1. NME Analysis
Firstly, the masthead is a bold sans serif font, with a red text with a
black and white border. The sans serif text, and bright red colour
connote a rebellious image and give the magazine a sense of attitude
and arrogance as the colour and shape of the masthead is quite “in
your face.” This may appeal to the target audience, as they may be rebellious in
nature, and as NME is targeted at teens to adults, they may be drawn to a more
alternative magazine that doesn’t conform to the mainstream image of being clean
cut and “well behaved.”
The title of NME is an acronym of New Musical Express. Replacing the full title with
an acronym suggests that the magazine is edgy. NME also sounds similar to “enemy” if sounded out phonetically.
This again connotes the idea of a non conformist attitude, and may suggest that the magazine is targeted at
opinionated people who are passionate about music.
At the top of the cover the magazine, the logo of the Reading and Leeds festival is used to help appeal to the target
audience. As Reading and Leeds are major festivals, they’re mass appealing, however they’re known for having a
more alternative line up to other festivals such as V Festival etc. Using festivals features on the cover may be
designed to attract a hedonist audience, as festivals are often associated with a hedonist lifestyle, as they’re often
associated with live music, drugs and promiscuity. Although the line ups are fairly alternative, the festivals are still
majorly popular, with a combined capacity of 170,000. This shows how the magazine isn’t targeted at particular
niche, as the festivals are massive. The red and yellow colouring of the logo remains consistent throughout the rest
of the cover, with the text of the splash being yellow. The reversed out cover line also combines red and yellow, to
enhance and get across the point that the magazine features Reading and Leeds festival. The consistency of the
colour scheme also may connote a simple, stylish element to the magazine as they don’t attempt to combine a
variety of contrasting colours, that are more commonly used on pop and gossip magazines.
The cover stars of the issue are Arctic Monkeys, with all four members appearing on the cover. The lead singer of
the band, Alex Turner is at the front, and therefore has the biggest profile on the cover of the magazine. This
suggests that the audience may be most interested in seeing what he has to say. He is also the
only member of the four, to have his mouth slightly open. This may suggest that he is saying the
most in the interview and therefore may encourage the audience to buy the magazine, as
generally speaking they’re the most interested in the lead singer. None of the band show a
particular facial expression. This may connote a slightly ambiguous image of the band, and
therefore may intrigue potential fans of the band to read into the article and therefore buy the
magazine. The colouring of the reversed out cover line in contrasting red and yellow highlights the content of the
cover line that reads “on the third album that changed them.” Existing fans of the band may be attracted by the
cover line, as they may be interested in what the change might be, and what direction their third album is going in.
The contents page of the NME is well structured, with clear headings of the sub sections. On the left hand side, the
band index is in alphabetical order to help fans find articles or features related to the bands they like/are interested
in.
This suggests that the NME audience are dedicated music fans who would appreciate having a means of finding
articles of their interest easily.
The right hand side of the contents is segmented by reversed out headings that are black background and white
text, clearly labelling the different sections of the contents. The yellow, red and orange theme remains consistent
to enhance the Reading and Leeds theme of the issue.
The 10 Tracks You Have To Hear feature covers a double page spread with a countdown style layout. The layout is
loosely fitted together with irregular sized features, once again displaying the non polished look of the magazine
that may not appeal to a mainstream audience. Each track summary comes with a picture, giving the feature a more
laidback image, as opposed to being a page of text. Some of the tracks are labelled with reversed out headers
summarising the track. For example “soundtrack sweetness.” These summaries attract the attention of the reader,
as the alliteration and reversed out headers, instantly stand out on the page.