Contents Page Analysis (Kerrang)

This is a contents page taken from an issue of Kerrang magazine, and I shall be analysing and taking ideas from this design when considering how to lay out my own contents page for my music magazine.

One of the first things we see when looking at this contents page is the Editors Note, located in the top right-hand corner. Many other magazines feature an Editors Note on their contents page, and the language used in this particular section is chatty and informal - which is effective as it would appeal to the target audience of the magazine, allowing them to feel as though they have connected with the editor on a personal level. It also appears as though the editor has personally signed the end of his piece, which is considered conventional and again compels the audience to connect with the editor personally - almost as though the editor is their friend. Also, an image of the front cover of the magazine is featured next to the editorial, which reminds us what we're reading.

Next, we see the word "Contents". This informs the reader what it is that they are looking at and the colours and font follow the house style of the magazine. This particular choice of colouring stands out because of the contrast between them, and is also widely associated with Kerrang magazine, so readers easily recognise it and become familiar with the style. Because the colour scheme throughout the magazine is also yellow, black and white, it gives us a feeling as an audience that the magazine is consistent.

This page is dominated mainly by images which are found on the left-hand side of the page, and they give the reader an early insight as to what will be featured in the magazine before we've even read anything, because our eyes are drawn to the images before the text on the right-hand side. By putting eye-catching images on the page readers who are interested in this particular style of music (Kerrang magazine features artists in the Rock genre) can quickly see if their favorite bands are featured in the issue, which would grab their attention. Or, even if they have never heard of the bands shown, they may feel compelled to read the pages about them because these bands may be popular with other readers of this magazine, and they would want to stay up-to-date. Alongside each of the pictures the page number and a brief description of the articles is displayed, giving readers faster access to something they may be interested in. However, a problem with displaying this many images is that the magazine may give the impression of messiness or disorganisation, which some readers may find off-putting.

With the actual text on the page, (as mentioned before) the colour scheme and font is the same throughout the magazine, but as this page mainly consists of images, there is very little text used here. The text that is used, however, is bold, eyecatching and aggressive - which fits in nicely with the genre of the magazine, as a tidier approach would look out of place on the page. It is this bold attitude used by the magazine that I feel attracts readers, as they know what to expect of a magazine in this genre, and the style matches the aggressive, rough stereotype which fits rock music like a glove.