NME magazine analysis - 27th February 2010

NME magazine analysis - 27th February 2010
Front cover

The magazine is called 'NME' which has connotations of youth and hatred. This suggests that the magazine is amed at young men who might find confrontation appealing. The fact that it is written in 3 letters lessons the violent image and suggests a youthful feel. The red could link to the confrontational aspect, yet the white highlighting reduces the violent connotations of the word 'enemy'.

The magazine is promoted using only one band 'The Maccabees'. This reinforces the idea that the audience is aimed at men because the band's following is usually male, though the attractive men might appeal to women. The fact that the magazine relies solely on Oasis suggests that the magazine is confident that their audience will like the band. The image of the band is a medium long shot, however the focus is on teh faces of the band as the cover lines cover a lot of the image. The image is central on the page suggesting its impostance, this suggests that the band is central to the magazine. their facial expressions are serious which portrays their personalities and attitudes towards being dedicated, serious artists. The image is a promotional shot which is of good quality, which tells us that the magazine take pride in making their magazine of amazing quality. The colours are generally red and blue which have connotations of a male audience, they're bold and striking which implies that the band are youthful, current and their genre of music is exciting, but their clothing is smart-casual showing that they take pride in their appearance and are professional musicians.

The cover lines are in red and white, which relates to NME's bold, blocky house style. Red black and white all contrast against eachother to link to the connotations of loud angry music. These colours are 'male friendly' but will also appeal to some females. The white font is used to break up the high contrast blues, reds and blacks.

The language on the magazine is very simple on the magazine, suggesting that the magazine is successful enough to sell the magazine as it is, without providing a lot of information about what's inside- it tells us that the magazine is independent and popular. 'The band who buried landfill Indie' tells us what genre of music the magazine writes about and also tells us that the band are loved for doing something different with music. 'Plus' is written in red which draws the eye and makes you read the list of artists that are featured e.g Eminem, Mombay Bicycle Club and Paul Weller; the magazine features both new and old artists which will appeal to a range of ages.

The image of the magazine is very clean and not very cluttered unlike Kerrang! or Rocksound suggesting a sophisticated magazine. However, the red cover lines give off a younger, less serious feel.

Contents page

The visual style of the contents page is very clean and neat, as it is on the front cover. The page numbers and artists are listed down the left hand side of the page, again in the red and black, bold font which follows the house style. The rest of the page is mainly 'what's on your free CD', it gives us details of the exlusive offer and what other people think of the tracks, this will appeal to people that haven't heard these songs before and would like to know a straight off review of the songs.

The header is 'Domino Records founder Laurence Bell has handpicked the 16 songs that make up this very special compliation...' We're told who Laurence Bell is so that we know he's an important person to do with the music industry that NME is involved in, it makes us want to consider his opinion and makes us want to hear the tracks to see whether we agree with his opinion. 'Hand picked' suggests that NME have put a lot of effort into bringing you a good quality 'free' CD.

The image of the free CD is gold and black, adding class and suggests good quality again. This colour might also appeal to a younger audience. The background, similarly is a dull gold colour to match the colour scheme of the contents page. The text is all in black, but the small NME logo on the image stands out like a sore thumb, which might suggest that you will not get this free CD and tracks anywhere else, it reminds you that NME are important and linked in with 'Domino' who's logo is placed under the NME logo.

There are 3 main fonts in the whole cotents page. One is a bold, stretched font, which may be Impact (in bold) which presents each artist on the CD. Times New Roman in italic to present the name of the song, this is in a smaller font as the name of the song might not be considered as important as the artist that sings it. And finally, Times New Roman in an even smaller font for the description. Times New Roman is the most used font in history as it's easy to read even at in a size 8 font, this helps cram everything the editor wants onto one page without it looking crowded.

Everything is in columns which is easy to red. The page numbers, free CD info and offers are all in sections which is easy to access and easy on the eye.

Finally, the addition of the offer of 'only £1.57 and issue!' will appeal to younger people because they're often tight for money, this is seen as great value as the magazine is usually £2.30 an issue. They have then included lots of contact details and ways to subscribe to the magazine wushc as telephone and email which gives the reader choice and variety. The small thumbnail of a previous issue shows how the magazine always looks, NME logo located in the left top hand corner with the red and black fonts, which tells us that the magazine is easily recognisable, it also gives us a sneak peak about what other artists they include in their magazine.

Double page spread

The pictures tie into the main image on the front page of the magazine- the band are in the same order and are wearing the same clothes with the same colour scheme, which is easily recognisable to the reader when flicking through the magazine if they're looking for that particular article quickly without looking at the contents page. The other image is of the band playing music together, this shows us who plays what and what role they play in the band. The picture is a medium long shot which gives you a view of the majority of the boys, which will attract a more female audience. Again, their facial expressions are serious, the lead singer's arms are crossed which suggests that the band are serious about their musical career.

The colour scheme is more masculine- blues, greens reds annd pale greys and greens contrast in a slightly calmer way than the front cover with it's busy colours that suggest a more eccentric magazine. They have used the iconic red and black fonts to stay with their house style.

All of the text is written in columns so it looks neat and professional, this suggests an intelligent reader that's keen on learning about music, and wants all of the relevant information in the right place- simplicity is key for this type of reader.

Language probably plays the largest role in this double page spread- 'The feel good read of the year' makes you want to know why the article is so feel good- it suggests that the article is going to be lighthearted and happy which attracts a different audience to say Kerrang!'s audience. The pull quote in the middle of the article says 'After coming onstage you realise even buying a pint of milk will never be the same again' this is a key point as to what the article is about, and therefore helps you decide whether you're going to want to read the article- it's almost like a headline. It's a quote from the lead singer Felix White which fans will consider important. The sub-heading talk about 'headlining Brixton Academy'. The most important names are bold and written in red to stand out from the pale yellow background and the black text 'The Maccabees' and 'Emily Mackay' are recognisable names to anyone that reads NME.

There's one drop cap at the start of the article which is large, bold and black which indicates where the article starts for people that just want to get on and read the magazine.