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.