NME Magazine Analysis

NME Magazine Analysis: Front Cover

The colour scheme of NME is White, Red and Black. With the masthead of the magazine being red and the majority of the plug being black with some red or white to enhance its importance, this is shown by the cover line being in red and not black. In this issue, the background is white, this is not always the case with this magazine and often the background is of a colour that is not in the colour scheme. The bright red coloured masthead is nearly always placed on the top of the magazine so the magazine is easily recognisable and distinguishable on a magazine shelf as the red masthead is easily visible on the white background as it stands out clearly. Above the masthead, there is information on important

The main image on this cover of NME is a mid-shot of the artists who form Crystal Castles with the woman being in more focus than the male. This reflects their performances as the female tends to take a similar lead role on stage also. The cover line is also referring to the female of the duo which enhances the reasons behind the main focus of the image being on her and why she is placed in front of the man. The fact that only the woman has eye contact with the reader suggests the article could be based more around her than the male member as he may take a backseat role.

Above the masthead, there is information on important articles within the magazine, the potential buyer could see this without picking up the magazine as it is placed at the very top so it rises above magazines stacked in front of it on the magazine shelf. This is a good technique to intrigue the reader into looking further into the magazine and attracting buyers.

The masthead of the NME magazine remains the same colour, font, size and position throughout every issue which allows frequent readers of the magazine to know what to look for when searching for the magazine and also to build up an iconic brand image for the magazine which could draw in new buyers.

The price of the magazine is stated near the barcode in the bottom right hand corner and fits its target market as it is lowly priced to suit the low disposable income budget of students and younger adults.

NME Magazine Analysis: Contents Page

The plain, bland title gives this contents page a newspaper feel which is a lot more formal than the majority of the front covers and the mixture of the informal cover and formal contents page gives NME a quirky edge.

The central image is the main article within the magazine and is larger than all the surrounding images which enhances its importance over them. This gives the reader more intention to read through the whole magazine.

The colour scheme for this contents page is plain and simplistic with the only two colours being black and very faint grey. This gives this page a newspaper feel and the images contrast this highly as they are bright and colorful. The promotional offer in the bottom corner completing contrasting the plain colour scheme as the magazine want people to notice the offer making the magazine further money.

The offer which advertises a cheaper price also reflects the target audience for the magazine as students have low disposable incomes so would may not be able to afford the magazine at its full, low, price. This offer therefore appeals directly to the target market of the magazine.

Despite the formal image created by the title and colour scheme, informal trends are shown on this contents page through quotes casually introducing the artists appearing on the images which are often of an informal nature.

The large stories within the magazine are represented by images, the larger the image, the more important the story. The less important articles are in the “Plus” section, with no images or description enhancing their unimportance.

NME Magazine Analysis: Double Page Spread

On this double page spread, one page is taken up completely by an image and the second page is where the text for the article lies. This is a common convention for many music magazines.

The colour scheme for this double page spread is predominantly black and white with the background being white and the majority of the text being black. However, some text on the right hand page is blue or pink which are similar colours to the woman's hair and lipstick which creates a small colour scheme within the two pages.

The main title of the image corresponds to the image as the word “twisted’ fits the man who is twisting away from the camera and is not looking directly at the audience. Furthermore, the “firestarters” matches the fact that the woman is lighting a cigarette with a lighter therefore creating fire.

The quotation on the bottom corner of the page is said by the woman and this is emphasised to the reader through her name being shown in the same colour as her hair. This makes it easy for the reader to distinguish who said the quote.

The bulk of the text for the article is relatively small in comparison to the size of the title and there is not a lot of information on the double page spread. This could highlight how blunt the artists could have been in the interview and not revealing a lot of information which is emphasised by the fact one of the artists is not even looking directly at the camera.