NME Analysis

Front cover

This is the front cover of NME. They try to use a variety of different techniques to catch a potential buyer’s eye. These techniques include using bright fonts (Red, white and Pink) against the dark background (Blue) from the picture used. These fonts would make the magazine stand out on a shelf and therefore increase sales of the magazine. The NME logo is also used to stand out, this is achieved by putting the logo in a bold font, making it larger than any other text on the front cover and putting it in a red font which is very eye catching against the blue background. Different types of fonts are used for different pieces of text on the page, for example the ‘Pete Doherty’ cover line is put into a larger font and also the type of font used differs from other texts on the page so it stands out. Generally in the front cover the less important text is shown in smaller text and doesn’t stand out as much, but the more important text like the main articles and stories in the magazine are put into a bolder font so stand out more.

A pull quote is used from the Pete Doherty article to try and entice the reader into buying the magazine and reading the article. This pull quote would also signal the tone of the interview and maybe further interest the potential reader, the pull quote is also put into a large font and written in a white font in front of a pink background, this achieves the goal of the editors to make it stand out and further increase the appeal of the main article. A picture is also used in the dead area along with a caption which gives information on the picture; this technique along with all the other techniques is still used to try and catch a reader’s eye and thus increase sales. Competition information is given in a dead area, it is shown in a circular text box which would help it stand out, and also the fact that it is in a dead area will help it stand out because it is separate from everything else on the page. Another miniature picture is used on the top right of the front cover, this introduces another story which the magazine has to offer and it is line with the route of the eye so would be one of the first things the reader see’s when they look at the front cover.

The primary optical area contains the bulk of the main image which is Pete Doherty, this helps to introduce the main story of the magazine and also increase its appeal. And because the image stretches vertically right down the page it shows that the editors are really trying to maximise the exposure of their main story. The root of the eye firstly shows the NME logo which would immediately catch the reader’s eye, it then moves on to cover lines in the top right of the page, it then stretches across the picture of Pete Doherty which shows that this is their main story, it carry’s on to show cover lines in the bottom left corner which introduces other articles the magazine has to offer, it then continues into the terminal area and in this area lies a barcode and featured bands which are going to be included in the magazine; the editors obviously believe these featured bands will interest the reader enough to read on in to the magazine because they have put them into the terminal area which is the last thing the readers will see. The hotspots used in the principle of thirds are mainly used to emphasise the main story (Pete Doherty), one of the hotspots concentrates on the headline’ Pete Doherty’ and the other two concentrates on the main picture of Pete Doherty. The other hotspot doesn’t concentrate on the main story but concentrates solely on the cover lines in the bottom left corner, this shows that the editors are trying to show the other stories they have to offer apart from the main one. This would generally make the magazine more appealing because the reader could see just from the front cover that they have various different articles which could interest them. The mode of address for this magazine is generally trying to appeal to a younger audience and the variety of techniques used by the editors; I believe helps in the aim of appealing to this type of audience.

 Contents Page

Generally the main aim of a contents page is to make the reader aware of the page numbers which the magazines main articles lay. The more important articles are put in larger bold colours and the less important are in smaller lighter fonts.

