Front Cover Analysis of NME Magazine

NME Magazine Analysis

Target Audience

The target audience for this magazine is music fans, mainly straight males aged 15-24.

Masthead

The masthead is in a large font and in bright colours, which makes it immediately stand out and attracts attention as NME is a well-known music magazine.

Layout

The layout is very simple, making it clear to read and easy to understand. There is quite a lot of text and only one image.

Colours

The main colours used are white and red. The red on the page connotes danger, which follows Hall's theory that youths want excitement as they might choose to seek this by doing something dangerous.

Images

There is one main image in the centre of the page. This image attracts the target audience’s eye and makes them know what they need to look at. It also gives them a good indication of what the main story will be. The main image is of two white male musicians, which gives the impression that the magazine is aimed at a predominantly straight male audience.

Text

The text is in bright colours, which helps it stand out. It is also in a very easy to read font. The key points on the cover are in a very large font to help them stand out even more and to give the target audience a quick idea as to what will be inside. The text features some graffiti writing, which connotes youth as graffiti is seen as something that youths do. The text is in a quite blocky font which would appeal more to males than females, which connotes that the magazine is aimed at mainly males.