2. Front Cover
• Masthead: NME logo - gives the magazine a brand identity. The bold font
and block colours is a part of NME’s iconography - easily recognisable to
both old and new readers. Protruding from the masthead are names of
various bands who are also featured in the issue.
• Main image: a portrait photo of Lou Reed, whom the main article is about.
The image is in black and white to convey the melancholy and grief regarding
Reed’s death. There are no other images on the front cover - this symbolises
how this issue is a tribute to the artist. Reed is using indirect mode of
address and is not looking into the lens which reflects how, for many people,
his death is difficult to face.
• Cover line: all the cover lines featured on the front cover are to do with the
Velvet Underground lead. This once again emphasises how the issue is
dedicated to him. “Lou Reed” is in bold and underlined which further denotes
this. The dates of Reed’s year of birth and year of death are below his name,
implying his passing away and readers will immediately be aware of this.
• Puffs: the puffs are placed in the bottom left corner so as to not take
attention away from the main image and also to keep all the writing on one
side which gives the cover a more minimalistic effect. The words “greatest”
and “last” are underlined to highlight the span of Reed’s career and how
much of an impact he had to the rock music scene.
• Typography: the typography is uniform - all the fonts are the same and are
suited to the house style of NME. The fact that the fonts are sans serif, and
not serif, adds to the minimalist effect.
3. Front Cover
• Strapline: “THE PAST,
PRESENT & FUTURE OF
MUSIC” - the strapline is
located in the bottom right hand
corner with the barcode and
price tag to keep the front cover
as minimalist as possible. The
slogan implies that NME is
everything that embodies music.
The use of three different tenses
connotes how the company has
a history and legacy, the
magazine is at the cutting edge
of the music scene and it will be
around for a long time.
4. Contents Page
• Layout: the layout of the contents page is relatively
straightforward. There are three columns:
- In the top left hand corner of the first column
(where people typically read first) are the usual
features within the magazine - “On Repeat”,
“Radar”, “Reviews” etc. Below are the “Features” -
such as the tribute articles to Lou Reed and articles
on MGMT and Connan Mockasin.
- The second column is another feature of NME’s
magazines: “THIS WEEK WE ASK…” - this features
articles and interviews from various reporters at
NME about artists such as Circa Waves and
Courtney Barnett. It provides an insight to the
content within the magazine and also provides
colour with the images of the bands. Without this
section, the contents page would be only black,
white and red, which would be less attractive to the
reader.
- The third column features less-likely-to-be-read
information (e.g. The NME Band List). This is
because it is on the right hand side and readers
typically do not begin to read from the right.
• Typography: a lot of the typography is the same
font and they are all sans serif. This is suited to the
house style. The headlines are capitalized and
highlighted in black to contrast with the white
background and make them stand out, as well as
easy to read.
5. Contents Page
• Plug: labelled as a “shameless plug” – this is
a phrase that is commonly used to
demonstrate promotion of something one is
responsible for. The use of multiple
exclamation marks and asterisks gives this
plug an informality to it and also provides
some humour. The plug itself is advertising
the magazine’s subscription feature (where
readers can receive each issue in the post as
soon as it is released). The world “special” is
emphasised through being underlined and
surrounded by asterisks – this gives the
reader the impression that this offer is not
around often and they should subscribe to the
magazine before they miss out.
• The plug is conveyed as a poster being taped
to the wall with red sticky tape in the four
corners – this adds to the informality of it and
also helps to attract a reader’s attention
amongst the black and white writing.
6. Double Page Spread
• Headline: “The Week” – the
headline is in a bold and sans
serif font (suited to the
contemporary and modern
house style). It is in white so
that it contrasts greatly with
the dark background.
