2. Example: NME

3. NME target audience
NME’s target audience age is 24.
The social class of NME is ABC1
65%, so the main readers are
middle class. 52% of the
audience work full time, 7% are
working part time and 29% are
still studying. 69% of readers
are male and 31% of readers are
female. The readership of NME
is 369,000 and circulation is
40,948.

4. Images
For the front cover NME have used a picture of
the new popular band ‘peace’. They do this to
draw readers attention to the magazine, the
band being new so some of the readers won’t
recognise the people, so they will want to read
the magazine and find out who the band on the
front cover are. The picture of the band are
posed in a simple way, but their clothing style is
different and will make the reader want to find
out what they sound like. The picture is also
aesthetically pleasing and nice to look at, it is
good quality, so readers will more likely buy it
because of the picture.
For this interview, they have used a picture of the
singer, Lily Allen. A picture that hasn’t been seen
before because it has been taken from an NME
photo shoot, and this will get fans excited, because it
is a new picture. The pose of Lily has attitude, so the
reader will want to read this article because it looks
interesting and maybe controversial. The picture also
takes up half of the space over the double page, to
make it look like there is more information.

5. Words/font
The words on the front cover vary to very bold
and large, to smaller and not as bold. The
words that are in larger fonts tend to be what
is on the front cover, so the band or musicians
on the front cover will also be mentioned.
These larger words show that this magazine is
predominantly about these musicians and
there will be a large portion of the magazine
dedicated to the band. There are also smaller
words that don’t stand out as much, these
also tell you what is also going to mentioned
in the magazine, but these will be a smaller
part and maybe share a section.
Inside the magazine the text and fonts vary a
lot, depending on the type of music and attitude the
article about it, so for example the article about Lily
Allen is feisty and has attitude, you get this from the
quote that is used above the article and the busy font it
is in, where as in comparison to the more sensitive
article about Kurt Cobain, from the images, soft fonts
and the mention of his ghost you get the idea that this is
an article about his life. You can tell these are very in
depth articles because of the writing to picture ratio is
about even, where usually pictures would take up more

6. These articles are focusing on young and
upcoming musicians, that have fans but
they haven’t been out long enough to gain
the respect of an older band. The singers
are also younger and in their 20’s so to keep
with the young feel NME use more coloured
fonts in these articles, that are also a lot
brighter. The photographs also used are a
lot more colourful, the colours being
enhanced to make it more eye catching so
more people will read this and the singer
will gain more fans. But the colour theme of
black font on a white background is still
imminent.
Colours
The colours in each article vary, but there is a
definite colour scheme that has to be
followed of the black text on the white
background, this makes the text easier to
read and stands out next to the pictures. The
band being written about also changes the
colours, as seen here older bands like
blur, and older musicians like David
Grohl, they have already gained respect and
they are professionals in what they do, so the
articles are more simple and
sophisticated, keeping to a black and white
clean theme, with the odd bit of colour. The
photographs are also a lot more toned down
and simple, being in black and white etc.

7. Layout/captions.
The layout of the front cover is very simple, but this is
effective. NME always have a reoccurring theme of
having a portrait shot of a band that the magazine is
concentrating on, then the NME logo in the top left
hand corner, then the name of the musician featured in
large bold font, which is essentially a caption, so the
reader can indentify who the musician is, and then
other smaller things that are featured in the magazine
in small font around the edges of the magazine. This
layout is always similar for each magazine so it become
recognisable to readers.
The layout of the inside of the magazine also carries out a
certain theme that each magazine must follow. This will
usually run along the lines of one large picture of the artist
being written about, then the text will be next to or
underneath the picture. There also might be captions
displayed in boxes that overlap other boxes or the picture
itself. The kind of things in the captions usually are quotes
from the interview or shortened down summary fact files.
The captions are put on or near the pictures to give the
band being pictured some identity and so the reader
knows the two things are related. The layout of the main
piece of text does anchor the picture, they connect and
look related to you know that this article is about the band
pictured.

8. Codes and conventions.
In the codes and conventions for magazine front covers the
title of the magazine has to be the boldest text and only
one or two words, so the reader can automatically identify
which magazine it is. NME follows this code. The font has to
have a high contrast to the background, so if the
background it light the font has to be darker so it stands out
and is easily read, NME follow this convention also. There is
a code that the cover line must only be one or two
lines, but NME doesn’t have a cover line, so it cannot follow
this convention. The main image on the cover must be eye
catching to engage the reader, I think that NME do this well
and the majority of their images are very eye catching. The
main image must also relate to what is inside the
magazine, and NME follow this convention, for example
one of the magazines has Ian Curtis on the front, so this
would suggest this issue is about Joy Division. Colour
scheme is also a convention, and NME have a colour
scheme as in their logo is always in read, except when it is a
special edition of the magazine, for example on their Jimi
Hendrix special anniversary edition the NME logo is pink
and purple . Short tag lines in entice the reader and give
them idea what is also featured in the magazine must be
used, alliteration can also help, NME use tag lines, but don’t
always alliterate, but they still can be catchy, e.g. ‘Glasvegas
play lasvegas …Finally’. And the text must run from left to
right downwards, so it flows, which NME do.

9. Codes and conventions, double spread.
The Page Spread Shows that majority of the
double page is taken up by the photograph of
the interviewee and this is shown on two of the
ones shown on this page, (The Lily Allen and
Kurt Cobain spreads). When an article takes up
a double page in a magazine, they allow the
title to bleed onto the other page in order to
show the reader that the pages are linked. The
heading of the interview has to be the one
written in the biggest text so to give the
audience insight as to what the interview is
going to be about. The images shown shows
the kind of feel the article has to it, so the Lily
Allen one is confrontational and has attitude
where as the Kurt Cobain one is more nostalgic
and bitter-sweet. There also is a dropped font
on the first letter to show the reader where to
begin. The text size used throughout of the
magazine and interviews are no bigger than
11pt. Panels/Small Panels/Quotes are used to
break up the images to make it more
interesting to read. The article is usually a 1000
words or more used when writing up an
interview. Articles are written in an informal
way, so make the reader feel more at easy and
like the interview is 100% genuine, also so it
easier to read.