Contents page influences (Research into similar products)

After reviewing my contents page page i believed it lacked any real quality, i wanted to make my magazine look as if it was made by a professional and the contents page lacked this by far.

I therefore went to look further into other magazine contents-pages for influences on how i can lay it out better, whilst creative and professional.

Here are the best two out of the magazines i have looked into:

This layout is stylish and simple, it doesn't have a lot of graphical content but
is still effective. It has good mixture of picture and text, some magazines that set
out a mixture text images can  make you confused in the way they jumble it up; not
this magazines contents page though.

This magazine gives most of the features credit by
adding a picture at the top. I like way they remind
you the magazine is XXL and what month the issue is for.
If the page got detached from the magazine, someone viewing
it could mistake it for a rival Hip-Hop magazine e.g. Vibe magazine.