Research and Planning - Analysis of Music magazine contents page - NME

This is the contents page of a well known magazine called NME. This contents page is loosely structured because the magazine does not have certain places for writing or pictures ,also the use of no pictures in the contents page does not fit the generic conventions or house style. The masthead is at the top of the contents page in bold black lettering saying “NME THIS WEEK”, this fit’s the house style because it’s familiar with the audience and the colours are identical each issue, the use of black, red and white.

The choice of colours also makes the magazine appear sophisticated but interesting. The central image is used to feature the main article in the magazine, which helps the reader quickly get to that page. The picture also has to be relevant to the story otherwise the house style would not be the same every issue.

The contents page is informal because there are a lot of punctuation errors and abbreviations, this makes the magazine more relaxed and better communicated to the target audience. NME also has a band index which is a creative way of featuring bands, may be breaking generic conventions as there aren’t many other magazines that do that. 

This magazine typically features mainstream music such as indie genres and pop/rock genres.