How the style and layout of the NME has changed over the years...

1952
The NME announces its arrival by publishing the first singles chart. Items of interest are generally boxed off and head profiles are the favoured graphic imagery. Fonts are very varied to match the context.

1956
The occasional action shots are used along with stylised text (in Zambesi). Note how the background is often erased from photographs to maintain a clean black and white message board look.

1961

1965

1969

The 60s maintains the interest in the celebrities by using continuous close-up shots of the artists. It experiments in the mid-sixties with a large broadsheet landscape format as opposed to its traditional portrait format and develops its style accordingly by using banners resembling those pasted above music halls to announce the arrival of the latest talent. Even at this stage, it is becoming involved in poll-winner events to make contacts in the music industry. However, in the late sixties, the hippy era brings in more artistic styles as the NME struggles to compete with the Melody Makers continued dominance in taking a more hippy-friendly approach.

1972

1974

1977

The 70s sees a revised version of the masthead as it enters a tri-colour stage (including red) yet the design remains in doubt as it struggles to find a formula that matches its identity as a magazine, from the billboard red style to the electric look of the joined up writing in 77. It begins by taking a very newspaper-like approach in 72 before relying on powerful, stark, iconic photography that helps to finally give it the edge over the Melody Maker. This rapidly becomes NMEs heyday as it focuses on a clear underground sub-culture and gives it a voice. The new layout confirms this.

1980

1981

1982

The 80s brings in more full-colour content but note how it does not abandon the stark black-and-white approach to reinforce the effect of being iconic. The messy cut-up techniques shown in the cover from 81 belongs to a continued interest in the punk and post-punk scene, reflecting Vivienne Westwoods influence on punk fashion. The photography remains powerful even when dipping into the electro-pop scene until, in 82 graphic impact is achieved powerfully by using images and text in layers. Note how the masthead has finally found the classic red logo format as a result of the work of Barney Bubbles, a highly-influential record sleeve artist of the time.

1988

1989

1991

In the late 80s to early 90s the NME goes full-colour but is still printed on low-quality newspaper-style paper to allow for the costs of coloured ink. Inset shots and secondary leads become more common and the masthead becomes more flexible to allow the house style some flexibility. The menu strip at the top is now a fully established convention and much more attention is paid to the left third to help the magazine stand out on the shelves. Colour use becomes very adaptable as the photo shoots become more ambitious but lively and exciting as opposed to the darkly serious, iconic images of the early 80s and late 70s.

1995

1998

2000

The rapid surge of a variety of music scenes causes NME to shift focus between Britpop, Hip-Hop, Grunge, rave, jungle, electronic music and other forms of cross-over and it struggles to find a look to appeal to them all but experiments wildly with a range of different styles that, to just choose some examples, use inter-textuality to mimic other media (see 95 cover which mimics a boxing billboard), use photographic manipulation for effect and adjusting its font range to suit the scene (98 cover) or maximise the use of direct mode of address with big closeups of the iconic stars which is more a development of its earlier styles.

2005

2006

2006

In the early to mid-noughties, the NME uses the full range of conventions that we sometimes see today, sometimes with lavish use of colour. Since the 90s the style has been known as postmodern with the 05 cover showing how the NME now laughs at itself, using images to refer to itself and the way it normally does things in order to decrease the distance between the magazine and its consumers. Special issues become more frequent including the NME Originals range which began in 2002 (see next slide) and made maximum use of the growing interest in retro music by taking inspiration from its own past. Meanwhile, it begins asking readers themselves about their views on issues affecting the music industry. Could this be a symptom of the arrival of its website and Web 2.0?

2008

2009

2011

With Conor McNicholas as Editor, the sudden mass availability of highly advanced digital technology such as Photoshop allows for many more effects to be applied and a wide variety of graphic styles to be employed that both fit with the subject in hand but also work within an adaptable format. Note how the masthead, barring an indecision whether to ditch the slogan, has remained the same until 2010. Note also how the visual impact of the new media has been partnered with shocking, eye-popping leads that reflect the more in-yer-face approach normally adopted by the metal magazines such as Kerrang! However, note the many sudden differences in 2011......

NME Design Rules

1 Remain iconic. Even Conde Nast, the publishers of Vogue, has mimicked NMEs bold photographic style in dealing with its icons (see above). 2 Adopt, adapt and improve. The NME remains where it is today because it is a chameleon that has changed itself according to the music environment it finds itself in. Its indecision over content in the 80s led to establishing a very adaptable house style. 3 Brand Power. Since 1978, the NME has kept its Barney Bubbles logo in the top-left third. As an online brand, the masthead is crucial in stamping online content to gain ownership and recognition. 4 Keep it edgy. Always known originally for its scathing criticism and sharp edge, the NME has always worked best when it pulled no punches and went for maximum impact.

2000

Rival Design
1993
Having been known as the leading music publication in the 60s, the Melody Maker does have a reputation for having been THE hippy publication at the time. It has always tended to follow the more popular and less niche music scenes than the NME and, despite producing some serious articles on suicide (see pics below left), it has appeared less likely to break with its standard conventions. On the whole, it has been seen by some as lighter reading and more colourful with perhaps less seriousness and a more fun approach, as shown in its choice of photography. Its most renowned cross-page masthead never had the official, iconic stamp effect of the NME. By the time it was merged with the NME in the year 2000, it had lost its trademark masthead and taken on a more pulp look that resembles some of the cheap gossip and lads mags that were set to make a big impact on the industry e.g. Heat and Nuts.

1995

NME - 1986

One step too far...?

Since Krissi Murison, the NMEs first-ever female editor, took over in July 2009, it has meant a radical overhaul of the NME and this has been reflected in the design. Note, first of all, how the NMEs above reflect the sort of style conventions normally associated with female magazines and other music magazines with a large female following e.g. R n B. Note how the clean look of the likes of Vogue has been integrated to allow for both a sophisticated, mature look and to also maintain some edginess. Gone are the box-outs, secondary leads, busy look and focus on language techniques and in comes a choice selection of the most vital, high-impact elements to create more of an adapted poster-style with simple but lush use of colour and digital photography. Note how the masthead colour is determined by colour in the photo. Most significantly, note the loss of the original Barney Bubbles logo as noted in this blog: Has the NME blundered? If branding is so important, is this a mistake? Or is it simply aiming to become more authoritative and less indie-guitar-based in order to fend off the challenge of bloggers and other sites focusing on niche markets? In other words, is it too affected by the long tail theory?

Print in a Digital World

When Mike Williams took over in 2012, the idea was to make the NME brand sharper, more coherent and more engaging. It also aims to make its printed copy look like a keepsake in the same way that some independent publications get attention through pure imagery and artistic flair. Strips and borders tend to feature around all text, resembling the cut-and-paste technique that many punk fanzines used in the 70s (see above). The new style is given a cult look by using art poster techniques such as adapting familiar old posters like this war poster (referring to something else is known as intertextuality). And finally, the re-appearance of covers such as stripped-down yellow one at the bottom-right reminds us of the old focus on youth culture and resembles the old youth suicide cover. In short, the style is now very focused on the what the NME brand stands for: it looks back to what made it popular (70s punk), tries to develop a cult sense of belonging (the inter-textuality) and keeps its focus on youth culture, even when exploring retro scenes (the stripped-down look).