Analysis of NME magazine-Front cover and Contents

Analysis of Front cover and contents pages of “NME” magazine

The first thing that strikes you about this particular issue of NME is the contrast between the bold central image, featuring oasis, and the vibrant more colourful left hand side of the page. The main image, a portrait of Liam Gallagher, is printed in black and white for greater facial detail and contrast.
On the other hand, the left thirds littered with a mixture of extremely bold blacks, whites and reds. These act as symbolic signifier for love, hat6e and peace which are all part of the rock culture. The sell lines are all written in bold white which reaches out to the reader. The cover lines rarely have more than 3 words to make them short and straight to the point. For example the first cover line reads “Klaxons”. Regular readers or fans will instantly recognise this. Overall, this technique is a more effective way of grabbing the reader’s attention.
The masthead too, which contains the NME logo with the date line just beneath, is instantly recognisable even to non readers. It acts as a brand which the reader can identify with and that can be reproduced for any other forms of media they produce such as websites and forums. Another key feature of this particular magazine is the sell line which reads “Free oasis posters”. Similar to the rest of the front cover it is short and to the point. It will attract any oasis fans and acts as a hook-in to encourage the reader to buy it. To make it stand out it is positioned at the top of the page along with a black background and orange font. The word “oasis” is written in a less informal font which, akin to the NME logo, acts as a brand to the reader.
Alongside the main image is a promotion of their cover story Oasis’ “UK tour special”. Like with the promotion of the “Free” posters, the text has the same bold, orange font. This shows continuity and helps the reader establish its significance. A final feature accompanying the cover story is a montage of photos from the band’s tour, which also has the “Oasis” brand, which gives the appearance of a stamp, to further the continuity and idea of ownership.
The contents page also uses the same mixture of black, white and red text. The NME logo is also positioned at the top of the page. The word “Contents” is replaced by “This Week” which is written in a bold white font highlighted by a black background. The image, showing “The Mighty Boosh”, a popular act amongst NME readers shows the lead member jumping in the air whilst on stage. It offers representations of the lively and energetic “New music” scene.
The picture is accompanied by the headline “The Boosh’s big tour took off”. This metaphor emphasises their success and encourages the reader to look at the article. At the bottom centre of the page is an advertisement encouraging readers to buy a subscription. This obviously aimed at regular reader’s who are keen fans of the magazine. It is separated from other text as it is surrounded by black bordering. The text itself is separated by the use of a different, bolder font written in yellow. The advertisement encourages the reader to buy a subscription by reminding them of the massive savings they can make- “subscribe today and save over £45”.
The first 1/6 of the page contains a “band index” section where all the bands covered in “This week’s” NME are written in alphabetical order, with the page numbers given for where in the magazine they are featured. This helps the reader access information quickly which is an essential tool for any magazine. If the reader can access information quicker to access the articles they are most interested in reading about, then they are more likely to buy the magazine. This will therefore mean greater profits for the production company- IPC IGNITE which is part of the Time Warner Company.
The final ¼ of the page covers all the regular features. It is categorised into sections with subheadings which are highlighted in black with white text which gives a 3d like appearance making it stand out to the reader. The regulars include a “News”, “Radar” and “Review” section. These regulars are there to safeguard the continuity of the magazine and keep the features that their readers have the greatest interest in. A final feature of the contents page is a red arrow at the bottom right of the page stating that “The UK’s No1 gig guide starts p58”. This acts as a hook in encouraging the reader to flick through the pages.
Overall, NME is a perfect example of a successful music magazine. Although it is a weekly magazine, the editors spend much time organising and arranging the front cover and contents pages because they are the first thing the reader sees. It has to grab their attention and focus on their interests otherwise no-one will buy. Music magazines are very clever at researching their target audience and finding ways to reach out to them. NME’s front cover is glossy which makes it stand out and makes the colours and images more vibrant. It is also reasonably priced at £2.20 which is perfect for teenage readers.

How does the front cover and contents pages entice the reader?

