NME magazine analysis

From looking at NME I can straight away see that the target audience for NME is teenagers, male and female and I can tell this from the male and female artists on the front cover. NME is a different style magazine to Mixmag but by looking at the magazine the audience can instantly tell what the magazine is about. However NME won’t attract all teenagers, only the ones that are interested in this type of music. With Lily Allen being on the front with her black hair and white face clearly shows the audience the genre of music because just by looking at Lily Allen you can tell she is indie/emo. The colour scheme used is mainly black, red and white. These colours suggest danger and rebellion and give the feel of an Indie/Rock look. The image on the magazine is the first thing that stands out. The picture being a medium close up instantly draws the reader’s eyes to picture. Lily Allen gives off a sense of danger by the black hair and black eye makeup and the dangerous look in her face looking straight on at the reader. The main title has different a different font to everything else and looks like the letters have been cut out of a newspaper and they have that messy look making the magazine look wacky. All the fonts have harsh sharp edges which also give off a feel of threat. The rule of thirds fits in well with this certain magazine cover as the text and picture both have their own section. However like the majority of music magazines the image is always in the middle with the text above and below or overlapping. The text is all in capital letters which looks like its shouting at the reader to pick it up and read it and gives the feel that it’s an important magazine to read.

 This contents page of NME is quite simple and easy to read. The same colour scheme from the front cover remains consistent on the contents page still using the black white and red. By using a white background it makes the contents page look easy to navigate round as the colours aren’t off putting and don’t distract the reader’s attention. The rest of the text is white black or red therefore looks presentable and tidy rather than colours all over. All the writing has been split into sections which makes it look a lot more organised rather than all over the place. All of the subheadings for each page stand out well and wouldn’t be hard to find as the white writing has been placed in black boxes with white wording therefore are straight forward and easy to read. There are two main images underneath the title and would be the first thing that attracts the readers eyes which maybe suggests the images are more important than the text as it follows straight on from the title. The images are two men singing which tells the reader it’s all about music and nothing else.

The headline of this double page spread from NME is set in the same style as the front cover. By using the same style text shows that the front cover and double page spread are related are talking about the same person. The white background is quite plain therefore the reader’s attention is just mainly set on the text and image. The image is similar to the front cover and is a picture of the main person, Lily Allen. She takes up the whole of the right hand side of the double page spread showing that she is controlling and over powering by taking up so much space. The way she is standing and looking directly at the reader suggests she immediately wants lots of attention. Again the colour scheme is the same as the front cover and contents, using black red and white to give off certain messages. However the red on the double page spread is used in Lily Allen’s clothing and the way she wears the clothes suggests she is quite manly especially from the way she is standing with the shirt on. The text is in 4 columns all on the left hand page quite crammed in closely together, there isn’t much writing as the image and title takes up three quarters of the page suggesting they are more important and what the magazine is about. From looking at the double page spread you can immediately tell Lily Allen is the total main focus, mainly from the photo, but also from the title being a quote of what Lily has said, and when her name is mentioned in the text, it’s in bigger writing and a red font.