Contents research

This is some research that i have put together for the contents section of my magazine production.
The contents is probably the only section of the magazine that is looked at in the shop before the magazine is bought and for this reason it is crammed with information, pictures, subscription offers and competitions.
The reason for this is that the contents is responsible for giving the reader as much information as possible, off the shelf. If it does this well then the reader will likely buy the magazine so it is a pivotal component of the magazine.

The contents pages in magazines vary, some use more images, others more text (as seen in the image), but many share common features, they often use sections that the information is divided into, they all feature page numbers and many use a small image of the cover to advertise subscriptions or describe the cover story.