Comparing the contents pages from Uncut and Hammer

Contents pages are used to give information to the reader about what is in the magazine, this can help them decide whether they want to buy it.
UNCUT’s contents page is very conventional, it is orderly and simple to understand, Everything is in columns and the picture is unintimidating which gives it a calm and relaxing feel. HAMMER’ contents style is totally opposite, the art work of the bands name, Iron Maiden, appears to be quite threatening. The main image takes up most of the page and it seems to have a left third, I think this gives the feeling that it is a lot like a front cover. The only similarity is that it has two columns.
The Mis – en – scene in Uncuts contents page is quite a lot different to Hammer’s contents page. In Uncuts contents there are a few small pictures and a lot of writing, whereas Hammers contents page consist of the large image with a few titles laying about. Hammers contents page looks very disorderly and confusing.
I prefer the layout of Uncuts magazine a lot more than Hammer’s because it is more advertorial– it shows features, reviews and regular contributors as well as editorial commentary and feature writing. The page numbers are a lot clearer than Hammer’s however Hammer’s could be preferred because it is ‘straight to the point’. Hammers includes what’s in the magazine and has plenty of ‘easy to see’ page numbers.
The music artists are presented clearly on Hammer’s contents page, it clearly says “Band Finder” followed by a long list of different bands. This shows that Hammer magazine is purely for the music and not much else. Uncut’s magazine contents does not show as many bands names but the ones it does show is followed by a brief summary of what is on that page.
The music genres for each magazine are completely different. Uncut’s genre is about indie-rock which probably means there is quite a variation of different kinds of music, whereas Hammer’s magazine appears to about heavy metal which specifies it’s audience to one that has a particular likeness for heavy metal music.
It appears that “Band Finder” for Hammer’s contents is probably something that is in every Hammer contents as well as ‘regulars’ on Uncut’s magazines. These things most likely appear in all of the Hammer and Uncut magazines and contents pages.
My analysis of these contents pages show that the audiences for both magazines are entirely different. This shows that although it is a music magazine, the kinds of music is very different. One is covers the indie-rock scene whose audience want to find out more about different things, while the other, heavy metal based magazine is metal – and only metal.
The techniques used to make you want to read the magazine are large headlines, rhetorical questions and bold fonts – all of which stand out exceedingly well and make you want to read on. The rhetorical questions are good because it makes you want to find out the answer, e.g. “…has the troubled front man finally laid his demons to rest with a Wilco album that’s nice to listen to?...” This makes me want to read on to find out whether he has made a nice album or not.
The style of language is completely different in both contents pages. In Hammer’s the language is self explanatory whereas Uncut has titles that need explaining. Hammer comes across as quite loud and threatening whereas Uncuts language is softer.
The layout is completely different. Hammer has a layout like a front cover with a left third and a big picture whereas Uncut’s is laid out with more information and pictures. It is a typical contents page with pictures and text.

