1. Aaron Bradley 12T
There is a masthead at the top of the magazine cover which straight away
catches your eye due to the impact of house colour, font and size. The
colour is red which is an on-going colour throughout this front cover and
connotes a theme of warmly, love and passion during the customers into
wanting to read more. The font is bold, stretched and big, making it stand
out increasingly more than the other writing on this page, they want this to
happen because it’s their brand name therefore they want people to
remember it and this will help to do so. The differences in colours are
‘NME’ helps it to appear even bolder due to the clash of white, black and
red.
This
magazine is an ‘NME’ - ‘New musical express’ and was one of the
many front covers I found on the internet via Google search. This is
one which I have picked out from 2008.
2008- NME Music Magazine
There is also Anchorage which helps the customers understand what the
Central Image is about. Referring to this magazine, it has anchoring
underneath, ‘First major interview as...’ this therefore gives the
customers a hint into what the feature article could be about. It directly
explains what the picture is depicting. In this magazine it has been
placed over the torso and above of there body, making good use of the
space and still allowing the readers to see who they are talking about.
They use a variation within colours but keep all the house colours the
same, white and red. They keep a difference in fonts to help signify
which words are more important than others.
The Central Image is known to be one of the most important parts of the
front cover; this is what’s seen first out of everything. This image has a
sense of symmetry towards it, again making the more attractive to look and
enticing for the readers to buy the magazine. This image is also a key purpose
into why customers will buy the magazine and will often be related to the
feature article. From this image it connotes a sense of determination and
passion due to the look on their faces and the black clothes clashes against
the pale faces showing a sense of purity within them. This picture denotes
rock and indie due to the two men being from Arctic monkeys and one
supporting Arctic Monkeys in a gig. These are both known as the Cover
Models, they are celebrities (Rock stars) therefore when customers look at
the front cover of the magazine, they have the power of bringing the
customers in, they both have a casual appearance about them which may
help entice another section of customers. They blatantly helps the
magazines selling power due to them being well known and having a large
chance of appearing in the feature article which some people will buy for
that only. They also use a direct mode of address as they are looking directly at
you, straight away making a connection with the reader.
Within the
front
cover
they

2. Aaron Bradley 12T
also have a ‘Puff’ which is a device which helps to draw attention into certain elements within the magazine. They
are often there to advertise a ‘freebie’ or promotion of a special feature. For example, regarding this it states ‘Jack
Whites shock new album, out this week’, this then promotes Jack White and will entice customers by being
intrigued into the new album. The colours which they have used are yellow and black which work great together as
they are polar opposite colours in terms of what they connote and the brightness of them, making it easier to read
the writing.
Within this magazine front cover there is a ‘Puff’ again like the magazine from 2008, this is there again to promote
something which is inside the magazine but something that they don't want to give away too much about,
otherwise they will read that and know all they want to about that article, so they say a few words to entice in the
potential customers, hoping that they will buy it due to the puff, and any of the promotional or freebies that they
state. They have made it very easy on the eye, using two contrasting colours: red and blue so that the text stands
out prominently. They also use a ‘!’ for emphasis and ‘?’ for audience involvement.
Their tagline states ‘new musical express’ this has been kept like this since early editions in 1993 and was even the
original name before it was abbreviated. This then still stands out to customers who bought the magazine before it
changed and is still keeping the core of the magazine alive. The tagline is hardly readable as the image has been
sent to the front, overlapping the tagline but this is something which regular ‘NME’ readers will already know
what it says. They have chosen a block capital font with jagged line underneath to help bring some emphasise
towards the tagline. The situation of the tagline is a common one and tends to sit just below the masthead.
The masthead for this
specific magazine still
keeps in touch with the
house colours of
‘NME, keeping the red
firmly dominant within
the masthead. This is
different from the
magazine in 2008, the
reason for this is
because they have to
understand that they
will be attracting new
audiences and this
colour of red connotes:
liveliness, upbeat,
happiness and is
sincerely vibrant,
reflecting the readers.
From the difference in
colour you can see that
the designers have
taken into
consideration their
audience as it will
have changed since the
magazine from 2008.
Although they have
still kept the
positioning of the
masthead in the same
positioning making it
more recognisable and
obvious to what
magazine it is, which
explains how they can
afford to ‘send the text
to the back’ and miss
part of the masthead
because regular
readers know the
magazine extremely
well.
The Central Image is a
collection of models,
all with very pale
faces; fitting the house

