Analysis of the magazine NME

The magazine front cover “NME” does not relate to a specific genre as it features a variety of music from different music artists each month. This is to show that the magazine ranges from different types of music; for example from pop one month to rock the next. This is shown by the name of magazine “New Music al Express” as it shows all the latest music from every genre. The title is abbreviated as “NME” and sounds much more catchy ad it easier to remember, and is bold and appealing to the audience. The target audience can range from both women and men form late teens onwards. However, on the front cover of this issue, it shows the rapper Jay Z standing next to former rock singer, Ian Brown showing  how diverse the magazine is as both hip hop/r n b and rock are completely opposite.

The main image is a medium shot and two shot of Ian Brown looking at Jay Z. The image represents the genre as it has two people of different genres on the front cover. This is to show that this issue relates to rock and hip hop/ r n b music. The image isn’t really framed; however the title “NME” is on top of Ian Brown’s head.  This is to show that the text anchors the image, as the image stands out the most considering there’s hardly any text on the cover. Ian Brown is wearing a dark jacket, which connotes rock and roll, relating to his genre of music, whereas Jay Z is wearing sun glasses, a white t shirt with beads and a checked shirt. This reflects his image as a rapper and allows the readers to be aware that the clothing of the artists reflects their type of genre and music, just from looking at the cover.

Three main colours have been used; red, white and black. These colours have been used as they versatile, implying that they relate to all genres. Also the colours black and white are popular colours as black can be used for rock n roll, however it can also be used for hip hop/ r n b as it’s a colour which has different connotations. The text which is red, is in bold and in a large font. This is to draw attention t o the magazine and allows the magazine to stand out as it relates the main image. Automatically, the audience will read the largest text first; the title of the magazine “NME” and the main story “Ian Brown meets Jay Z” The front cover is different to others as it doesn’t have much text, as there is one main story in the centre. This is unusual as this magazine front cover doesn’t follow the generic conventions of a normal front cover. All the text used is upper case, which stands out in order to draw the audience in. Also, the copy is designed to be quite large, as there is hardly any text on the magazine to show that the main story is about Ian Brown and Jay Z.