NME magazine font cover

NME is an indie magazine. Also known as New Musical

Express (NME) it’s a very popular music magazine in the
United Kingdom, which is published weekly since March
1952. It originally adopted the ‘punk rock’ genre in the 60-
70’s but has recently (2000) been restored to an indie
magazine featuring bands like ‘kings of leon’, ‘The foals’,
‘two door cinema club’ the magazine leans more to the
pop music rather than rock as they use some artists like
‘Lilly Allen’.

NME’s target audience is uni sex but is mostly aimed at

males as the genre is associated more with male gender,
its age group ranges from teenagers to early 30’s.

The price and date is written in between the terminal area

and masthead so it’s guaranteed to get the reader’s
attention it was released on 10th July which was just after
Glastonbury which were some of their featured cover
lines and just before kings of leon released their new
album.

This magazine uses san serif fonts making the whole magazine clearer to read and more in your face to
catch the eye. The main colour scheme is red; black and white which suggests it’s aimed more at males or
indie’s.

The mast head is really big and bold so it stands out, it’s in white and whilst the magazine background is
black so it’s a huge contrast and stands out. The lead singer of kings of leon is also wearing light clothing
with dark features so it stands out against the masthead so you concentrate on the band more. The mast
head is on the left side which is the dominant side so it’s easy to see and meets the eye first. The black
goes with the Indie genre as it’s seen as more mysterious.

This NME magazine front cover is divided into 3 main sections horizontally and vertically using the
principle of thirds. The left hand side (the dominant side) includes the masthead, the title of the main
band, the name of the magazine and three smaller cover lines, this is a useful technique as it’s all in order
and it’s easier for the reader to see and read at a glance, the reader can see what the magazine is about
and what it includes. The cover lines, include words like ‘new’, ‘special’, ‘return’ these all grab attention
to the reader as they will like their getting access into a secret or the unknown and draws them into
buying it more. The primary optical area focuses on the main cover line ‘kings of leon’ it includes part of
all the words and it includes all of the word ‘return’ and that’s in red to make it stand out and make the
cover line seem even bigger and more important., it also includes ‘new sound’ the reader thinks their
getting access to something new and makes it even more exciting. The middle section of the magazine
focuses on the lead singer of the bands picture. The right hand side of the magazine again focuses on the
smaller cover lines this shows more order in the way it’s laid out and is useful for the reader.

The Route of the eye represents the where the readers eyes focus on and on this front cover it starts at
the masthead which is the title of the magazine and goes through the main picture of the band members
eyes which is key as when you look at a picture you look at the face first to see if you recognise it. It then
goes through the picture and the main cover line then threw another two smaller cover lines.

The cover picture is a member of an indie band called ‘kings of leon’; the picture doesn’t show him
smiling but shows an action shot of him singing. If they were smiling it wouldn’t go with the genre of indie
it would represent them in as a heartthrob rather than appreciation of their music. The clothes they are
wearing aren’t very noticeable the colours stand out from the background but not from the cover lines
and mast head so the readers aren’t distracted from the picture too much.

‘kings of leon’ is the main cover line as it’s the big story the main picture, the cover line is in white and
red to contrast with the background and stand out a lot more, and this is what can make the reader buy
the magazine because if you like this band and see the magazine, you will see the name and are more
likely to want to buy this magazine. There are smaller cover lines also in white but much smaller than the
masthead and main cover line, these smaller cover lines can also draw the reader into the magazine as it
advertises other bands such as ’New libertines music’ which if you know this band and like them will also
entice you.