Analysing contents pages 1

The contents page of ‘Billboard’ is split up into two main sections. On the left is the billboard char – an American chart ‘top 40’.

On the right the magazine follows the normal conventions of the music magazines contents page. At the top of the page is a headline of ‘CONTENTS’ in upper case suggesting that this important. It is coloured black but appears to be drawn through a stencil, this gives the reader the idea that the magazine is more ‘handmade’ and is a piece of art rather than just a piece of media on paper. It makes it ‘cool’ and quirky as well. It gives the impression that someone has sat and taken the time to stencil the text on- obviously they have used the computer to generate text like that- but it makes the magazine seem more ‘rough around the edges’ that it’s not a polished magazine for polished professional people, that look like they have stepped out of an advert. It’s for real people and has real music, it’s not pretentious at all in anyway. It could also suggest that the magazine is bold and makes a statement as well.

A convention used is the page number and a summary of what is on that page- like most magazines do regardless if they are music magazines or other types. Most of the text is the same size, but a few of the more dramatic or interesting stories have slightly larger text as well as it being coloured blue, drawing the eye there and making the reader turn to those pages first, once they read that story. This suggests the importance of some editorial content over others. Hopefully they will be hooked and want to read the rest of the magazine. Sometimes the small summary of the story includes pull quotes to make the reader interested.

Another convention employed is that the images are used under the heading of ‘CONTENTS’ this makes the page more visually interesting and adds colour.

The three main images under the heading are all different, possibly relating to the slightly different types of people that buy the magazine as well as the different stories in the magazine. Which suggests the magazine promotes different types of music, which is also reflected by their different costume too. The first image appears to be an older man, dressed in plain uniform and a hat, playing a guitar- which gives the reader the idea that he does not worry about costume or the set, he just focuses on music. The second looks like a new artist with unusual hair and clothing, there are many people behind her also dressed in colourful clothes- suggesting that she has a lively, busy lifestyle and is always surrounded by people- a sign that she is a good person and friendly. The last image an artist- Katy Perry- performing on stage in costume with a microphone in her hand, this shows the artist in action, singing to her fans. The different pictures and people in them can be a way of targeting different audiences to read the magazine.

 On the images there are page numbers- a convention used by most magazines- which will direct the audience to the page that relates to that image.

On the bottom half of the page is an image that takes up about half the page, it has two male presumably artists looking very solemn, they are standing up against a background that is white and appears to be wooden- possibly a café or somewhere near the sea side, but with the plant coming into the frame it appears to be somewhere more professional such as a doctors waiting room or a business centre. If it was set in a doctors waiting room, it may explain why they have sullen expressions, as they may have received bad news. Their music may be about receiving bad news about a loved one’s health and this image could be promoting that song. The one man is wearing a plain dark blue t-shirt and the other a more ‘fancy’ light blue shirt with ‘decorations’ on it, showing a white plain t-shirt underneath it. The second mans shirt appears to have a ‘cow boy style’ to it, which could mean that he moves around a lot or loves the countryside.  Underneath that image are more page numbers and summaries of what is on that page, but it is broken up into another section buy a small blue line that has the words ‘Home front’ on it. The heading may be the name of the two men above it or meaning the end of the contents of the magazine.