The colour palette used for this magasine is fairly small. The main colours used are red and white. The daring, bright colours contrasting to the background image suggest that the magasine is striking and alternative to conventional magasines and wish to make an impact on the reader.
The text, similarly to the overall colours of the magasine, is red and white. The masthead is red with a white stroke to make it stand out and the main feature is white with red borders with features inside, to make the main headline attract your eye.
There is a small selection of fonts used in the cover. The masthead and majority of the features are in the same clear font whereas a few, less important or taglines are in a different font to contrast. This clearly shows order of importance.
There is a minimal amount of visual effects used because the cover is promoting a stand out look. The feature bar has a slight drop shadow to it to add effect and show its irrelevance to the main article and the masthead has a stroke effect to promote importance.
When the reader first looks at this magazine, we are attracted to the main headline reading ‘Muse’ because it is in the biggest font and in the centre of the page. This is so the audience will instantly know what the best feature about the magazine is, and will want to read it. Under this, is a quote from the ‘Muse’ interview which again, pulls the reader in to want to read more. We’re drawn to the fact that the magazine is created by ‘NME’ but any fan of the NME would probably know this already. The feature bar at the top promoting a festival survey is also very obvious to the reader; another attraction for the audience. Other articles on the cover are of similar importance because they are in similar sized fonts although the sticker creates an element of more importance
The majority of the cover elements are in alignment but a few of the text elements in red boxes are slightly cantered to give the cover an edgy feel and an overall unconventional effect.
The audience can see depth within the cover because of the overlapping elements on the cover. For example, the photo of the band is the background for the cover but two of the band members’ heads are layered over the masthead but the third member is placed beneath the feature bar. Again, this portrays a more unconventional appeal.
On this cover, the price has not been displayed, probably because it is not a cheap magazine, unlike magazines such as ‘OK’ and ‘Heat’. Also, the barcode has been placed in the bottom right corner but against normal convention, has been placed on its side. This might be due to continuing the more ‘zany’ look.
There are two promotions on this magazine, one being the feature bar at the top, promoting a festival survey and another promoting ‘Spotify’. The feature bar isn’t in a box but is separated by the strong outline and slight drop shadow on the text. The ‘Spotify’ promotion is placed on a red sticker and is slightly cantered in order to make it more interesting to look at and therefore makes the audience likely to read it.
There is no web address which could be due to the popularity and fame the magazine already has and doesn’t particularly need one.
The main image for this magazine is the photo of the band ‘Muse’. It is used as the entire background and we can see props of typical indie/rock band instruments (drums, guitar) in a recording studio location. This represents the band in a clearer light and lets the audience know more about the style of music that ‘Muse’ play. The shot is slightly high angle which allows us to see more of the location and the tilted effect of the band members reinforces the alternative, different type of music.
In software such as ‘Photoshop’, the heads of the band members have been cut out and layered so that the heads appeared on top of the masthead but otherwise the photo has been kept the same and was probably taken in a studio with instruments surrounding them.
Colours in the picture probably didn’t influence the colours used in the text other than the black in their costumes makes the white in the text easier to see. Also, two of the band members have white T-shirts as part of their costume and that may have influenced the use of white but unlikely.
There are no other images on this cover. This allows the audience to concentrate on the main feature which is the band ‘Muse’.
In terms of composition, the conventional grid has been used. The centre frame includes the image of the band, in the top left, the masthead has been placed and other articles are placed in the squares to the left, right, bottom left, and bottom right and top. This contrasts to the main theme of being unconventional but is clear to read and fits in all the articles with ease.
The cover has appealed to its target audience because it is young yet more sophisticated and can talk more maturely using tone and register. These appeals to the target audience of males aged late teens to early 20s who are likely to be at university and going through the more careless stage in life. The promotions of the festival survey will be appealing to the target audience because the target audience is likely to take part in festivals. The ‘Spotify’ promotion is also appealing to the target audience because they are likely to listen to music on-the-go using headsets and walkmans. Therefore, downloadable music is very popular to their audience.
Other magazines that the target audience is likely to buy include the ‘Indie Rock Magazine’ (IRM), ‘Indie – the independent style magazine’. I think that university students are at the age where they like to keep in touch using the latest technology and hearing about the latest events, this has lead me to believe many people in the target audience are on ‘Facebook’, ‘Myspace’ and ‘MSN Messenger’. These would be good places for the NME to advertise their magazine. Also, because they are living the university life, they may be going to parties or doing a lot of studying which means that during the evenings they don’t watch television. They are more likely to watch programs/films late at night. On the other hand, I think that many people in the target audience will make time to learn to play an instrument that is played by an indie/rock band member – meaning that another good place to sell the magazine is in guitar/drum shops.
From the articles that are placed to the right of the cover, I believe that the magazine includes much more adult themes including ‘Jamie T – Live… in a toilet’ and ‘Wild Beasts – Talking sex… on a lake.’ These are topics that are more interesting to someone who is experiencing a life of drugs, sex and rock and roll compared to a 13 year old girl who is more interested in make-up and hair. The register is more mature “if everyone slags us off”, this shows that the target audience is more street wise and understanding of colloquial language in articles about sex and festivals.
There isn’t an appeal for new customers, probably because of the popularity the magazine already has and to keep costs down because it is a weekly magazine. Also, there is a lot of bonus content on the NME magazine website.
The NME magazine (New Musical Express) is published by IPC Media who also produce magasines that range from ‘Hair’ to ‘TV Easy’ and ‘Ships Monthly’.
Also in the NME range of media products includes an online website, TV, radio and mobile. On the NME website (nme.com) there are offers for tickets to a range of gigs and festivals including ‘Shockwaves NME Awards tour 2010’ and music artist’s concerts; Billy Connolly, Fever Ray, Green Day, Hot Chip, Jamie T, Kerrang! and Pink.
The website offers opportunities to buy tickets, watch music videos, subscribe to the NME magasine, shop on the online store, subscribe to NME on your phone, read the news and reviews, and look at the photo galleries.
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