NME magazine deconstruction

The front cover of NME shows a mid-shot of a boy band, they are all wearing dark colours which help them to stand out against the blue background. This shots looks like a documentary shot, which means they were ready for it. The darkness of their clothes contrasts brilliantly with the font colours (red, white and black). Being the cover picture means that, that’s fortnights magazine is focussing on them mostly, a reader who like this band will immediately want to buy the magazine. This is good.
The masthead for the magazine says “NME” which is the title of the magazine, it stands for “New Musical Express”. The masthead is off-centre but this means the band members can be see fully, the masthead is clear and easy to read from a distance. It appears that the title of the magazine isn’t as important as the cover lines (this is because the font for the masthead doesn’t stand out as well as the cover lines), this I think works well because people would rather know what’s inside rather than the title. Also it’s not covering anything important (such as the picture). There is a banner at the right hand side at the top which talks about The Pixies new album. This stands out well as the banners background is red. The headline I think is “Panic at the Disco” however this doesn’t say anything about them, just their name. it is not clear what the headline is, this isn’t good because its good for the reader to be drawn in by something. There isn’t really a left/right third as the cover lines are placed all over the place which makes the magazine look exciting. The cover lines play a big role of inviting the readers and I think this front cover does just that. The cover lines state lots of band names, which is good and a lot like MOJO magazine. The cover lines big up the magaziene and makes it sound like the best in the world for example it says- “UK’s Biggest Guide for Gigs” and “Exclusive Story”. This makes the magazine sound like if you don’t read it here, you won’t read it anywhere else. There is not much information on the front cover which makes you want to read more from the inside and what the cover lines say, this means you would buy it to read it, this is good.
I think this cover has a slight uniqueness to it, because generally other magazines have a lot of information on the front cover but where this one doesn’t you have to buy it to read it, this is good because it entices people like they want to read more. However, I do think that ‘NME’ is similar to ‘Kerrang’ music magazine, this is because they share the way they used an image of a whole band, rather than just one member of a band like other music magazines (MOJO). The font, colour scheme, type and even the way it is laid out is a lot like MOJO’s.
The audience for NME magazine is not really gender specific as it appears to not specify to the gender but by the lifestyle of the reader. I think the lifestyle would be a fast paced person, interested in music (new music). This magazines appears to be distinctively for people who go to gigs and events, they can find out everything that’s going on in this magazine which is an advantage for NME. The age for this magazine would probably be from teenaged till their late 20’s, they probably don’t have a full time job as they obviously go to gigs and events a lot. I don’t think NME specifies the wealth of a person however the magazine is only £1.99 which means almost anyone can afford to read it fortnightly. NME has a wide range of different audiences but it is mostly “trendies” and “people in the know”. They are mostly likely to be individualists looking for any way to be “different”, probably by the new, obscene music in NME, they are probably looking for a way to vary their music from everyone else’s.

(The picture used is not the front cover I deconstructed)

MOJO magazine deconstruction

The front cover shows a mid-shot of a band member, he is singing into a microphone this could pursue that the picture is a candid shot, the man appears to be not posing for the camera. The image is a plain photograph which has been turned to high contrast and there appears to be an orangey-red tint to him, this means he fits in with the colour scheme of the magazine (red, white, grey and black). The blackness of the background man makes the man stand out well, showing that he is the main focus of that month’s magazine. I think this works well because the high contrast of the man on the sharp black background creates a grungy kind of feel to the magazine. The picture looks as though it is a candid shot as the man appears to be not posing for the camera.
The masthead says ‘MOJO’ which is clearly the name of the magazine. It is placed behind the mans head which I don’t think works well because all you can really see is the M and the O, this means that if you have never seen the magazine before you probably would not know what the title is, as its not very clear. There is a banner along the top of the magazine that shoes the free CD and a few things that are inside the magazine, these things stand out well so this entices the reader to read on. There isn’t a clear headline on this front cover because all of the cover lines are pretty much the same fonts and colours however it says “IGGY & THE STOOGES” in a large white font (like the title) which could suggest that it is supposed to stand out well. The cover lines appear to be all about bands, there are lots of band names placed all over the cover which suggests that it is a music magazine. I think all the band names work well because if people are browsing magazines in a shop and a band that they like is on the front cover then they might take a double look, and end up buying the magazine.
The magazine cover is quite unique in the way that they have used a black background, you don’t tend to see black as white is usually used. Also the changed contrast of the image is quite unique as they never do that on glossy fashion and gossip magazines however this magazine is quite a lot like ‘Uncut’ music magazine because they both used sans-serif fonts that are bold as well as being dark and grungy looking, unlike the freshness of the life-style magazines.
The font plays a lot of importance in this front cover as the colours and fonts help to create a modern, comic-book feel to the magazine making it easy to read from a first glance and from a distance. The font on the front cover appears to be a lot like the font on the front cover of NME (also a music magazine). I think this is good because it draws people in easily. The font is Ariel narrow. I think the dark colours along with the red and white suggest that this magazine could be for a male, this is because there are no stereo-typical “girl” colours on the front. I think the age would probably be for young/middle aged men. This is because all of the bands are not “new music” they are generally old bands that are perhaps making a come back. I think the occupation of the person buying the magazine varies as the magazines specifically about music, I think it’s probably for someone who has a great deal of interest for music. I think the person buying this magazine would be quite wealthy as it costs £4.10, this is expensive for a magazine and there are other cheaper music magazines. This makes me think that the reader would have to be dedicated to music so much to want to buy it monthly. I think the reader would either be a mainstreamer or an individualist, this is because the bands on the cover are very well-known (mainstream) however it’s quite individual to have such a passion for music- the read would clearly have to be fanatical about music.