3. Aaron Bradley 12T
colour, white. They have also covered from there neck below in an American flag, still keeping the house colours
within the magazine. The image also manages to entice the younger audience into reading it due to them looking
‘indie’ with fashionable hair style. This automatically intrigues youngsters into reading it because the feature
article is most likely to be about the central image. The way the people within the central image are positioned in a
symmetric way with them appearing like a pyramid of people. With the image people so big it shouts out at the
readers straight away and again is the first thing the customers are going to see.
The Anchorage with this picture explains and fits the image exactly. The anchorage states ‘The kids are alright’
this is written in free flowing handwriting, fairly casual which interlinks into the picture in the background, as they
are looking casual and relaxed. They have also placed the writing directly over a darker surface which helps to
bring out the writing and make it more prominent and visible. It then also makes it easier for the audience to
understand what the central image will be about; as if it interests them they are most likely going to purchase it,
especially with their being a big chance that the feature article is about it as well.
They also commonly have on the front of this magazine is the: Barcode, Price and Edition. These all have to be
strategically placed on the magazine so that they are obvious to the customers on how much it is going to cost and
whether they are buying the correct edition of NME. On this particular magazine, the barcode is placed in the
bottom left and the price and edition is placed in the top right of the front cover. It says: 5 January £2.40, so from
this you can tell that it is a weekly edition otherwise it would normally just state the month and as well you can
clearly see the price.
Again, this magazine is ‘NME’ and was found on Google search although this one was from 2013, therefore one of
their newest editions.
There are many different Coverlines throughout this front cover. One which states ‘Exclusive Jarvis Cocker
Interview P4’ and another ‘Britain’s Palma Violets...’ these all signify different attempts of attracting different
audiences into reading the magazine. They tell the audience specifically the various articles which are featured
inside the magazine. These are clever attractive on the eye, so you notice all the coverlines on the front cover for
different reasons, mainly being the font and colour of the text. On all the coverlines, they have cleverly used an
alternation in opposite colours (red and blue, yellow and white and blue and yellow) these are all colours which
stand out a lot when put together.
2013 ‘NME’ Music
Magazine
Through this specific
magazine from the early
1990s’ it is evident they have
progressed to what they now
have in the twenty-first
century. This is obvious as in
this there are no: pugs, pufs,
secondary images, limited
coverlines whereas other
have 6-10 on average. So this
expresses how far ‘NME’ has
progressed and how better
their chances of attracting
customers have increased
massively.
The Anchorage in this picture
states: ‘Blur vs. Oasis’
therefore immediately you
can recognise that the caption
is relevant to the picture and
it therefore gives you a few
words of what the feature
article could possibly be
about. The colour used for the
anchorage is a white, again
one of their house colours,
reflecting against the red
background making it easier
to read as it is more visible.
The ‘vs.’ had serrated edges
which makes it more eye
catching, bringing the focus
of the customer on to that to

4. Aaron Bradley 12T
attempt to make them buy the magazine. They have made very good use of the space by putting the
anchoring below the image and using up some of the space as without this the front cover would look
and disinteresting.
They have the Barcode, Price and edition all positioned in slightly different places, the barcode is
placed in the top right of the magazine and the edition and price is in the top left of the magazine.
These are both in recognisable places but are not taking up to much room so there is enough space to
fill with coverlines etc., they have decreased the size of the writing but have still made sure that the
flow of house colours is the same.
The Central Image is two massive singers: one from Oasis and the other from Blur, these are both very
famous singers and have been for a massive amount of time, so straight away this is going to entice the
majority of people into buying this magazine, simply for the fact that they want to know what the
feature article is going to say about them. This image is in black and white, and then it was more
traditional to use that sort of imaging, it also fits into the house colours so when people see a glimpse of
this it is more obvious that it is a NME magazine. The image on the left is a personal mode of address
as he is looking directly at you, making you feel involved into the magazine already, this is another
sales technique.
The masthead of even the earlier editions of the ‘NME’ magazine was still leading with the prominent,
distinctive house colours, which are: red, black and white. The masthead is big and bold, and the text is
stretched out to make it more appealing on the eye. They have cleverly spelt out the unabbreviated
spellings of the words which are normally abbreviated in the masthead. ‘New, musical, express’ this is
spelt in yellow letters inside the ‘NME’ which again is attractive on the eye and makes it look more
interesting. They have an outline of black around the red text which also makes it easier to see and read
which fits into the house colours which are used so commonly throughout the front cover.
This is a ‘NME’ magazine, one of its earlier editions in 1993. I found this out from the internet, by
searching for its earlier editions of NME.

5. Aaron Bradley 12T
1993‘NME’ MThey have made good use of fonts and colours throughout the magazine, and still
stick to this exactly 20 years from when this was published. The colours red, black and white are
strongly used throughout making it more evident that this is a NME magazine. They also use big and
bold text throughout and smaller on the information they want you to see but not necessarily the most
important.
usic Magazine

6. Aaron Bradley 12T
1993‘NME’ MThey have made good use of fonts and colours throughout the magazine, and still
stick to this exactly 20 years from when this was published. The colours red, black and white are
strongly used throughout making it more evident that this is a NME magazine. They also use big and
bold text throughout and smaller on the information they want you to see but not necessarily the most
important.
usic Magazine

7. Aaron Bradley 12T
1993‘NME’ MThey have made good use of fonts and colours throughout the magazine, and still
stick to this exactly 20 years from when this was published. The colours red, black and white are
strongly used throughout making it more evident that this is a NME magazine. They also use big and
bold text throughout and smaller on the information they want you to see but not necessarily the most
important.
usic Magazine

8. Aaron Bradley 12T
1993‘NME’ MThey have made good use of fonts and colours throughout the magazine, and still
stick to this exactly 20 years from when this was published. The colours red, black and white are
strongly used throughout making it more evident that this is a NME magazine. They also use big and
bold text throughout and smaller on the information they want you to see but not necessarily the most
important.
usic Magazine