Research into Contents Pages

This contents page for Spin magazine is quite plain and uncluttered. The main feature for it is the singer Duffy, with a medium close of her. She is holding what looks like a mini pink guitar, in the motion as if she is about to throw it in the direction of the camera. This gives a fun and fresh theme to the magazine.

The list of contents is very simplistic, with the title features underlined by a bold blue line, highlighting the reader’s attention should be there.
Matching the colour of that blue line, the page numbers are in that colour contrasting with the black words, so that the words don’t all get blended together. Next to the numbers are the title of the page’s content and what will be inside, this is in slightly bigger font and bold. Underneath the titles, there is a blurb of what will be in these pages, interesting the reader further.

In the top right corner of the page there is a quote of part of the interview with Duffy letting the readers have a sneak peek into what she has to say. At the bottom of the page there is a blue square with information about the cover in it. This would help anyone that liked the photo on the cover and wanted to know more about it. 

Contents page for Q magazine. At the top skyline of the page there is the Q logo and a black strip going along the width of the page. On this band there is the cover line ‘CONTENTS’ in bold white font.
This is very functional for a contents page because it shows all the page numbers, making it easy for the readers to know what page to turn to.

The structure of the layout is organised, which helps make the sections of the magazine easy to spot. Dominating the page is a picture of the band The Courtneeners; this would be great if the reader was a fan of that band because they would what page to turn to read more about them and see more pictures of them. They seem to be standing on a hill outside, the connotation of this could be freedom of their music and style.

Contents page from Vibe magazine. The word ‘CONTENTS’ is done in a way that is very simple, with the letters not next to each other. The effect of this is quite big with the bold white font standing out against the rest of the page, making a big statement about what page it is.

The background is dark but then fades into a lighter tone, gradually drawing the eye of the reader towards Ciara.

The image of Ciara makes a big impact on the page, because it dominates it, she is lying down yet all of our focus form the whole page gets drawn down to her.

To the side of her legs are the contents of the magazine, they are in small black font, where they are split into two different categories, ‘features’ and ‘fashion’ easily directing the reader to the page of which they want to read. This makes the contents page functional because it is not hard to find the page you want to look at.

Contents page for Clash magazine. This contents page is quite busy, making it less functional for the reader to be easily directed to the page they want to read.

It is a double page spread of contents which implies that there is a great deal of things for the reader to enjoy.

There are eight images on the pages, all with either pink or blue circles with a number inside. The pink circles are with the picture of women and vice versa for the blue circles. They look like they are stickers which make it appear fresher. The contents are split into sections which would make it easier for the reader to find the page they wanted. The word 'contents' is also split down the middle of the page in a black impact font.

Contents page for Rolling Stone Magazine.

This contents page is not very functional because there is no title using the word contents, so the reader may make the mistake of just looking over the page not realising it was the contents page.

The actual contents are listed to the left hand side in very small print.

The big image on the right side of the page is definitely dominating the page. It is in black and white which suggests it is an old photograph, making the magazine look a bit dated, but then to the side of that there is a picture of Beyonce, retaining its youthful presence as a magazine.

Contents page for NME magazine.

This contents page is very busy making it hard for the reader to see where they may to read. There is more images than words so the reader can look at how will be the main focus of the pages and decide to look at that page or not. The page is so cluttered that it is hard to notice that it is a contents page, because it is not traditional, but this goes with the theme of NME magazine and how they want to be different and unique.

Instead of the using the word ‘contents’ they have used ‘INSIDE THIS WEEK’ in very large black font, this takes over the page.

Contents page for Blender magazine.

This contents page is very simple and plain. The main focus and the thing that dominates the whole page is the image of Katy Perry and a mushroom.

The title is at the top of the page in curvy bold black font, very large compared to the rest of the print. The background is very plain, a grey colour, making the colours of the image standout greatly.

The image is of Katy Perry, who also featured on the front cover meaning that she is the main focus of the whole magazine for this particular issue. She is wearing very girly clothes, and is holding up an inflatable mushroom, which gives off an unusual and quirky vibe for the whole page.

The list of contents is to the right of the page, underneath the title, and is in very small black print. This could make it hard for the reader to see what page they wanted to read. 

Contents page for Billboard magazine. This contents page is quite functional, but less traditional. To the very left of the page is a list of the music charts this makes it obvious to the reader that this magazine is all about the music.

The title is at the top of the page, in large black font, with white lines through it, making it look more modern and less traditional. Below this title are 3 small images of people that will be featured in this magazine with the number of the page inside the image. This makes it very easy for the reader to locate the page that the stars are on. This could benefit them because of the people may be a favourite of the reader.
Below these images is the list of contents, in a very practical way, as they are split off into 4 different sections. Below the list is an image of a band all sitting together. This creates a further image of music as they are all looking happy, meaning that the story featured about them will not be a sad one, but a one about their music for the readers to enjoy. 

 Contents page for Mojo magazine.

This contents page is fully dominated by the images on the left hand side. Which brings the attention of the reader over to that not the list on the other side.

The list of contents is in black small writing with the titles in a red colour, so it is easy for the reader to notice where the headings are and what they say. The background is very plain leaving the focus on the images and the writing.

At the bottom of the page there are 3 photographs of the people that work on the magazine, so that they will be able to be recognised.

This is a very functional contents page because it is easy to see the page numbers and the page details.

Contents page for Echoes magazine.

This contents page is very simplistic. The background is black but the title is bright yellow, making it stand out against the rest of the page.

Below the title is the list of contents, there are eight sections, all are different music genres, so this magazines is definitely about music this could be a benefiting factor for the magazine because real music fans will be interesting in finding out more about the music.

To the side of this list are four images of singers and next to each image is the page number and blurb of what will be on the page that they are featured on.