Analysis of NME Front Cover

This front cover has the whole front page covered by one main image, which is one of the members of ‘Mumford and Sons’ which is the main cover line of the magazine, this main cover line has been written in red, this is to catch the reader’s attention, there is a another element of typography written slightly over the top of this, this typography looks naïve as if it has been written as a note over the top, this is to give the viewer a little more insight into the magazine article. The main title of this magazine ‘NME’ has been written in capital letters, this is because it is the initials of the original title;’ New Musical Express’, and this has been written under the main title but in a smaller font, this is to keep with tradition and keep the fact that it was called ‘New Musical Express’ many years ago, this makes this magazine more familiar to the older generation. This title has a house style, the title is in the same place in every magazine, and in the same style, and this is so it will be easily recognisable in the shop alongside other magazines. Above the title is the release date of this issue of the magazine, this is to let the buyer of the magazine know if they have the latest issue of the magazine, and there is the price of the magazine, this is next to the date. The colours used in this magazine cover are white, red and black. Red has been used to attract peoples’ attention, red catches people’s eye as it is a bright colour and normally connotes danger as it is on ‘warning’ posters, so this is a good colour to grab people’s attention. The colour white has been used to contrast against the dark background of the photograph so it stands out well. Lastly the colour black has been used in the top right hand corner to stand out from the box which has been coloured in white. This box has been coloured white because it wants to stand out from other parts of the front cover, as it is advertising that there is some ‘free’ posters in this magazine. The name of the artist who the ‘free’ poster is of has been written in the colour red, so ‘Bob Dylan’ stands out against the white background and attracts the eye of the reader. There is a barcode at the bottom of the page which has the price and date. The subheading on the front cover of the magazine has been written in red, these are the names of the bands and artists featured in the magazine, then underneath these titles there is smaller font has been written in white which tells the reader a bit more about the articles in the magazine which the artists feature in. Overall I think that this magazine cover is very successful in targeting its audience of male ABC1 aspirers between the ages of 19-25.