Full Analysis of a Magazine

Full analysis

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.

I this contents page there is one image in the centre of the page, this is to catch the reads eye first. This is the main focal point of the contents page because it wants to entice people to read one of the main feature articles in the magazine. Overall in this contents page there are seven photographs, this is significant because it tells us that the reader of this magazine will be more likely to read the feature articles in this magazine if there are images to go with them. Underneath each picture in this contents page has a quote which has been pulled out from the article; they have chosen to pull these pieces out of the text because they are the most eye catching piece in the whole article. This is because they want the viewer to turn to the articles as they have read the quotes and have found them interesting. This contents page has been split; feature articles, and regular articles. All of the images used tell us that they are a feature article. And in a small box in the midst of all of the image articles there are the regular features. This is because they are in the magazine every week, and the reader knows what to expect in these articles, these regular features include: reviews, a gig guide, fan mail and a cross word. Also in this magazine there is an advertisement for a subscription to this magazine. This magazine was issued in October so it is relatively near to Christmas, and this advertisement is saying that the reader could give this subscription to a friend for their Christmas gift. This is significant because it tells the viewer that the target audience of this magazine is for someone who has a lot of money, so they will be mostly be male ABC1 aspirers between the ages of 19-25. I know this because the price of this magazine subscription is £74.99, and this is a lot of money to spend on someone. Also there is a clue to the gender of the target audience as mostly all of the subjects in the images are male, so this magazine will mostly appeal to a male market. One of the IPC publications aims was to target 44% of UK men, and as they publish this NME magazine shows that they have successfully attracted a male audience through this magazine. The colours used in this contents page are very simple, black, white and red. The text is black and the background is white, this is successful because it is very clear for the reader to understand, and the colour red has been used for the advertisement in the bottom corner, this is because it has to attract the readers’ eye. The title for this contents page is entitled ‘inside this week’ this has been written using serif font, this makes the title and the whole contents page look classy as this typography is normally associated with importance.

In this double page spread, there is one main image which takes up the top half of both the pages. In this image is the same subject but in different poses, so this image has been digitally manipulated to depict the same person. The main colour used in this image is blue, therefore this colour has been continued for the letters of the drop cap, and they are the same colour as the background in this image. There are two pull quotes in this article, this is because the writer of this article wants the reader to read these first, and they are normally the most exciting parts of the text, so this will entice the viewer to read the whole of the article. There are six columns of text in this article, they are quite short, this is because the image has taken up half of the page, so the text quite inviting to read. The fact that there are six columns of body text makes it equal on each page (three on each), this makes the page balanced. There is a kicker underneath the main image and the title of the article. This gives the reader a brief idea to what this article is about. San serif font is used in this double page spread title, this is because the viewer can read it easily and will not miss read it at the bottom of the page there is a small side bar, this is advertising the NME website, which is informing the reader that there is a video for them to watch of this same article, this is significant because the target audience (male ABC1 aspirers between the ages of 19-25) of this magazine will be more interested in the visual side of the article opposed to the written article. This article is featured in this magazine because it features politics which is one of the main things that the New Musical Express focuses on. The reporter for this article has tried to put a new light on this celebrity by focusing on who he really is, they describe the strange things he talks about and the strange things that they see when interviewing him.
There are several adverts in this magazine which advertise a variety of different products, such as; converse, Snickers chocolate bar, HMV, jack Daniels and The Inbetweeners. All of these different products reach out to the same target audience. Young people like to wear converse shoes because they are very fashionable, Snickers chocolate bars are convenience food which is often associated with young people, HMV provides cheap products which young people are able to afford, Jack Daniels is a very popular drink with young people as they like to go out to parties and have a good time with their friends, and lastly The Inbetweeners is a very popular programme with young people as they are able to relate to the young characters featured in the programme.

Across the magazine, nme.com, NMETV, NME Radio and the brand's live events and awards, NME reaches over one million music fans every week. NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music, including award winning features, the latest releases, live reviews, the definitive guide to the best new bands in its Radar section, as well as a regular look back through the magazine's incredible 58 year heritage. It is published but IPC publishing. The reader ship of this magazine is 325,000