Analysing contents pages 2

NME’s contents page is very busy and colourful! The background and borders are bright pink/red. On the left is a column of ‘CLUB NME THIS WEEK’ letting the reader know what to expect this week in the magazine, the left hand side is where the eye goes first. The colour pink/red against the black coloured text box suggests that this magazine is not a typical magazine. It suggests that it is more ‘outspoken’ and elaborate. The colour pink/red is usually used to target the typical girly-girl stereo type, but when matched with the colour black, makes the reader think that the magazine is pushing boundaries. The colour black usually implies dark, mysterious and bad or evil. But in this case it is serious, masculine and reflects the genre of indie and rock music.

The colours red and black together have a harsh tone, and reflect the type of music that the magazine celebrates-rock indie music. Red is a conventional colour in music magazines as it features on many front covers. The colour red is associated with love/passion- which could reflect the readers or magazines love for music. It could also reflect the type of music the magazine features as rock music is often associated with anger- so is the colour red.

The date us included at the top of the page, it shows the magazine is up to date and contains the relevant information. A convention used by many magazines.

The typography is classic, but with rounded edges adds a new modern feeling to the text. Most of the text on the page is the same font, a convention employed by many magazines- music and other.

There are three puffs on the page as well as a starburst. All of the puffs have the letters ‘NME’ in the puff to maintain brand identity and remind the reader of the name of the magazine- which is like a celebration of the name. On the other hand it could give a detrimental effect as it may be an annoyance to some people- however this may be a good thing as the name may stick in a person’s head and the person will remember the name and may talking about it to other people.#, spreading the name of the magazine as well as interest.

Two of the puffs also have the word ‘club’ which makes the reader feel like they are part of the exclusive ‘cool’ club. Or it could remind the reader of a club with lots of loud music, dancing and spending time with friends, which has a positive effect on the reader as it may bring back good memories and they will then be more likely to buy the magazine.

The third puff has ‘TV’ which reminds the audience that there is other media that the magazine is involved in. Cross media synergy, is the magazine using different branches of their brand to advertise each other.  The main space has a large image of DJ’s and the headline reads: ‘The hottest tunes picked by our Club NME DJ’s around the UK this week’. The wording is appealing as many people who read the magazine feel part of the ‘NME club’ and want to find out the ‘hottest tunes’ and who the ‘Club NME DJ’s’ are. The location of the image seems to be on top of a roof- a forbidden place to many because of the danger of falling off. The DJ’s then seem more powerful as they are there. The background appears to be a old city, adding character to the DJ’s.

The DJ’s are all posing as if they are not being photographed, giving the idea that they are relaxed and calm, and aren’t too fussed that they are being photographed- which is more conventional for indie/rock artists. They seem more approachable and easy to relate to. The text above the image confirms that they are the ‘hottest DJ’s in the UK’ and that the readers should trust their opinion and listen to the music they play and mix.

There is a starburst coloured red which contains a white number ‘1’ in the middle, this starburst is deliberately situated here as the reader makes the connection between the number one-being the best- with the image of the DJ’s. Beneath this is the list of the most popular songs and who sings them. The third song is highlighted with a blue background and has an image with a caption providing extra information; there is an article about that artist in the magazine.

Having the ‘hottest tunes’ on the contents page can persuade or influence the target audience’s taste in music. This establishes the magazine as one exclusively about music- and when repeated in each edition brand identity is maintained. If you are not familiar with the magazine then it will show the audience what type of music the magazine celebrates and who it supports.

At the bottom right hand side of the page is usually an abandoned section of a page as many people do not pay attention to what is there but this magazine has used a voucher to grab attention “£2 OFF!” the font is coloured yellow catching attention and the lure of money off is a powerful lure-as it appeals to everyone. Anything that has a discount on it draw in attention on to the page, which may influence the reader to page through then rest of the magazine and then buy it. The terms and conditions are in a much smaller font size, as it usually aims to catch out the person or is un-interesting information.

On the bottom left section of the page there is an advertisement on ‘future club nme tour’ this will show the readers where and when the next performance is and they will possibly want to find out more, they may be tempted to buy the next edition and find out more. By repeating this advertising of gigs it will maintain the magazines brand identity as not many other magazines do this. The readership of NME go to gigs and performances often so this will appeal to them.