Analysis of a Music Magazine Contents Page #3

This is a contents page taken from an issue of Kerrang magazine. The layout is very conventional in terms of music magazine content page’s. For example, the title of the page is displayed at the very top, making it the first thing recognised about the page. Though all text and images upon the page are displayed against a plain white background, the title is written against a black background. This is possibly because the title is written in yellow, and is therefore clearer and easier to read against black, but also because the colour theme of the Kerrang magazine is black, yellow and white, and therefore having the colours set out in this way continues the themes from the cover throughout the magazine. All items of content and their page numbers are then displayed in a list down the right-hand side of the page. Here, the list is split into several different sections, each with a headline. These headlines are set out in a similar way to the main title of the page, with a black background and yellow writing, however they are much smaller than the page title. Unlike NME and Q magazine, the items of content listed do not have descriptions; only their titles are displayed. Their corresponding page numbers are emboldened to ensure they stand out further.

Additionally, within the top, left-hand corner of the page is an image of the magazine editor. There is then a short paragraph in which she summarises this particular issue of Kerrang and its contents. Towards the right of this paragraph, but beneath the main title, is a short quote taken from a member of the band Anti-flag. As in NME, the bottom right-hand corner is taken up by a promotional offer, attracting readers into subscribing to the Kerrang magazine. This uses the colour red, which isn’t used anywhere else upon the page, making it stand out amongst all of the other aspects.

Furthermore, the rest of the page is taken up by a collage of images, each relating to an aspect of content within the magazine. They each have their corresponding page numbers written either below or across the image, however this time they also have a short description. There are also graphics used, such as the ‘explosion’ at the bottom of the page that contains text. This makes it stand out more than it would if it were simply written upon the page. Conventionally, the date of publishing and the institution website is displayed in small font beneath the page title.