The document analyzes different elements of an NME magazine issue featuring Dizzee Rascal on the cover. It examines the front cover, contents page, and a double-page article spread. Some key connecting elements across these sections include: a consistent red, white, and black color scheme; informal language; similar bold sans serif fonts; and layouts that position major images and text on the left side. The analyses suggest these design choices aim to appeal to a predominantly young male audience through a masculine style.

1. Task 2a
Analysing the Front Cover of the
NME Magazine
David Rose

2. Denotation/ Connotation
• A picture of Dizzee Racal squatting
down with a big smile on his face.
• The way Dizzee is squatting down along
with the background, you can connote a
party scene and the quote suggests that
Dizzee is wanting to spread party joy
around the world.
Genre
• NME is a British journalist magazine
however you cannot tell the magazine is
British from the front cover.
• Rock, alternative and indie music are
mostly associated with NME but with
Dizzee Rascal on the front cover, that
may suggest rap and other genres also
come into NME.
Rule of Thirds/ Masthead
• The cover lines, masthead and even the
main part of the image are all on the
left hand side.
• We tend to look towards the right hand
side of something and with NME doing
this they are kind of breaking the rules.
• The masthead is also on the left hand
side. The masthead is very bold, plain
and clear.
• The fact that the masthead is like this
suggests that the magazine producers
are trying to target males due to the
boldness of the masthead however that
is not suggesting that females don’t
read this magazine.
Model
• Rap has a big male following and Dizzee Rascal is mainstream.
• The way Dizzee Rascal is dressed in a casual way so the working class can relate to what he is
wearing and the young people can.
• Dizzee Rascals stance seems to look like he is reaching out to his fans so again people can
relate to him.
Main Coverline/ Coverline
• The main coverline is quite informal
with the use of the word ‘man!’ in
particular.
• The younger audience can relate to the
way Dizzee Rascal talks as it may be a
way they talk.
• The fact that they’ve had to put Dizzee
Rascals name on the cover suggests
that not everyone buying NME will
know who he is.
Layout
• The masthead, cover image, his name
and the main coverline are all in a 4
strip layout.
• This allows the name to stand out so
any readers who may not know Dizzee
Rascal from the image.
• The use of the tilted text for ‘DIZZEE’
suggests that he is rebellious. It
suggests the Dizzee likes to be noticed
as a rebellious person and people often
link rap with rebellion.
Barcode
• Its conventional to have a barcode on
every magazine front cover.
• This barcode is found at the bottom right
hand corner.

3. Camerawork
• The camera shot of Dizzee
Rascal is a medium close up
shot which is conventional for a
magazine front cover.
• Dizzee Rascals stance is
unconventional for a front cover
so it is not a typical medium
close up shot that you would
expect.
Strapline
• The word ‘SPECIAL’ makes the
strapline look more exciting and
without the word ‘SPECIAL’ it
wouldn’t be as enticing.
Colour Scheme
• Red, white and black.
• Plain and bold masthead.
• Leaning towards a male
audience as it is a bold,
masculine choice in colour.
Target Audience
• Dizzee Rascal is used on the
front cover to target a younger
audience.
• ‘Kasabian’ is band which are
widely known and a more wider
range of audience will want to
read about them.
• Middle class students may also
be wanting to buy a magazine
with Dizzee Rascal on the front
cover as they might be people
trying to reform their identity
and to find something different.

