1. Conventions of a contents page

2. House style
Picture boosts
The house style very much impacts a
magazines layout. A house style is a
magazines preferred setup, being the
colours, fonts and text and image
placement. It is how a person bar the
masthead will recognise a magazine. This
therefore impacts a magazines layout and is
used for a cohesion between each edition.
Running head
Picture boosts are also another
convention of a contents page. Their
purpose is to aid the understanding of
the article. They will also have numbers
on them so the article is easy to find.
They feature in different places
depending on the house style of the
magazine, however from looking at
different examples I would say a general
rule of thumb would be down the middle
third. Because the nature of the contents
page is very informative they picture
boosts are aesthetically pleasing in a
page which is generally not as exciting.
Layout
Alleys
The running head will always feature
in a magazine contents page. It is
used for structural purposes to
explicitly show the reader the means
of the page. This is usually placed
at the top of the page so the reader
is aware of the purpose of the page
straight away, as the western way to
read is top left to bottom right, the
running head is typically featured at
the top left.
Alleys are a key feature in the
layout of contents pages because
they are used to separate the
columns in the magazine. This
helps guide the reader in which
direction to read and help
provide a cohesive structure to
Drop shadows
Drop shadows aren't as much
of a common feature in most
contents pages however they
do appear occasionally and
again depend on the house
style of the magazine. Their
purpose is to make a feature
stand out more. They have
assessed their target
audience and so the magazine
will draw to the readers
attention the features that
will appeal to their target
audience the most.

3. Font and style
Language
In a contents page, the font can
Text
Size
Colour
The colour of the text is an important
convention of a contents page. This usually
coincides with the house style in order to
create cohesion throughout magazine. With more
reserved magazines the colours chosen are
always matching and safe. However, if the
magazine is a bit more unconventional such as
Kerrang the colours will clash more.