This document analyzes design elements across the front cover, double page spread, and contents page of an issue of NME magazine. It discusses the magazine's use of color, images, fonts, and language to create a distinctive house style aligned with its target indie/rock genre audience. Dark colors, close-up artist photos, informal quotes, and details about live shows establish NME's brand identity as a long-running yet modern publication focused on authenticity over positivity. Consistent elements across issues, like the contents page layout, further NME's recognizable stylistic conventions.

1. By Georgia Gregory

2. Front Cover The words “Bloody Hell!” are
the main focal point on this
front cover. It is quite an
aggressive statement for a
cover story; however this fits
with the indie/rock genre as
they are commonly associated
with anger and violence. This
creates the impression that
NME is different to other
conventional magazines as
most other magazines wouldn’t
use this language on the cover.
The recognisable house style of NME
is created on this cover through the
use of colour. The red colour of the
logo has been used multiple times
across the front cover; this helps to
create a distinctive theme that the
audience can easily recognise. Using
the same colour as the logo also
helps to make the logo more
identifiable and makes the cover
more aesthetically pleasing as there
is a clear colour scheme.
Only 3 different colours have been
used on this cover (black, white
and red). The colours make the
cover look very simple, and the
organised layout adds to this. This
makes the magazine look more
masculine, showing NME’s main
target audience are males. These
three colours are often used on
the covers and throughout the
magazine, this creates a
recognisable house style.
There is one image on the cover, which
is a mid shot of the band “Royal Blood”.
They are both wearing black clothing,
which is stereotypical of the rock genre.
This means they also fit in with the
colour scheme.

3. Double Page Spread The colours used on this double
page spread are all very dark
(mostly black and grey). This dark
colours are often associated with
the rock genre and so they fit
with the genre of the magazine.
Black is used a lot throughout
the magazine which also adds to
the house style of NME.
The entire left page is taken up
completely by an image of
Graham Coxon (Blur). It is a
close up of his face, which
shows his lack of expression and
means the audience will
instantly recognise him as he is a
very well known artist. NME
often have features about well
known, older artists that the
audience will all know; this
makes NME appear like an
established magazine that
includes everything from their
genre.
A pull quote has been used
as the headline of this
article. It says “My book
would be about Blur, orgies,
vomiting and Vicodin”, this is
a very revealing quote that
wouldn’t be appropriate in
many magazines. The target
audience for NME are 17-30
year old males, and so this is
suitable for them. The quote
fits well with the typical rock
and roll lifestyle that people
expect artists to live, and so
this suits the genre of the
magazine.
The language is very informal, which creates a friendly tone throughout the text. The reader will
feel like they are close to the artist as they are being truthful and sharing personal information. This
shows that the magazine is more real than magazines for the pop genre, as they are usually more
fake and talk about only positive things, whereas this magazine shows it isn’t scared to say the
truth. This is appropriate for the rock/indie genre as they are usually associated with being reckless
and not being afraid to tell it how it is.

4. Contents Page
The main colours on the contents page
are black and white. This creates a
modern, stylish brand identity. However
the use of minimal colour gives the
magazine an established, classic feel
that makes NME appear to be a high
class, long-running magazine that is still
up to date and trendy.
The font styles also support this, as
there is a mixture of the newer style of
sans-serif fonts, mixed with the older,
more conventional serif fonts.
The language used is mainly informal,
which creates a friendly, inviting tone
that will encourage the audience to
read the magazine. The pull quotes
seem very personal e.g. “I ended up
crying in the first aid tent covered in
blood” and “I’m really nervous”. These
quotes will make the audience feel like
they are very close to the artists as they
are sharing their personal lives and
telling the truth. Many fans of the indie
genre are very involved in all aspects of
the genre, rather than just the music,
and so this will appeal to them.
NME Magazine always show pictures
and information about recent and
upcoming gigs as live shows are
important in the indie/rock genre.
There are three pictures on the cover
that have been taken at a live show, and
so this is conventional for the magazine
and it adds to their house style.
If you look at a number of recent
NME issues, the contents page
always looks very similar, with the
same title at the top of the page
with roughly 6-7 images of artists
that are featured in the magazine.
This creates a recognisable house
style that the readers will enjoying
seeing each time they open the
magazine as it is in a format they
understand and enjoy.