Genesis of the NME

8/7/2019 Genesis of the NME

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How the style and layout of the NME has changed over the years...



1952 1956The NME announces its arrival by

publishing the first singles chart. Itemsof interest are generally boxed off and head profiles are the favoured graphicimagery. Fonts are very varied to

match the context.

The occasional action shots are used along with stylised text (in Zambesi ).

Note how the background is oftenerased from photographs to maintain aclean black and white message board

look.



1961 1965 1969The 60s maintains the interest in the celebrities by using continuous close-up shots of the artists. It experimentsin the mid-sixties with a large broadsheet landscape format as opposed to its traditional portrait format and develops its style accordingly by using banners resembling those pasted above music halls to announce the arrival of the latest talent. Even at this stage, it is becoming involved in poll-winner events to make contacts in the musicindustry. However, in the late sixties, the hippy era brings in more artistic styles as the NME struggles to compete

with the M elody M akers continued dominance in taking a more hippy-friendly approach.



1972 1974 1977 The 70s sees a revised version of the masthead as it enters a tri-colour stage (including red) yet the design remainsin doubt as it struggles to find a formula that matches its identity as a magazine, from the billboard red style tothe electric look of the joined up writing in 77. It begins by taking a very newspaper-like approach in 72 beforerelying on powerful, stark, iconic photography that helps to finally give it the edge over the Melody Maker. Thisrapidly becomes NMEs heyday as it focuses on a clear underground sub-culture and gives it a voice. The new

layout confirms this.



1980 1981 1982The 80s brings in more full-colour content but note how it does not abandon the stark black-and-white approachto reinforce the effect of being iconic. The messy cut-up techniques shown in the cover from 81 belongs to acontinued interest in the punk and post-punk scene, reflecting Vivienne Westwoods influence on punk fashion.The photography remains powerful even when dipping into the electro-pop scene until, in 82 graphic impact isachieved powerfully by using images and text in layers. Note how the masthead has finally found the classic red

logo format as a result of the work of Barney Bubbles , a highly-inf luential record sleeve artist of the time.



1988 1989 1991In the late 80s to early 90s the NME goes full-colour but is still printed on low-quality newspaper-style paper toallow for the costs of coloured ink. Inset shots and secondary leads become more common and the masthead becomes more flexible to allow the house style some f lexibility. The menu strip at the top is now a fully established convention and much more attention is paid to the left third to help the magazine stand out on the shelves. Colour use becomes very adaptable as the photo shoots become more ambitious but lively and exciting as opposed to the

darkly serious, iconic images of the early 80s and late 70s.



1995 1998 2000The rapid surge of a variety of music scenes causes NME to shift focus between Britpop, Hip-Hop, Grunge, rave,

jungle, electronic music and other forms of cross-over and it struggles to find a look to appeal to them all butexperiments wildly with a range of different styles that, to just choose some examples, use inter-textuality tomimic other media (see 95 cover which mimics a boxing billboard), use photographic manipulation for effect and adjusting its font range to suit the scene (98 cover) or maximise the use of direct mode of address with big close-

ups of the iconic stars which is more a development of its earlier styles.



2005 2006 2006In the early to mid-noughties, the NME uses the full range of conventions that we sometimes see today, sometimeswith lavish use of colour. Since the 90s the style has been known as postmodern with the 05 cover showing howthe NME now laughs at itself, using images to refer to itself and the way it normally does things in order todecrease the distance between the magazine and its consumers. Special issues become more frequent including theNME Originals range which began in 2002 (see next slide) and made maximum use of the growing interest in

retro music by taking inspiration from its own past. Meanwhile, it begins asking readers themselves about their views on issues affecting the music industry. Could this be a symptom of the arrival of its website and Web 2.0?



2008 2009 2011The sudden mass availability of highly advanced digital technology such as Photoshop allows for many moreeffects to be applied and a wide variety of graphic styles to be employed that both fit with the subject in hand butalso work within an adaptable format. Note how the masthead, barring an indecision whether to ditch the slogan,has remained the same until 2010. Note also how the visual impact of the new media has been partnered with oftenshocking and visually arresting subject matter that reflects a more in-yer-face approach normally adopted by the

metal magazines such as Kerrang! However, note the many sudden differences in 2011......



NME Design

Rules 1 Remain iconic. Even Conde Nast, the publishers of Vogue, has mimicked NMEs bold photographic style in dealing with its icons (see above).

2 Ado pt, ada pt and im prove. The NME remains where it is today because it is a chameleon thathas changed itself according to the music environment it finds itself in. Its indecision over contentin the 80s led to establishing a very adaptable house style. 3 Brand Power . Since 1978, the NME has kept its Barney Bubbles logo in the top-left third. As anonline brand, the masthead is crucial in stamping online content to gain ownership and recognition.4 Kee p it edgy. Always known originally for its scathing criticism and sharp edge, the NME has

always worked best when it pulled no punches and went for maximum impact.



Rival DesignHaving been known as the leading music publication in the 60s, the Melody Maker doeshave a reputation for having been THE hippy publication at the time. It has always tended to follow the more popular and less niche musicscenes than the NME and, despite producingsome serious articles on suicide (see pics belowleft), it has appeared less likely to break with itsstandard conventions. On the whole, it hasbeen seen by some as lighter reading and morecolourful with perhaps less seriousness and amore fun approach, as shown in its choice of photography. Its most renowned cross-pagemasthead never had the official, iconic stamp effect of the NME.By the time it was merged with the NME in the year 2000, it had lost its trademark masthead and taken on a more pul p look that resemblessome of the cheap gossip and lads mags that

were set to make a big impact on the industrye.g. Heat and N uts.

2000

1995

NME - 1986

1993



Since Krissi Murison, the NMEs first-ever female editor, took over in July 2009, ithas meant a radical overhaul of the NME and this has been reflected in the design.

Note, first of all, how the NMEs above reflect the sort of style conventionsnormally associated with female magazines and other music magazines with alarge female following e.g. R n B.

Note how the clean look of the likes of Vogue has been integrated to allow for both

a sophisticated, mature look and to also maintain some edginess. Gone are thebox-outs, secondary leads, busy look and focus on language techniques and incomes a choice selection of the most vital, high-impact elements to create more of an adapted poster-style with simple but lush use of colour and digital

photography. Note how the masthead colour is determined by colour in the photo. Most significantly, note the loss of the original Barney Bubbles logo as noted inthis blog: Has the NME blundered ? If branding is so important, is this a mistake? Or is it simply aiming to become more authoritative and less indie-guitar-based

in order to fend off the challenge of bloggers and other sites focusing on nichemarkets? In other words, is it too affected by the long tail theory?

One step too far...?

Genesis of the NME

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