Metal Hammer Contents Page Analysis

The Metal Hammer contents page has quite a neat house style as it is set into separate sections throughout each of the 3 pages. The spelling and use of grammar is formal suggesting it is aimed at an older, more mature target audience. It also has a formal, serious mode of address as the text doesn’t seem to be aimed to be friendly towards the reader and does not convey a chatty, informal tone. For metal hammer there are 3 whole pages that have been used for the contents showing that the magazine clearly has a lot of information inside if it needs 3 pages just for the contents. The space that is used provides the magazine to include more, bigger and better quality photographs, more text and therefore more information.

Each page shows typical connotations of a rock magazine as it has used the classic colour scheme of black, white and red emphasising the dark rock vibe. The use of mainly just black on the white background makes you focus on the actual contents of the page not just the appearance of the background, so the plain background doesn’t draw focus from what is actually important. There are some uses of white text for example on the title and on various page numbers which have a red background so that they are eye-catching and stand out from the rest of the ordinary text.

The main typography is simple but still effective as it attracts attention to the right areas, showing which areas could be most important. There are mainly three fonts which have been used, one large bold font for the title, headlines and sub headlines, one that is slightly more plain which has been used for the rest of the text and one that has only been used for the title. This suggests that the bolder font has been used to make the headlines and sub headlines stand out more and to suggest that they are of more importance. The headlines and sub headlines are also a bigger size font relating to the idea of making them more eye-catching than the rest of the text. The different font that has been used for the title conveys more of a dark gothic vibe and also has a red background that looks as if it is blood dripping down the page also suggesting a darker tone to the magazine. The page numbers in the column of page references are in a plain red font colour which is slightly bigger than the main text, making sure that they are noticed by the reader.

All three contents pages include lots of images, making the page more interesting and persuading the reader show an interest in what’s actually there. They also draw attention to the page as an image might be the first thing that a reader would notice and look for. The contents of the image also suggest a dark rock vibe from the appearance and facial expressions of the people featured in the photographs. The use of the drop cap on page two makes the first real section of writing stand out more than the rest as it is bigger and bolder. The use of language is both a mixture of formal and informal in different areas and aspects of the pages, on the first two pages a more informal, welcoming tone has been created to approach the reader in a friendly manner, whereas on the third page which includes the main list of contents, they still have this friendly manner but it is slightly more serious as it includes the real information that the reader needs to know.