The NME contents page has a main headline which successfully catches the readers eye and entices them to look at the articles the magazine has to offer. The root of the eye firstly takes the route across the main headline, then diagonally down through the ‘festival guide picture’ and the bold text which goes with the picture, the fact that it goes through this picture shows that it is going to be a main feature in the magazine and the picture itself would probably help to advertise the article; for example the picture shows numerous youngsters smiling and having a good time  which suggests that the article could be of key interest to a youngster. So the picture does have a beneficial effect on the article because it would entice the reader to read it. The route of the eye then goes across the bottom of the page and introduces a subscription advert for the magazine which could possible increase sales of the magazine because it will be one of the last things the reader see’s on the page. The principle of thirds is also used in the contents page; the hotspots are used to emphasise key things like the festival picture which is one of their main articles, the other articles to the right of the page which are big articles, but not over emphasised, the text introducing the festival article and the other key articles. The choice of the editors to put these things in the hotspots makes clear their aim to give them as much exposure to the audience as possible. The primary optical area has the picture of the festivallers; this further exposes this article which the editors clearly want to be their main article that brings in the most readers. The editors try to put things which aren’t as important as other things in the dead areas. In this case the editors have put the band index in the dead area, you can tell this isn’t deemed important by the editors because it is written in a small font and doesn’t naturally catch the readers eye. In the other dead area there is the festival guide, this is an unconventional thing to have in the dead area because it would catch the reader’s eye due to its orange background and quite large font. The terminal area on this contents page tries to introduce a following article, placing the introduction in the terminal ensures it is the last thing the reader see’s on the page and increases the probability that the reader will read that particular article. The mode of address for the contents page is generally the same as the front cover; they use bright colours, informal text, large fonts, featured pictures of teenager and make articles which would mainly appeal to a younger audience the main focus of attention on the contents page. All of these things help to appeal further to the younger audience.

Double page spread

Double page spreads are used to give more detail to an article; they generally include a large picture introducing the article and other text which relates to the main article. The double page spread is also mostly used to show the main article of a magazine.

This particular double page spread has all of the above typical conventions. For example it has the large picture on the left page of the double page spread, this helps to introduce the whole of the following article.  There are also smaller pictures dotted around the left page and easing onto the right page, these pictures introduce people that are going to be mentioned in the article and the pictures are also accompanied by captions, this gives the effect that the reader is already familiar with the people mentioned in the article even before they start reading it. The double page spread also includes a sub article which relates to the main article, this sub article is located on the right hand side page and stands out from the rest of the page because it has a pink background which differs from the rest of the page. The effect of this sub article is it gives the reader a bit more in depth knowledge into the particular topic; it can also make the overall article seem more interesting. Also on the right hand page is the main text, this is introduced by a sub heading which is also on a pink background, this helps to catch the reader eye and entice them on to read the rest of the article. The whole double page spread has a main heading, this catches the reader eye because it is located near the pink backgrounds and this helps to make it stand out. The double page spread uses the route of the eye technique, the route starts across the main headline which helps to introduce the article, it then goes diagonally down and across the page, this helps to emphasise the main text and also the numerous smaller pictures located on the bottom left hand side of the left page, it the goes across the bottom of the double page spread, this further makes the smaller pictures stand out and also introduces the sub article to the reader. Principle of thirds is also used; this helps to further emphasise various things on the double page spread. In the primary optical area there is a mixture of things, a part of the main picture on the left hand page and also some of the main text on the right hand page, this helps to link the two things together. The double page spread also uses hotspots, for e.g. the man’s face in the main picture is located on a hotspot, this helps to introduce the article, another hotspot is used to emphasise the same man’s crotch area, this helps to introduce the male as a sex symbol to female readers. The other two hotspots on the right hand page are located on the main text, this emphasises the fact that the editors see this text as the most important thing on the double page spread. In the dead areas there is, the extreme left of the main picture on the left hand page, this doesn’t really show anything and is just used to fill up space. On the right hand side dead area there is the related article to the main article, this is unconventional because there are usually insignificant things in the dead areas but in this one there is quite a significant thing in it. Things are usually placed in the terminal area because these are the last thing the reader will see on the page and they are more likely to remember them, on this occasion there is the related article, this is quite unconventional because it does not entice the reader to read onto further pages in the magazine, but at the same time it could be conventional because it could make the reader remember how interesting the article was and increase the popularity of the magazine. The mode of the address of the double page spread is similar to the front cover and contents page; it uses informal language to relate to a younger audience and also bright colours. The actual content of the magazine is also related to youngsters so I believe the mode of address used in the double page successfully relates to the younger audience as does the front cover and contents page.