Magazine Contents Page Analysis

In this post I will be analysing three magazine content pages to further develop my understanding on the layout of contents pages in various magazines. I will analyse Kerrang!, Rock Sound and Classic Rock magazine contents pages to help me understand how rock magazines present content pages. In addition it will help me to understand what to do when making my own music magazine. The conventions of a rock magazine contents page are that it must include a list of pages, an anchor image to a specific page.

Rock Sound contents page

The contents page shows a split of content as the left side of the page has a list of 'main features' and the right side of the page features an image which becomes an anchor linked to the plug feature in the bottom right hand corner. The page follows the rule of three for colour as the colour palette it uses three colours from the main image: The light blue shade is from the blue of the man's shirt; the white shade from the man's skin and the black shade from the man’s jacket. The colours help to form the theme of the page. The man follows the stereotypical connotations of rock stars because he has tattoos around his neck and an ear piercing in his ear although he looks hipster-like due to the glasses and facial expression. This relates to rock which is always known for being ostentatious and rebelling against label and thus the grunge look of rock stars is mythical. The typography of content page is the same and it is san serif font. The text suggests fun and playfulness. This makes the suggestion that the demographic is teenagers and young adult for the anchor is young looking along with the fun playful font. The representation of the magazine contents page is to show a quirky image of rock image and this presents rock as being rebellious because they do not follow stereotypes of society. The cover has the issue number, date and masthead because it reminds the reader the magazine they are reading as well as advertising. The magazine does follow the conventions of a magazine because it involves an anchor image and a list of pages for the reader to select and browse.

Kerrang! contents page

Kerrang!'s contents page follows a similar layout to Rock Sound as it shows a split of content. The contents features are on the right of the page while the image is on the left of the contents. Kerrang! however breaks many conventions of a magazine as it does not follow the rule of three. The colour palette is varied and none of it relates to the image, in addition the image does not anchor to a feature plug but rather a page number in a button. The typography of the contents page is a serif font as it does not have straight sharp edges however this font style suggests order and masculinity due to the straightness of the letters. This suggests that the demographic for the magazine is older males from 20-40 year olds. This is because some of the plugs include iconic bands like Green Day, Linkin Park and Blink-182. The main image does not represent the genre of rock but once again it does represent rebellious side of rock in that they do not follow stereotypical connotations to rock music. The images have a number next to them and this is to add more context to the page titles on the right hand side of the page. At the bottom left hand corner, is a small article from the editor of the magazine, James McMahon. The extract is there to advertise the content in the magazine as well as tease features for the next magazine. This does follow the conventions because it has a list of pages for readers to go to. In addition it has multiple anchor images.