Front cover analysis of NME

I chose to compare this magazine front cover to the other I looked at which was clash. I chose this specifically because it was different to clash therefore I could look at the differences and how magazine covers can contrast.

Both magazines have an image in the centre which takes up the whole page, they also follow a set colour theme on the front cover. Clash was blue and white and NME follow black, red and white. When making my own cover I followed the colour scheme of black and white with some red similar to NME however I used a minimal layout like clash does.

NME uses a lot of text on the page to make the magazine stand out. The use of colour is also very bold helping to create more impact on the cover.

The main cover line is bigger than the rest of the text, expressing that is something of the most importance. We can also see this is important as it includes information about the cover person.

The kickers are also quite big, therefore we see they also use font size to create more of an eye catching cover.

The barcode works with the colour scheme as they put it in white, the fact that its big also makes it jump out on the page so that the colours connect to the audience. However they put it at the bottom in the corner showing they don’t want it to be something completely eye catching.

I tried to use different sizes in font to make my front cover eye catching like NME has. I used bigger font for the masthead and different sizes for the cover lines to make it bold so it stands out.

The front cover is very busy due to the amount of text used on the cover. I think NME have done this to make their magazine look interesting as the use of different font sizes and lots of information makes audience members drawn to the cover as there is so much going on therefore people will be inclined to read everything on the front and want to read more.

The reason why I decided against this was because when making my magazine cover I wanted it to be interesting in a different way. I felt that by making the cover too busy with information it would give too much away and there would be no sense of mystery as to what’s inside, therefore making the cover simplistic and minimal helps the audience to be drawn it still as they are excited to see what’s inside. Therefore I made the few things I put on the cover bold to help draw an attachment for the reader to the magazine and the desire to find out more.

NME have chosen to use a very famous star on their front cover which is Liam Gallagher. This use of a well known artist helps to draw more readers in as some will only buy the magazine due to the contents connected to him. Therefore they have used two different approaches in making their front cover eye catching. By using a celebrity and also making lots of contents shown on the front cover with other celebrities and new artists making the magazine intriguing.

The fact that they made the font bigger for the main cover line ‘LIAM’ instead of NME expresses Liam’s celebrity status as you would think they would make their masthead the most biggest sized font on the page. This conveys that they are using Liam’s fame to connect to the audience more.

Liam is looking to the left which appears to the right for the audience. Indicating the audience members to look inside the magazine, as his eye view is looking that way therefore subliminally making the reader want to open the magazine as it seems the picture is signalling this.

This also conforms to natural eye view as many audience members would usually look from left to right which fits with the front cover. Also readers look on the right for text and therefore this indication in the way Liam is looking helps to make readers read on as their eyes want to look that way.

The use of white space in the background works with NME’s colour scheme of red, white and black. Therefore they used the white space effectively with the font and in the picture. The black and white fonts help accentuate the different tones of black and white in the image. For example the light in Liam’s glasses is very bright and compliments the white in the background and the white font used on the picture. Showing how the lighting for the picture has been well planned to work with the font colours used. The red is also a bold colour which works well with black and white making the colours jump out on the page.

Although the front cover seems quite busy due to the amount of text on the page the layout is actually well planned out. The editorial pillars are quite ordered. They come under each other in a line on each side of the cover making them look quite neat even though busy at the same time.

This use of structure along with the colour scheme helps to give the cover a distinct style which stands out on the page. The structure also conveys that the cover isn’t as busy as it may seem since the ordered pillars tone down the initial crowded look. Making the cover easy on the eyes and fascinating.

The language used is quite informal and laid back as they have chose to interview their cover person in a form of answering questions, therefore it doesn’t seem too planned as it’s more about what the person is saying and less ‘made up’. Making it in a way more personal for the reader as they get to understand the artists thoughts more. The magazine uses words such as “answers your questions” making it connect to the audience since it is our questions therefore we want to know the answers. The use of highlighting ‘your’ in a different colour makes it stand out, drawing readers in more.

They have also used an another well known artist to help connect to the audience in the strap line. They have said that Kasabian are going to Hyde park to do a gig and said “Hyde park is calling!” as if the words are also calling the audience to read about it and possibly go to it as they have been described as “massive summer 2012 plans” therefore making people want to be a part of it and read about these plans.