Billboard Contents Page Analysis

This is the contents page of Billboard magazine and its corresponding cover page. It is clear that the cover page links well with the contents page as the same colour scheme is used throughout. this establishes a house style altered to match the features image, this is am element that readers of Billboard magazine expects and immediately defines their unique house style. The layout of the contents page is very organised, neat and sophisticated. This vibe of organisation lets the reader feel that all the features are easy to manage and access by corresponding images, anchors and page numbers. The main colour scheme of the magazine is a rich orange tinged mustard colour with a dominent black and a luminous white, this is mainly used for the text and to emphasise stories and make them the focus, however we are drawn to the deep red box which is listed second on the feature section. 

Our eye is caught on the largest photograph as it is an image of 'The Lumineers' who are the main feature artist of this issue, they are seated on a sofa looking quite relaxed and calm, this laid back feeling represents the bands aim and attitude towards their music. The other photographs of stars are rolled down along the bottom of the page, they all include a short cover title with an anchoring brief blurb on the segment included with one image of each person/artist it relates too. Using a variety of different artists such as Taylor Swift, 50 - Cent, Warren Hayes etc... allows the magazine to open is readership to a much wider audience as they are able to cover a wide range of music (Country to Rap/R&B.) 

The Magazine has three sections which are titled "Charts" "Features" and "Department" and in case of this issue a special on indie rock band "The Lumineers", This keeps the layout easy to understand 

and establishes a firm house style that the reader would expect to see running throughout the magazine.  All the images running along the lower half of the contents page are close ups so the reader can depict their facial expressions and feel a relationship with that certain artist, Billborad have purposely chosen majority of the images to not be giving direct eye contact to readers, this is only used for the image of "The Lumineers" and "Marshall Crenshaw" as the magazine see these as important sections within this magazine and deserve the most attention, so both of there images use direct eye contact to build a relationship with the reader.  

I really like the simple easy layout of this contents page, everything is chronologically ordered and this gives off vibes of clean cut and sophistication, this is defiantly an element I would like to protray in my own music magazine. I believe that having correlating images and text along side each other avoids over complication, I will however be making page numbers on my music magazine a lot larger as this is an important element.