Task 2

1. Analysis of Music Magazine One
NME

2. Front Cover
The colour scheme of this magazine is red, white
and black. The black and white colour palette
suggests masculinity as they are quite dull but
strong colours. They stand out and make the
magazine look simple and organised. In contrast
with the simple black and white colours, a bright
red is used. This immediately attracts the target
audience’s attention to this magazine as it stands
out against the white and black colours used. The
colour red connotes urgency and importance,
suggesting this magazine is important when
involving musical news.
The masthead of this magazine is typical
when comparing it to the key conventions of
music magazines. It is positioned on the left
hand side of the magazine, which means
people look left to right, following the eye
line. It is bold and stands out, it could be
seen as the dominant element of this
magazine front cover. As it is bright red, this
emphasises the fact that this is the
masthead, one of the most important things
on a front cover.
The main image is a medium close up. This
image is breaking the typical key conventions.
Although most magazines use a
medium/medium close up shot. In this image
you can see all of his body, with the shot still
remaining a medium shot. Usually the main
image is a shot from the waist upwards, so
this is unusual. The main image is also
typically a dominant piece of the magazine,
however this image could be seen as being
overshadowed by the tag lines and main
cover line which surround it.
The use of informal language suggests this
magazine is aimed towards a younger target
audience as if it was formal they would not
be interested in it, causing them to get
bored easily. By using informal language, it
means the target audience can relate to this
magazine a lot more as they understand the
words used.
The main cover line shows who is featured in
this magazine ‘Dizzee Rascal’. This piece of text
is the largest on the front cover, this means
that fans of this artist will see his name and
want to buy this magazine to see what they
have to say about him.
This magazine breaks the typical rule
of thirds convention. The layout of
this magazine is quite random. They
have not stuck to a particular layout,
or the typical rule of thirds. However,
the magazine could be seen as using
the rule of thirds horizontally as things
are almost laid out in columns but
horizontally, not vertically.
The main target audience of this
magazine would be males, in their
20s. To be more specific, this
magazine could be aimed at students
as the graffiti in the background
suggests a kind of ‘rebellious’ nature,
it usually implies breaking the rules.
The strapline suggests this magazine is
a ‘special’ addition, this could suggest
why they are breaking the typical key
conventions of a magazine because
they want it to stand out and be
‘different’.
The barcode is in the typical
place where most barcodes in
magazines are positioned. It is
very small so it does not
become a main focus in the
magazine. It is small enough
for the audience to not have
to notice.

3. Contents Page
The masthead is being continued throughout the
different pages to show organisation. It also
creates a brand identity as people will recognise
this magazine from the bold red masthead
‘NME’. The ‘contents’ added next to the
masthead shows the audience that this page is
going to show what is included inside this
magazine.
The colour scheme is also continued on to
this page, sticking with the colours black,
white and red. However, on this page the
red is not used as frequently compared to
the front cover. This is because by people
looking at the contents page means the
magazine front cover has already captured
their attention with the use of bright
colours, so they do not need to use as much
on this page.
The rule of thirds is clearly used on this contents
page. The page is split up into 3 sections. The
index page, a short article and the page numbers
of what is inside of this article. This makes it easy
for the audience to read through the page as it is
organised and not chaotic.
This date is shown in small writing. The
small writing means it will not distract
the readers attention from the
important elements on this page. This
is so that if the audience collect these
magazines they are able to see the
date in which it was published.
The language in which they used on the
contents page is very informal. It could be seen
as humorous when they say: ‘Thank god the
sun has disappeared, eh?’. It is almost like this
article is having a conversation with the reader.
Rhetorical questions make the audience
engage more when reading as they feel as if
they can connect more to the magazine , and
relate to what it is saying. Some alliteration is
also used: ‘masterclass messiness’. This adds an
element of fun to the magazine , which will
appeal to the target audience as they are
younger and are not looking to read something
extremely serious.
The boarders used around the images
have a big significance when relating
back to the genre of this magazine. The
border resembles a musical flight case.
This is what artists and bands use to
carry their things when travelling
around for different concerts and gigs.
This reinforces the genre of this
magazine which is music. It is very
suitable to have this design as it makes it
look more interesting and sways away
from the typical white or black borders
around images.
The page numbers are in black to
contrast with the red text. This is
so that they stand out and the
reader can clearly see what page
they need to turn to.
Serif font is used so that it is bold,
stands out and is more suitable
towards the specific target
audience. It is a modern font which
links with this modern magazine.
This makes people want to read it
as it shows it is up-to-date.

4. Double Page Spread
The main image is Dizzee Rascal. This
will attract fans of his, which will
expand the expected target audience
of the magazine. There is a whole
page dedicated to the main image
which gives an overall impression
that this double page spread is going
to be entirely about Dizzee Rascal. In
this image he is wearing red, white
and black. These kind of colours
connote a ‘bad boy’ nature and the
audience may be drawn in to see
what he has to say. Using these
colours is also sticking to the colour
scheme, which has been seen
throughout the front cover and
contents page. This helps the pages
link together well and everything in
the magazine looks organised.
In the background of the main image is a wall of graffiti.
This is once again reinforcing the stereotypical ‘rap’ and
‘backstreet’ theme to the featured artist in this
magazine. By constantly reinforcing this theme is show
consistency throughout the magazine, showing the
genre in which they are trying to advertise for.
Here, images and text have been
integrated. This has been done so that
there is not just a page full of writing,
which would appear boring to the
target audience. They have added an
image, which is suitable to the article,
to break up the long lines of text and
make it seem less serious.
The overall layout of this double page
spread is typical as to what you would
usually see in other music magazines. The
left page is dominated by an image,
usually of the band or artist the article is
about. Then the right page is the full
article, usually using bold fonts to
highlight specific words, or grab quotes to
show the audience what the person said
themselves.
The main title on this page, which could be seen as the masthead is bold and in serif
font to show that it is one of the most important pieces of text on this page. It reads
‘From Tags to Riches’. This is a play on words, which makes the article more fun. It
also switches the word ‘rags’ to ‘tags’ which could also be seen as reinforcing the
rap and backstreet genre. This informal text also shows how this magazine is aimed
towards a younger male audience.
The text is made to look almost
like graffiti style and is not
positioned in a specific way. As
the text is not aligned it could
reflect the ‘crazy’ side of this
magazine, showing how it is not
formal and is very different. The
drop cap is in the same font as
the masthead on this page, the
reinforces the rap genre as it is
almost graffiti style. It also draws
the audience’ attention to the
start of the article. As the page
has lots of elements which draw
in their attention, by using a
bold large letter at the start of
the article makes it clear where
they need to start reading and
draws their attention back to the
main part of this double page
spread.
The overall impression of this magazine is that they are trying to
advertise to attract youth, a young audience. This is because they
have used Dizzee Rascal as this ‘bad boy’ figure, who people can
almost look up to because he has achieved a lot in his life. It is
very informal and they focus on the fun aspects of magazines,
they do not want to come across too serious as they would lose
interest from their main target audience.