Conventions of an NME contents page

The contents page typically uses a pale background that's pale grey with red, white and black text. The contents page uses red because it's a powerful and intense colour and it uses white and black because they contrast well and stand out of the grey background. The image isn't actually of a person but the building is being represented as magestic because the camera is tilted up at it which links in with the headline, 'Our photo tribute to three decades of gigs at one of the world's greatest music venues'. The magazine has an ideology where music is important. A piece of media language that shows this is the 'Band Index' on the left side of the page which shows that there is a lot of music featured in the magazine. There are five different sections on the right side of the page that show what the magazine is split into. The other contents page shows that the headlines stay the same every week which creates continuity.

There's one main image on the contents page of Ricky from the Kaiser Chiefs and a reference to what page the interview is. The main image take up about 2/3 of the page but there's a box along the bottom and down the right side of the page taking up the rest of the space.

The box along the bottom has pictures of people and probably page references whereas the box along the side splits the magazine into sections: Gig Guide, Live!, Reviews, Features, Radar and News.

Each of these has black or white text which makes it easy to read against the bright colours of the boxes. The actual background to the page is white though.

The contents page also advertises it's own magazine at the bottom which shows that NME is a commercial institution as it's selling for money.