Contents Page Analysis

T
he contents page for NME is dominated by a large central image.
This is because they recently reformed for summer shows and this was the first time since then that the band has been pictured together. This expresses to me that the magazine is aimed at teenagers. The second image which is shown on the contents page is small image in corner, of a snapshot of January’s edition of NME. The members do not have a direct mode of address, the magazine seems more laid back; this suits the target audience who are mainly teenagers who share this ethos.

The colours and fonts used follow the conventions of the front colour. The contents page follows the house style of the magazine, with the text being the same as the title block. This creates a more stylish consistent magazine, if there were different fonts and various different colours the magazine would look amateurish.
The information in the magazine is organised in the left hand section of the magazine in alphabetical order of artists. Which is more useful compared to other magazines that have the name of their articles on the contents page, NME tells you the page where you can find the artist. This helps the reader to access the artists that they are interested in; it gives the target audience freedom to decide what they want to read. This tells the audience that the magazine has gone back to basics to make the reader feel like they can easily access the articles in the magazine.

The contents page also expresses a promotional offer of getting the magazine for ‘85p’ per issue if you subscribe. This allows the target audience feel like they are getting a good deal, as it is aimed at young males who don’t have a much disposable income.

The magazine logo appears up in the corner of the contents page. As it is a small image, this shows that the magazine wants to portray that the artists are more important than their brand. The promotional offer also contains ‘NME’ in bold, this is the only time that the magazine title has dominance on the page.