4. Task 2b
Analysing the Contents page
of the NME Magazine

5. Layout
• The layout of this contents page is very simple
and easy to understand.
• It is easy to understand what page you have to
go to for what you want to read about and that
is because the main pages are down the right
hand side of the page.
• The paragraph at the bottom of the page give a
description of what else is in the magazine and
that come under the main image which
suggests that the image is linked with that
paragraph.
Fonts
• Sans Serif has been used for the headings on
this contents page. This has been done so it
makes the headings look bold, plain, modern
and clean which make the headings very easy to
read.
• Serif has been used for the body text and this is
a bit unusual to do in a modern magazine
however NME have been around for years and
they seem to have certain traditional
characteristics about their magazines such as
using Serifs on their body text.
Language
• There is an element of humour on the first line
of the paragraph at the bottom of the page
‘Thank god the sun has disappeared, eh?’. This
gives off a friendly, informal tone and the reader
can relate to this sort of language.
• There are lot of imperative verbs used in the
paragraph also such as ‘get’, ‘play’ and ‘listen’
and this is done because they are trying to
persuade the reader to go that specific page.
Main Image
• The image shows that this singer is possibly
going on tour and the fact that there is an
image of this suggests that you can read
about her tour in this magazine.
• The coach suggests she is travelling on a
tour regionally.
Masthead
• The masthead is similar to the front cover
which shows there is a consistent theme.
• It is bold, clear and upper case lettering
which makes it simple but effective as it
does the job and doesn’t need to be
anything special.
• The white is used on the black background
which again gives the contents a striking,
masculine look about it.
Boarders Around Images
• The boarder around the main image gives
the look of a physical photograph
something which you would see in a
postcard.
• The black boarder which goes behind the
image and the paragraph at the bottom
looks like a flight case which you would
associate with bands travelling on tour.
Rule of Thirds
• The main image and small paragraph at
the bottom are both on the left hand side
and that is because that is the main part of
the page and you read from left to right.
• The main page numbers and a small
advertisement for NME are both on the
right hand side.
Brand Identity
• NME’s logo is in the top left corner by the
masthead.
• There is also an advertisement in the
bottom right hand corner of the page
which is telling you how subscribing to
NME will give you cheaper prices.
Date
• The date is in the top right hand
corner underneath the masthead
and this is conventional for
magazines.

6. Page Numbers
• The main page numbers are down the right
hand side of the page.
• They are in the colour red which matches
the NME title.
• In the paragraph at the bottom they have
put page numbers in there for people who
would be interested in that specific thing.
Target Audience
• You would say the target audience based
on this contents page is predominantly
males.
• The bold plain colours used on this page
make you assume this is for males. It is
clear and easy to read.
• There is also quite an attractive female on
the main image which you would assume is
there to catch males eye.
Shot Types
• There is a medium shot on the female
who is on the main image.
• I think they’ve used that so that you can
see the coach in the background which
suggests she’s travelling on tour before
you even read the bottom paragraph.
Sub-headings
• The sub-headings on this page are in a
white colour with a black background
which again gives it a very basic effective
look.
• They are in capital letters and are bold
which makes them clear and easy to
read.
• ‘TOURING SPECIAL’ is similar to the
other sub-headings on the page
however this one has some sort of black
fade going through the middle of it
which coincides with the black
background which has a kind of white
fade going through it.

7. Task 2c
Analysing the Double Page
Spread
of the NME Magazine

8. Basic Layout
• They have used one whole
main image for one page out of
the double page spread.
• The masthead covers near
enough half of the second page
of the double page spread.
• The article written itself is
actually quite small comparing
the other things that are on the
double page spread and this is
because they want to give you a
big indication at what Dizzee
Rascal may be talking about in
this interview.
Main Image
• The main image is of Dizzee
standing up against a wall
spraying graffiti on it.
• The fact that the wall is full of
graffiti on it may suggest that
Dizzee Rascal may have got up
to no good as a youngster
compared to now where he is a
big mainstream pop star.
• Dizzee’s stance seems to give
an impression of mischief which
again links to the graffiti that he
may have used to get up to no
good.
Font
• The font on the headline is very
big, bold and in upper case
lettering which gives it a similar
look as to what the contents and
front page headline was like.
Use of Space
• The producer has used one whole page to put Dizzee Rascal on
it.
• They’ve pretty much covered up half of the second page with
the masthead, with pictures of beer and a stereo at the
bottom of the second page which suggests that Dizzee might
like to party.
Colours
• The text is black on a white background which gives you an
indication that this magazine is for males as it is very simple
choice of colouring and it seems to just get you straight to the
point of reading this text.
• Dizzee Rascals red coat stands out ahead of everything because
it is a bold colour on lots of plain colours. This suggests that
Dizzee might be a bold and interesting character.
Use of Images
• The images that are underneath
the article give you an indication
that Dizzee Rascal likes to party as
there are empty bottles of beer
and a stereo which you would
suggest dance music would be
played off.
Language
• The masthead ‘FROM TAGS TO
RICHES’ comes from the saying
‘from rags to riches’ which
suggests that somebody has
worked their way up from the
bottom.
• However the use of ‘TAGS’ instead
of rags suggests that Dizzee Rascal
may have been in trouble with the
police in the past and now the use
of ‘RICHES’ suggests that he has
turned his life around.
Design
• The overall design gives it a very
masculine looking double page
spread.
• The masthead is very masculine
as it is bold, black and upper case
lettering.
• The images are also quite
masculine with the graffiti and the
beer bottles make you
automatically think that Dizzee
Rascal may be trying to relate to
males in this magazine.

