Deconstuction of a Music Magazine's Contents

This contents page is taken a monthly issue of the music magazne 'Q'. Firstly the main colours used consit of black, red and white. The colours have been reversed out, as behind the main headings there is a block colour of black, with the contrasting white writing to help the text stand out. This is also used for the sub headings, which are smaller fonts size 'features' and 'every month'. There is a red background and the white writing is then writen over the top, again to make it easy to read for an audience. Two other colours used in the contents page is blue and a muggy green colour. I believe the choice of these clours link in with the large picture of the band which is in the right corner of the page. The green is similar to the grass and the blue is a similar shade to the sky behind the band. The continuity of this links together the text and pictures and makes the piece look like whole not all sperate parts.

There are two pictures used in this contents page and one is of a band, the other is of a solo artists. This shows the reader the variety of artists they will be targeting during the magazine. The names of who they are or what they are called are close by the picture over a white background with black writing.

The page numbers are all in red and this makes it easier for the reader to find what page everything is on. Except the 'Oasis Special' part which is in the green colour and by doing this it sperates itself from the other headings and pages. It stands out and interests the reader more by being a different colour to the rest of the page.

The picture of 'The Courteeners' band is in very large compared to the other picture and draws the reader in. It makes them a bigger feature to the rest of the pages that are talked about during the contents. The mise-en-scene of the picture portrays an industrial feel. As they are taking the picture on top of a hill with the more built up community below, makes the band seem that they are ruling the world and that they have power. The readthrough for the band is 'He's just showing off', this quote is used on the contence page from one of their interviews which will be featuring in the magaizne and this helps to engage the reader to make them wants to go on and read their artical. 

There is one font used headings and page numbers. Another font for the small information below the page names and then parts of this font is in bold to stand out. Also there is a font for the main subheaings. All of these fonts helps sperate the different parts of text on the page from on another.

In the right hand corner, writen in the same black box as the title of the page, is the date and the number of the issue. Below that then is the magazines website and myspace details. This is imporatant information that helps target their audience. It also gives their audience other ways to contact or keep up-to-date with them.

This is a contents page from the popular music magazine ‘NME’. The name stands for New Musical Express. Abbreviating theses three words and using just the beginning letter for the title attracts their audience as the use of slang and abbreviation are used lots in their everyday life.
Next to the magazine name is the name of the page, and instead of typically calling this page the ‘Contents’ they have called it ‘This week’ which makes it sound more appealing at it insinuates the gossip and news which you can catch up on during the week. The magazine used to be a newspaper and was the first paper to include the singles charts. I believe this heading also suggests a newspaper report feel. All of theses headings are in upper case and this makes the text stand out and emphasise the importance in comparison to the lower case text.


All of the lower case text is in a smaller, non-bold font. The use of black text on the white background helps for the reader to understand the text. The subheadings use this colours in contrast as the black is used for the background and the white is then used over the top for the text. On the opposite side of the page (right side) the background of the subheading is red and this colour takes up the whole strip of that side.

The writing is then in white and again this background is then used behind the text. The text use of black text over the top then makes the piece readable. I believe this is an interesting way of using the three colours the page consists of; red, white and black. The use of layering these colours adds texture and depth.
The use of red arrows next to some of the page descriptions highlights to the reader the three main pieces which were on the front page. This helps the reader as they may have been first intrigued by the covers headlines and interviews and when they buy the magazine they will easily be able to find which page number they feature on.


The ‘Band Index’ heading is a heading that the reader can look at to see which artists or bands feature in the NME magazine. There is a page number of when they feature in the magazine ion blue. I believe this is a helpful and useful heading to include on the magazines contents page. I believe the choice of the colour blue could link into the dark and bluely shade of lighting in the two pictures which are used in the centre of the magazine.


The pictures used for the contents page are of the band ‘Oasis’. The pictures have been taken and emailed to the magazine by Ray Carr. They are live pictures of the opening night show and the text below the picture goes into more detail about the songs and performances included.


Also included on the contents page is an advertisement for getting their audience to subscribe to their magazine. This text stands out in the bright yellow colour at the bottom of the page. It uses marketing techniques of making the reader see how they will save 33% if the was to subscribe today.