The Big Cheese is a typical rock/metal music magazine which aims to attract a particular audience. The mise en scene is full of colour and vibrancy which anchors the surrounding text and images. A wide variety of greens, reds and whites are used which connote danger and excitement which is what the rock/metal scene is all about. The main aim of the front cover is to tempt the reader into buying the magazine.
The front cover immediately suggests that the target audience are male teenagers aged between 13-18. My reasoning for this is the fact that all the bands mentioned including “Sum 41” and “Angels and Airwaves” are typical of both age and genre. The linguistics too, reach out to that particular audience and references to their interests. It assumes the reader already has previous knowledge of the music and culture.
The magazine has a very traditional layout. The title and lead story are both printed in bold at the top of the page to emphasise its significance. The headline is the main sell line which the editors hope to hook the audience in by. The text, which is written in a mixture of old western and military style fonts connotes importance and authority.
The headline “ALEXONFIRE” anchors the main image which almost totally covers the final ¾ of the page. The image has a central focus involving all 5 band members who are all dressed in period costumes, holding guns and pick axes. This represents a violent attitude. Also, all band members, including the other bands shown, are white which suggests it has a prominently white audience.
The image itself is in sepia tone which adds more definition and detail especially facial features which makes it stands out on the shelves. This is emphasised by the fact that all the band members look as if they’re staring out of the page, catching the reader’s attention. All other text is written using the same military style font, emphasised by a white background. Hook inns such as “Free posters” give the magazine a certain exclusivity.
After the front cover, the next most important page is the contents. This aids the reader by giving a sample of what the magazine is about and what it represents. In this instance, the first page is taken up by a “Vans” shoe advertisement. This is stereotypical footwear of the rock/metal scene and is effective in attracting that type of audience.
In this instance, the contents are spread over a double page which gives the reader a larger and easier grasp of what the magazine has to offer. It kis also categorised in numerical order which also makes it easier for the reader to comprehend. The left hand side is started with an editorial which is written in white and highlighted by a black background. The editorial is basically an attempt to encourage the audience to read on by giving a brief overview of the main article.
All pictures are bordered with blue which connotes coolness and gives it a funky edge. All subheadings are in red which both signifies its importance but also separates it from any other text. With the contents there is a larger variety of fonts and layouts which gives a quirky appearance. There is also a section mentioning all those who have produced the magazine. This gives the reader an appreciation for the effort gone into the making of the magazine. The magazine offers a large variety of interviews, competitions and festival advice which are all key interests to their audience.
It is split into 2 sections- “REGULAR” and “KINGSIZE”. “KINGSIZE” gives the impression that the magazine is big and has a lot of textural content. It also suggests that it is highly popular. Many of the pictures are accompanied by captions which use lots of word play and exaggeration to stress their exciting and exclusive article. They entice the audience to read on.
In a similar way to the front cover, many of the pictures used
Present the band members as looking out of the page almost as if they’re reaching out of the page.

I took this shot with a local band. I decided to take a low angle shot looking up towards the speaker. I added lots of contrast to emphasise the texture of the speaker, the "PEAVEY" brand and the guitar. This adds greater detail and makes the image more interesting.


I purposely used the blue wall to create a neutral background for the image. The fact that it is in colour brings out the varied colours on their clothing and highlights the darker colours and makes them stand out. I might use this image as part of the contents pages.

Like with the first photo I decided to take it in black and white to emphasise facial detail and shadow. I used a white wall for a neutral background which means there is also a fair bit of shadow. The image is a typical portrait with a central focus. I might use this as the front cover image. I may have to re-take it with the mic positioned further to the left.

I may also use this as part of the contents pages. The image has also got a central focus with the same white background. By adding contrast I have also varied the shades of the background and highlighted the patterns on the subject's shirt. I feel this adds a great effect.

This image is very similar to the previous two images with the same use of contrast. Tjhis could also be used as part of the contents pages or as part of an article. It is a less formal image because of his smile and could give my magazine a more relaxed and friendly feel.

In this image I have significantly increased the brightness to exaggerate the effect of colours. There are lots of primary colours used in this photo which are very eye catching.

Over the past week I have been testing out a few sample photos in an attempt to find possible final prints for my media magazine. I have used a HP R607 digital camera and then used HP software to edit them. The main things I have edited is the brightness levels along with contrast as well as colours. I have focused on the use of black and white because you can get greater detail in the images. Also the contrast makes the images stand out more. In some images I have also tweaked the sharpness. I hope to use some of these in my final work. Therefore I will hae to scale and measurethem to make sure I can have a good balance of text and images.

Questionnaire analysis

I have now begun to create my questionaire. I then plan to hand out the questionnaire to people of varying ages to gauge their opinion. I will then publish any quantative data on an excel file which can hopefully be published on the blog. From these results I plan to make decisions on the genre of my music magazine and aim to account for the needs of my target audience. At the moment I aim for my magazine to be a rock/dance genre. To improve my questionnaire I need to include questions on people's lifestyles and othe rinterests. I also need to understand what type of articles are of interest to them. For example, I need to know whether they like personality sketches, confessions or interviews.

Magazine article analysis "Super Jam"

Analysis of a magazine article- Thursday 15th January: My analysis was based on an article titled "Super Jam" from etc magazine. I focused on looking at institutions (who made the magazine), the representations (how people are represented in the article) and layout and construction. I feel I effectively completed this task. I thoroughly explained how it attracts it's target audience, how the layout, including images and bordering, have made it a successful publication. However I needed to improve it by discussing what type of article it is and the use of colours as signifiers. TB

media studies portfolio

I intend to use this blog to explain my decision making process throughout my portfolio. I will discuss and analyse my work- images, texts and sketches.