Masthead
The masthead is the very first thing that catches your eye amongst all the other things that do. The
title of the magazine ‘NME’ an abbreviation of ‘New Musical Express’, pulls you in straight away with
a bright block red fill colour, and a black outline, making it stand out against any background used
for the magazine.
Banners and the
background
A banner is used along
both the top and the
bottom of the
magazine. Along the
top, a bright yellow
colour is used, which
is yet another thing
that catches your eye
immediately on the
magazine, against the
black, bold font. The
banner at the top of
the magazine, is
relating to the current
music news that
people would want to
hear about. The
background colour of
the top banner
matches the colour of
the leading article;
this then also stands
out against the
background and draws attention to the features of the magazine. The banner at the bottom of the
page has a black background and therefore doesn’t stand out as much against the dark background.
It is also a lot smaller which suggests that this article is of less importance to the other articles
featured on the cover.
Cover lines
Reverse-out text is used on the titles of the other articles, situated around the headline, the white
and blue does not stand out as much as the yellow, which tells us it, is not as important. Beneath the
article headline, are snippets and quotes of information that are from the actual article to get us
interested and make us want to read the rest. Images are also used to suit the articles around the
page.
Cover star
The body text of the magazine is obviously about ‘the wombats’, their image is used as the
magazine background for this issue, and the yellow colour is used again, to make it look much
brighter and stand out even more. It is also the biggest piece of text on the page, other than the
masthead so it immediately draws our attention and we are aware that this is the main story
followed through.
The wombats are cover stars for this issue, in the world of indie, these are very famous and called by
the subheading ‘lords of the indie dancefloor’ and those that listen to this style of music frequently
would recognise them, this will then draw them in and persuade them to buy the magazine.
Costume and pose
The costume of the main artists on the front cover is very much to match the style of music they
play, of the conventional indie-style dress of skinny jeans, shirts, and the messy long hair. The pose is
unconventional, as it is conventional for those on the front cover to have eye contact with the
camera, in order to draw audiences in. However in this pose, only one of the three men of the band,
have eye contact in the picture, whereas the other two are looking in different directions and all
three are pulling random poses, the strange poses makes us interested in the band and want to read
about them and their individuality. There facial expressions also show a very ‘laid back’ and ‘don’t
care’ approach to make them look cool and like modern day rock stars, who are known for not
caring about life.
Colour scheme
The magazine doesn’t seem to have a colour scheme, its more just the background of their featured
artist of that week, and then different striking colours to grab our attention around the outside. The
red, of the masthead and the yellow of the main featured article and top banner seems to be the
main colour scheme; it is also the colours that stand out the most. The layout and colour of the
magazine is very messy, I think that this is to appeal to the men however with the colours being very
neutral; I think it could also appeal to women. Therefore I think that this magazine is for unisex
people.
Audience
The colour and layout of the magazine is made to look uncoordinated, like a stereotypical student.
Therefore I think that this magazine is targeted at students in college and university of both sexes,
therefore age 16-21.
Representation
Every band wrote about on the cover, and shown on the cover are all male bands, this suggests that
this style of music is meant for males. When shown pictures of the bands, there style is usually quite
messy and therefore represents males as messy. It also suggests that this is of a male culture,
however as the magazine is also targeted at females, that females are becoming more masculine
and are able to take on the male culture for themselves.