NME front cover analysis

1. Masthead
The masthead is in a very simple and block font
which is very bold in a solid white colour. This makes
it pop out against the red background and makes
sure that the readers are easily able to identify the
magazine. It is in the top left corner of the magazine
and isn’t very big compared to the rest of the features
on the magazine, this shows the readers don’t need a
big indication of what the magazine is called as the
readers already know the name of the magazine.
Colours
There are only three main colours included on the
magazine which are red, black, yellow and white. This
creates a more simplistic feel to the magazine but also
really makes the front page stand out, attracting also
the readers to the main image of 5 artists such as Pete
Docherty. The bold yellow colour against the red really
highlights what the editors think are the most
important part of the magazine and the readers will be
extremely interested in.
Main Image
The main image consists of 5 differentartists the main one at the front being Pete Docherty.He is larger than the rest of the
features on the page showing he has the most importance than the others artists or more relevant to the readers. Pete
Docherty was the main singer and guitarist of ‘The Libertines’ whowere and are still an extremely famous indie/rock band.
Showing Pete on the frontcover couldattract a lot more readers because they want to find out if The Libertines are
possibly getting back together or if Pete is releasing his own music. He is looking straight at the reader and looks very
serious showing he has some serious music plans? All the artists seen are wearing different types of clothes, eachshowing
possible different genres included within the magazine. The furthest on the right is seen in a leather jacketwith a gothic
looking t shirt presenting a more heavy rockmusic. Tothe left of him wesee someone in a top hat and a brownjacket. This
could present folkmusic included in the magazine. Then there is Pete Docherty whois normally seen in ripped jeans and
ruffed up t shirts but in this image he is wearing a blacksuit jacket, blacktrousers and a white shirt, again showing he is
getting more serious about his music and growing up. To the leftof Docherty wecan see Paul Weller in a suit and tie, he
could represent an older generation of rockmusic. The artist to the left of Paul Weller is wearing a blackleather jacketa
low cut black t shirt witha fashionable hair cut, this couldrepresent a pop rock genre
Mode of address
There isn’t a lot of
smaller detail about
whats included in
the magazine on
the front page. This
could show the
reader isn’t
interested in
smaller details and
knows what he/she
wants to read.
Most of the text
included mentions
an artist and not
much else about
them, showing the
readers don’t need
a description about
them to know who
they are. Also
within the image all
of the artists are
looking directly at
the reader showing
all their new music
coming out is
aimed directly at
their audience of
the genre they are
presenting.
Font
The font used
within the whole
front cover is sans
serif and very
blocky. This makes
the page and the
text itself stand out
a lot and attracts
readers to different
parts of the front
page. Within the
different parts of
text some words
are a different
colours making
them stand out
more such as the
’50 new records’ is
in red making it
stand out amongst
the rest of the black
text. This makes
the reader take
more notice of the
highlighted words.
This is also seen in
the featuring
section which lists
many different
artists featured in
the issue. The
artists highlighted
maybe more
important or more
relevant to the
reader.