The document analyzes the design elements of a magazine double page spread. It describes how the large main image of Dizzee Rascal, oversized article title, and bold subheading are used to attract the target audience of young, male music fans. Details like the casual clothing, graffiti background, and informal language further reinforce that the magazine is aimed at a lower-middle class, masculine readership. Overall, the busy, unorganized layout with minimal white space creates an impression that matches the less sophisticated target demographic.

1. The denotation is simply what you see on the page. The denotation of a double page spread is an
article that is presented over two pages of the magazine. The fact that it takes up more space than
most of the articles shows that it is one of the main features in the magazine and so this will attract
the reader.
The target audience s the audience that the magazine is aimed towards, and this includes
gender, age, ethnicity, social class and lifestyle. The target audience for NME is white males ages
18-30 who are either middle or working class, and have an interest in stereotypically masculine
genres of music, such as rock, alternative or indie. The genre is the style to type of a product.
The article title is the name of the article, and this is conventionally placed at the top of the page
so that it is most visible. Here it is extremely large and bold. It takes up around half of the second
page, which makes it one of the first things that the reader will see. It is in a black font, which
hugely contrasts with the white of the background, making it very clear and easy to read. It is
written in capitals which makes it feel as though the words are being shouted at the audience, thus
making them seem more important. This also shows that the target audience is male, as
stereotypically, The words are not in ordered lines which makes the page seem busier.
The subheading for this article is an introductory sentence, which gives the reader more of an
insight into what the article is about. This allows them to decide whether or not they will be
interested in reading the article, without having to read the whole thing. The subheading is
designed to attract the target audience to the article, and does this by mentioning other celebrities
such as Kate Moss, who they target audience would had heard of, thus drawing their attention. The
subheading is also written in a black font, making it clear, and Dizzee Rascal’s name is in bold as it
is him that the article is written about.
The main image is the most important image on the page. It is a photo of Dizzee Rascal which
takes up the whole of the first page. This photo is used as the article is about him, and the scale of
the photo shows that this is one of the main features in the magazine. Mise-en-scene is the
elements that make up an image, including location, pose, costume, lighting and props. Dizzee’s
clothing fits in with the colour scheme of the magazine, as he is wearing a red jacket, a white shirt,
and dark jeans. This repetition of stereotypically masculine colours reinforces the focus on male
readers. He is not looking at the camera which suggests that he is not welcoming the reader, and
implies that he is guilty and doesn’t want them to know about his secrets. This is effective as it
naturally makes the reader want to find out what he’s hiding. A medium long shot has been used
for this image, and this shows some of the subject’s legs and upwards. This allows the audience to
see all of his outfit, showing us that he is dressed very casually. This makes the magazine seem a
lot less sophisticated and suggests that the magazine is aimed towards people of a lower class, as
stereotypically it is the upper class and the pup middle class that are sophisticated, not the working
class. This shot type also allows the reader to see the background, which is a graffitied wall. This
links to the genres of music that NME focuses on. Both R&B, which is the genre of music that
Dizzee Rascal plays, and rock both connote vandalism and rebellion, and so this location will help
to attract the target audience. Connotations are the ideas or feelings expressed.
The other images are the less important images on the page. They are placed underneath the
article are also relevant to the content in the article, however these images will probably not help to
attract the target audience to much, as without the article these images have no meaning. Because
of this, these images are a lot smaller than the main image.
The drop cap is where the capital letter at the beginning of the article is enlarged so that it takes
up more than one line. It is very large and bold which draws attention to the beginning of the
article, which makes the reader more likely to read it.
The article is split into columns are used to position the text. The columns are equally sized, and
so although these pages appear to be busy, they appear to be quite organised. This is more
visually appealing for the audience, as they will be less overwhelmed by all of the content on one

2. page. The fact that it seems organised shows that although the magazine is aimed at younger
men, it is not aimed at children.
The font is the style that the text is written in. All of the texts are written in black font, as this again
contrasts with the white background. The font used for the main heading is sans serif, making it
seem less sophisticated, and emphasising the fact that the magazine is targeted towards middle
and working class men. However, a serif font has been chosen for the article itself, making it look
more official, which implies that it is telling the truth.
Quotations are things in the article that are directly quoting what Dizzee Rascal said. They have
been used in the article to imply that it was Dizzee himself that said these things, making the
audience more likely to believe that the information provided is a fact.
The by line is where is tells the reader who the article is written by. This helps the reader to
recognise writers that they like, and so will help to persuade the target audience to read it.
Page numbers are placed next to the article titles to inform the reader of that page each article is
on. This helps the reader to be able to navigate through the magazine easily.
White space is the space on the page with nothing on it. Empty space is mostly hidden as the
background is covered in graffiti, which makes the pages seem busier. Graffiti has connotations of
rebellion, which links to the target audience as men are stereotypically more rebellious than
women. This also links the the genres of the magazine as it focuses on both rock music and R&B,
and they both connote vandalism and rebellion.
The colour scheme is the colours that are used consistently throughout the magazine. For this
double page spread, the colour scheme is the same as the colour scheme for the front cover and
the contents page, and includes reds, black and white. These colours appear to be more
masculine as the colour red connoted anger and aggression, both of which are stereotypically
masculine qualities and so will attract the target audience.
The mode of address is formality the language used. used again seems to be very informal. This
is because colloquial language is used to make it seem to be more conversational and friendly. It
also highlights the younger age and lower class of the the target audience, as stereotypically these
groups are less sophisticated.
The overall impression if this page is very busy, and this impression is given by the lack of white
space, and the size of the images. This gives the effect of an unorganised appearance which again
links to the fact that the magazine is aimed towards a less sophisticated audience stereotypically.

3. Main image Article title Subheading

4. White space Capital letter Article Other images