Magazine Contents Page Elements

From my research into existing examples of contents pages, I have identified a number of conventions which are essential to making my contents page suitable for its function of informing the reader of what is included and where to find them within the publication. The main thing is that is is essential that it makes it easy for the reader to navigate both on this page and throughout the whole magazine so to do this clear, large page numbers, distinct categories and possibly colour coding.

Unlike the front cover, contents pages include a variety of images, with one main image, in some cases replacing the text and this is something I want to include as a collage of images will look more aesthetically pleasing and appealing to the eye of a youthful target audience which my magazine will be aimed at. Similarly to front covers the necessary information should be small and unobtrusive such as the credits for the front cover images, as the contents page is usually packed with information, it is important that this information doesn't take up too much space.

A digital subscription box is a feature which not every magazine uses but I want to use in my own work as it is an effective way of increasing sales by encouraging readers to subscribe. A letter from the editor is another feature which not every magazine uses and I will consider including this as it is a direct and personal touch to the magazine.