9. By line
• This by line gives you a big
impression of what this article
is going to be about.
• ‘2009 has been Dizzee Rascal’s
year’ suggests that this is the
reason why NME have had him
to be their main cover story in
this issue of the magazine.
Grab Quotes
• ‘his amazing story’ suggests
that there is a lot to read about
Dizzee Rascal and that there are
a lot of interesting stories that
he can tell you about his past.
• ‘last six haven’t been bad
either’ suggests that he is an
act that has been growing and
getting bigger and bigger and
that is possibly another reason
why he is the main cover story
in this magazine.
Overall Impression
• My overall impression of this
double page spread is that it is
masculine looking and is
probably aimed at males. That
doesn’t mean females
wouldn’t read it.
• The colour scheme of this
double page spread are a very
bold choice of colours. White,
black and the red coat again
give this double page spread a
very masculine look.
• The images of the beer bottles
and Dizzee Rascal spray
painting a wall again give off a
masculine look at things. It also
shows the rebellion behind
Dizzee Rascal which maybe
some of the male readers
could relate to.

10. Task 2d
Identifying the Elements that
Connect the 3 Different Parts of
the Magazine

11. Colour Scheme
• There is a common colour scheme of rad,
white and black throughout all 3.
• It is white text on a black background on the
contents page whilst the double page spread
it is black text on a white background. The
front covers cover lines are white so there is a
consistent colour scheme throughout.
• The colour red is used for the NME logo on
both the front cover and the contents page
however to keep the colour scheme
consistent they seem to put Dizzee Rascal in a
bright red coat on the double page spread.
They seem to do that so he is noticed which is
what they want the NME logo to be also.
Language
• There is an informality about the language
throughout all 3.
• The use of ‘MAN’ on the front cover is
evidence of the informality I am referring to.
If this magazine was aimed at upper class you
would not expect to see terms such as ‘MAN’
being used.
• On the first line of the contents page you see
‘Thank god the sun has disappeared, eh?’
which again gives off an informal tone
particularly with the word ‘eh’.
• On the double page spread you see the use of
the word ‘TAGS’ to basically describe being
arrested. This again highlights the informality.
Font
• The font choice and type are all similar
across these 3 elements.
• You will see the titles on all 3 of these are
all Sans Serif.
• They are also a similar font size and all 3 are
very bold.
• They are all upper case lettering also and
upper case lettering is used for both the
headlines and the sub-headings on the
contents page.
• The contents and the double page spread
both have a drop cap at the start of their
paragraphs which are written.
Layout
• The main image across all these 3 elements
seems to fall mainly on the left hand side.
• The main image on the front cover could be
seen as central but Dizzee Rascal is even
leaning towards the left hand side which
makes me think whether that’s a common
theme.
• The masthead on all 3 of these elements
are at the top of the page and start from left
to right. ‘FROM TAGS TO RICHES’ still goes
from right to left however it does it in an
unconventional way as the text ends up
sitting on top of each other instead of going
in a straight line from left to right.