Music Magazine Research- Contents Page Analysis Q Magazine

Contents Page Analysis

Below I have analysed the corresponding contents page to my front cover page as they are both from the same issue.

Throughout the contents page we can clearly see that there is a variety of different images throughout the page. When we start off at the top right we clearly see a large image of Noel Gallagher. The large image is fitted with very neutral colours like blue and white. Noel has no particular facial expression, but we can tell from the image that he is a serious man because of the straight face he is holding.  With the image being quite large, we can see that this is another feature within the magazine, as it is also featured on the front cover as a large cover line.  Further on down the contents page, we directly look at the left hand side of the page, as the images go in height and page order. The second image is a picture of Dave Grohl singing during one of his performances. the image stretches out of the border as we see his hand moving up into the box above. From the front cover we can clearly see that the magazine is going to have a large feature about the Foo Fighters, and this next image directs us to where we will next go to read about the band. To the right of the Foo Fighters image, there is another picture of a female singer names Kate Tempest. Below is Jack White, followed by Lucinda Williams on the left and Prince in a cut out form to her right. At the right side of the page we see an image of FKA Twigs in a separate section called “The Q Review”. There are plenty of images on the page leaving it very accessible. In my opinion if there was any more the contents page it would look very cluttered and the reader would find it harder to access information as there would be a reduced amount of words in the blurb, pulling the reader into certain articles.

The typical house style is carried throughout where we can visibly see that the colours of red, black and white are applied very well on both the front cover and the content page. The contents page also features a range of different colours such as blue, orange, pink, yellow, green and turquoise to fill in the speech bubbles where the page numbers are placed. These colours are eye catching, but not as eye catching compared to the colours of red, white and black as they stand out more to the reader.

The information is extremely accessible in this issue. You clearly see the direction that they want you to read, starting from the top of the page, to the left hand side down and then to the right hand side down which is the typical way that you read anything in a newspaper, text book, or magazine. The different sections are sectioned off by lines or text boxes. The main thing that we can see that is sectioned off is the Q Review, as it has a very thick bold black line surrounding it. The format of the contents page tells me that this is a very formal magazine.
Within the contents page there are no promotional features, but when reading the front cover page and opening the magazine you open up to a large double page advertisement of males Chanel aftershave “Bleu de Chanel”. We then move to another double page advertisement of Hugo Boss aftershave which shows us that this is quite a male dominated magazine as both advertisements are for men. After the two advertisements we move to information about the enticement which was attached to the front cover. The next page is a single page of a new film set to be released in 2015 called “Black Sea”. Then we have the contents page. This is usually not expected in a magazine as you would usually turn the front cover and see that there is an advertisement and the contents page.

The Logo is placed in the skyline of the contents page along with the issue date and beside it saying contents. This is usual for Q Magazine. The other brands that Q has are not promoted on the contents page which is usually not expected. This shows that the magazine does not promote anything on their contents page and sticks to what the readers really want to see, which is information about music and artists.