NME is a weekly British music magazine that has been publishing since 1952 and is known for its coverage of punk rock artists. It started as a newspaper and changed to a magazine format in the 1980s. The masthead features the NME logo in red and white in the top left corner. Cover images usually feature bands or singers and text above and behind provides information. Larger cover lines promote the main stories while smaller lines advertise shorter pieces. The contents page lists the stories and their page numbers.

1. Magazine Front Cover Analysis
Sam Hill

2. NME
NME stands for New Musical
Express and has published
weekly since 1952. It first
started as a newspaper and
then in the 80’s changed their
publication to a magazine
format. NME is well known for
their articles on punk rock
artists.
Masthead
Selling Lines
Bar code
Some what a
date of magazine

3. Masthead & Selling Line
NME is the masthead of the
magazine. It is a well known
logo of the NME magazine. The
main colour schemes for NME
is red and white. It is always
found in the top left hand corner
with the meaning of the
abbreviations underneath.
Sometimes the main theme of
that weeks magazine is found
above the logo such as the one
to the right.

4. Main Image
The image on the cover of NME
is usually a band or singer of
some kind. Text can be found
above and behind the image.
The setting of the image can be
anything from just a plain white/
black background to a recording
studio like the one in this image.

5. Cover Lines & Main Sells
The cover lines of the
magazine are ‘Jamie T’, ‘ Wild
Beasts’. ‘Muse’ is the main
cover line, meaning they are
the main story in the
magazine. It also might mean
that, that story has the most
pages whereas the smaller
cover lines would only be on
one page or a two page
spread.

6. Contents
The band index tells
readers what band
is on each page.
This is advertising a
subscription for the
magazine.
This is part of an article that
is found in the magazine.

7. Contents
Title of the contents page.
This tells the reader the
main stories and where
they are in the magazine.
Date of the magazine.

8. Pages
‘Radar’ is title of
the section of
the magazine.
‘The Teenagers’ is the title
of the article.
Small side stories.The text above gives
readers information about
the band.
The image
covers one of
the two page
spread.

9. Q
Q is a monthly music magazine
distributed from the UK. Similar
to NME it doesn’t always
publish news about popular
music and often has articles
aimed at older readers. Q also
has it’s own radio station.
Masthead
Selling Lines
Bar code

10. Masthead & Selling Line
‘Q’ is the masthead of the
magazine, it is also the logo.
The logo is usually found in the
top left hand corner.
Underneath there is ‘Britain's
Biggest Music Magazine’,
implying that it is the best and
well known.

11. Main Image
The image on this magazine is
Dave Grohl, a well known
musician in a surreal desert
background, with a guitar in his
hands. This tells us that the
main story in this magazine is
about him.

12. Cover Lines & Main Sells
The cover line for this
magazine is ‘Exclusive
Interviews.. Foo Fighters..
Why Dave Grohl’s in a field of
his own’. There is also a
second cover line that says
‘Giant 62-page summer
guide’. These cover lines
advertise the content of the
magazine.

13. Contents
The title of the page.
The article featured.
The contents does not tell the
reader what is on every page.
Large image of a band.
This content occurs every months.
Date and website of magazine.

14. Pages Image fills the first page of the double page
spread.
The text is very formal
compared to NME.

15. Comparison
Q and NME are very similar; the logo is found
in the top left hand corner and the logos are
both red and white. The main sells of both are
in big white text in front of the main image.
NME have a colour scheme of red and white,
whereas Q uses red, white, black and gold.
Q’s text layout is very formal, meaning that text
is along the side and image is in the middle.
NME has more of a messy text. The text is all
over the cover. The format and colours of the
cover reflect the audience that the magazine is
aiming for.