Masum Qahar

Detailed Analysis of Music Magazine NME

Front Cover
Masthead The name NME stands out as it is the biggest text on the page. The font is fairly simple but it is in bright red, it needs to be easy to read as this is how the reader will recognise the brand of the magazine. Header On the header of this NME magazine it says 16 page Autumn tour special which is a tagline of a special included in the magazine and the fact that it is on the top means it will be one of the first things the reader sees.

Pug There is a pug used to give an additional selling point in the magazine.

Main image The main image is of Dizzee Rascal (which is shown on the main cover line) who is a celebrity therefore will be seen as an icon to the audience. His image is a long shot which includes his whole body however he is leaning down in a pose with a smile which represents fun and this shot is a close up of his full body. The background shows a wall covered with graffiti all over it which suggests vandalism, this also looks present on his jeans and trainers however it is the design of his clothing which suggests he is a messy character and to the audience human.

Main cover line The main selling line is an anchor to the image as it states the icons name which helps identify him to the audience. The writing is big and bold which represents his importance. Underneath his name there is a strapline which is a quote from him which makes the audience want to read and find out what he means. This strapline is also bigger than any of the other cover lines which again represent his rank. There is one other cover line which is small compared to Rascals story which again symbolizes his dominance and suggests he is the biggest reason anyone would want to read this magazine.

Left third This space of the magazine is occupied by Dizzee Rascals strapline as it is considered to be dead space and the audience will only read it to find out about the main cover line.

Footer The footer is at the bottom of the page which names other artists that will be featuring on the magazine, also the fact it uses + gives the idea that there is a lot in the magazine and that it is worth the price. Also the fact that Dizzee Rascal is above all these global artists re-literates how big of an icon he really is.

Barcode This is pretty small on the cover and signifies that the magazine is for sale, also above it states the price 2.20 which is quite expensive which gives the assumption that the target audience are of a medium/high class as they are willing to pay this much for a magazine.

Rule of thirds The layout uses rule of thirds to follow the convention of a magazine. The image of Dizzee Rascal covers most of the page and the text is almost there to cover the other space; however the background also does this as it is not a plain background but one with graffiti all over it. The text is quite big but the image dominates the cover to illustration how big of an icon Dizzee Rascal is.

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Contents Page
Band index On the left hand side there is a list of bands in the same font but a lot smaller and in the same font as the masthead to keep a consistent colour. Next to the band names there are page references of where articles about these bands can be found.

Masthead The masthead is in the same font as the front cover but a little smaller, it is used to anchor the two pages and make the magazine look more consistent. It re-enforces the brand of the magazine.

Editors introduction The editor introduces the magazine and informal way but also talks in a calm tone to make the reader feel comfortable, the font style used looks similar to the rest of the text therefore maintains the house style of the magazine. The text is in a frame of a box with an image on top which connotes a suit case which links with the title touring special as a suitcase may be taken on a tour by artists. Other There is also an advert on the contents page which is like a sponsor for the magazine which tries to generate more money from the reader by filling dead space this is where the bar code was on the front cover and NME may have used the advert to cover the dead space left on the contents page. Therefore the reader will not miss anything the write does want them to actually see. Also the advert uses colours such as yellow which is not really part of the magazine colour scheme suggesting that the advert itself is not part of the magazine.

Content list The contents list shows the main articles present in the magazine, with page numbers as these are the stories the audience are most likely to read. The contents title is a heading with the topic of what particular stories are parts of this topic.

Main image The main image is of a female pointing at a coach, which symbolises a journey which anchors the heading below touring special as this coach may be used as the tour bus and it links with the text to give a reader a better understand of the magazine.

Rule of thirds The contents page also follows the rule of thirds (same as the front cover) by the way everything is layered on the page, the editors introduction along with the main image occupies most of the page suggesting that it is the most important information. The left and right sides both have text with articles found in the magazine with page references so that the reader can find the page they want to read but it is not the main focus. The advert included on the page is in the bottom right corner which is seen as dead space and therefore the editor may not care if the reader sees it.

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Double Page Spread

By-line This by-line gives the name of the writer and the name of the illustrator, this is used to give credit to them both for the article. However the headline is a lot bigger suggesting the actual article is more important than the writer.

Illustrations The first picture of Dizzee Rascal takes up half the double page spread and links with the title as he is tagging and the headline from tags to riches. The second picture shows a stereo which links to what he is (a singer). These all linked together gives the audience an idea of what the article is about.

Headline The headline is big (takes up about a quarter of the double page spread) and bold and stands out from all the other text in the article, this is because the heading will help the reader determine if they want to read the article.

Drop Cap The text uses a drop cap of the letter y to start the article off as this is used in many articles to attract the reader to get them to read the article.

Stand first This gives a short summary of what the article is about which is just a more detailed version of the headline. This gives the audience a better understanding of the article.

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Identify the Elements that Connect the 3 Different Parts of the Magazine.
On the magazine all the front cover, contents page and double page spread all have one main model. The model seems quite large on all the pages. Dizzee Rascals picture is the biggest thing on all the pages he appears on expressing how big the artist really is. The pictures are large to give the reader a better understanding of the story before even reading the article. On the front cover and contents page the masthead is present for the brand recognition so that when the audience see it they know it is an NME magazine. It is not needed on the Dizzee Rascal double page spread because he is the main attraction on the page and the audience will already know the brand by seeing the front cover and contents page. Also having the masthead on the front cover and contents page makes the magazine look more consistent therefore more professional. The font sizes used are large on the front cover as they need to catch the readers attention and will be hard to read if they are small. The masthead is the largest text, and the cover lines are also large. On the contents page the masthead and contents title are large and also the titles in white font as also large along with the heading of the editorial. The rest of the text is considerably smaller and is not really eye catching as it is more used to fill the space. The large text are all the specials which the writers want the audience to see to help sell the magazine so they must catch the readers attention therefore are a larger size. On the double page spread the heading is very large compared to all other text representing the models importance. The stand first is a little bigger than the text in the actual article as it gives the reader a better understanding before reading. The text in the article is small as it is not as important therefore does not need to be as big. The fonts used in the magazine are all sans serif fonts which are pretty simple as the writer wanted to keep it as consistent as possible to make the magazine more professional. This will be important for the brand recognition as the reader will need to be able to read the masthead. The sans serif fonts are easier to read therefore the reader will be able to understand the magazine better. The magazine uses informal language as it uses words like eh and proper which makes it seem like the writer is trying to have a conversation with the reader which could be seen as positive as the reader will feel more comfortable reading the articles if it feels like a conversation. The article uses words like you to make the reader feel more comfortable reading the text pushing them to read on. It also uses the word fucking which is foul language which wouldnt be seen in a formal magazine. The tone used is calm which makes the reader feel comfortable, however the foul language used may make the text sound harsher but it is only used in Dizzee Rascals speech which gives the reader a better understanding of the man himself. Overall the tone is good and the language used is informal which enables the reader to feel more relaxed and read on with the magazine.