine they are reading as well as reminding them that there are other weeks to follow. On the contents page a single image is shown with a small related article, this keeps the focus on a single section and is like an introduction to the nature and style within the magazine. Beneath this a subscription section has been inserted, this stands out on the page as it contains the only other form of image. This contents page is effective as it addresses the reader through colloquial text and centred images that capture the readers eye. The contents page being crowded also makes the reader look more at what is available to read within the magazine, whilst searching for the artist they have bought the magazine to read about.


This contents page, is very contrasting to that of 'NME', as it comes from 'Hip Hop' magazine.



In comparison to 'NME', this contents page is very minimalistic and uses a single photograph to cover the entire page. This draws the readers eye directly to the page and makes them want to read it to see if any articles within the magazine are linked with the image that is being displayed. The typography on the contents page is small with larger bold titles, this draws the readers eye first to the title which is catchy enough to make them want to read the entire article. The date of the issue is also on the contents page so that it is obvious as to which issue they are reading and can know the clear date in which it came out so that they know the information in the rest of the magazine is up to date. Therefore, the bold image of orange immediatley draws attention to the reader.