NME magazine cover...

NME Magazine Cover.

NME is a weekly music magazine that costs £2.30. It's a popular magazine and is aimed at 16-30 year olds, perhaps even older. An indicator of this would be it's use of language and less bright and bubbly look. The language is still informal however, to appear friendly and creating a personal connection. the magazine is for people who like the alternative/indie/rock music scene along with festivals and music gigs. You could say it's aimed at a slightly more sophisticated audience than Kerrang! which is suggested by it's more carefully layed out, less varied layout and simple colours and is also 10p dearer than Kerrang. This suggests that the magazine is aimed more towards the social classes C1 and C2, looking and costing slightly more upmarket than many magazines.

The mast head is very big, bright, bold and outlined to help it stand out. it's short, snappy and easy to remember. It essentially stands out easily to be easily recognised by fans among the hundreds of music magazines that surround it. The selling line isn't really a selling line and just explains the initials NME, which stands for 'New Music Express', however, quite uniquely the magazine is lined along the top and bottom with featured band names that would be popular with the audience. This will encourage the reader to look inside even if it's just to look at the one band they spotted on the cover.

The main cover line stands out because of it's dramatic font, font size and colour change against the rest of the text. It catches the eye most after the mast head which would be the desired effect. Similarly to many other music magazines, the name of a popular modern band, 'The Courteeners' is the main line of the masthead, meaning fans of this band, which is a fair few thousand, will instantly want to pick up this magazine and read it, almost as if the band are selling this magazine for them. This line follows a quote, referring to the public (which would also be the reader), suggesting the readers and the public are involved and are more powerful, consequently creating a stronger personal connection between the reader and the magazine. The cover lines of this magazine begin with bold words that are completely different colours to the rest of the cover line. To initially catch the readers attention before they continue to explain the story. The top cover line begins with an eye catching red word: 'WARNING!' the colour and the world are cleverly matched together and catch everyone's attention with the thought that a panicking, dramatic message will soon follow. The next line is back to a neutral colour, but is bigger and bolder than the previous line die to it's importance. It involves Festivals and ticket scams which is a hugely popular subject among this audience. There's also a featured story on their award 'Godlike Genius' which is a NME award given to deserving artists, which will also interest the reader into buying it, to catch up on this gossip and information. 

The main cover image is the only cover image. This adds simplicity with less for the mind to look at and take it. It's really easy on the eye and pleasant to look at, not causing any confusion or giving too much to look at. The image is of the front man of 'The Courteeners', which is the main featured band. It's a medium close up of the artist, focusing on him, his clothes and facial expression, as if the reader was looking at him. He has direct eye contact with the camera, therefore looks as though he has direct eye contact with the audience. This is brilliant for creating a personal connection between the audience and the magazine.

One of the key things I've noticed, contrary to popular tradition, the cover has a main colour of Red. This is clever because of it's symbolism of importance and it's reputation for catching attention hence why it's used to signify danger. It's not overused though, with the rest of the magazine being really neutral with colours such as white to relax the dramatic effect the red may have and lowering the tone of the magazine, leaving it still pleasing to the eye yet eye catching all at the same time. The colour red is even featured in the picture on Liam's top, using colour co-ordination to sustain the pleasant, sophisticated and all-matching look about the magazine.

Overall, this magazine is very eye catching, yet simple and sophisticated all at the same time. IT's pleasing to the eye with no over crowding and not too much minimalism. The main points are cleverly highlighted using colour, font and font size variation and the cover lines are all neutral but still eye catching.