Analysis of Exsiting Contents Pages- Rolling Stone

There are three images that run down the left side of the contents page, clearly showing the magazines wide demographic. The top image is of MCR front man Gerard Way performing onstage, head banging. This image is the largest and also the most colourful, portraying a youthful image for the magazine. This contrasts with the middle image, which depicts Bruno Mars in black and white, playing a piano. This shows the magazine as more serious and middle class. This image is also the smallest of the three. The bottom image is of a sombre looking Barak Obama. This once again shows the magazine as being more middle class, but this time also shows the magazine appealing to reformers and politically minded people.

The text is split into 4 sections: features, national affairs, departments, and an untitled section that contains regular articles such as letters and reviews. The largest text on the page is the title, “Contents”, which is in an eye-catching red banner and written in white text in the same bold font as the text on the cover, showing consistency and establishing a house style. The heading of each segment is written in red text, catching the attention of the reader, as is the page of number of the articles. The titles of the articles are in bold black font, with a small summary of the article in smaller font. Interestingly, the page doesn’t list each article in the magazine as many contents pages do, leaving out one of the articles advertised on the cover. This causes the prospective buyer to have to flick through the magazine to find that article; therefore they may be more likely to buy it if they see other articles they are interested in as they scan the pages.