Matty Lane

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Masthead

Kicker

Cover Line

Secondary Lead

Plug

Graphic Feature or Puff

Selling Line or Banner

Tagline

Feature Article Photo

Anchorage

Flash

Menu Strip

Bar Code

Date Line

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Headline

Caption7.

Web-links?

Ears?

The masthead on NME is mostly almost the same, placed in the top left in large font. The font is normally red with white outlines, however on some of them the mastheads font is different colour. On one of the five magazines below there is one in clear white font. Also a magazine with no masthead in the corner but the ‘NME’ title in tiny writing at the top of the page. This shows the magazine has tried changing the masthead over time but has stuck to the same masthead throughout.

The anchorage is linked with the photos as it helps describe the story alongside the photo and caption. The caption can add humour or make it catchy to interact better with the photo and audience.

A lot of the magazine covers are giving the same sort of stories. A few of the magazines are showing how certain artists are going from the bottom to the top in their career and how they became more well known. The language seems humorous and aimed at a specific audience by the way the language is. For example ‘Britain’s gone silly’, ‘spreading joy around the world’ and also the use of catchy captions, ‘rehab to recovery’ and ‘rubble to the Ritz’. The taglines and kickers show a specific type of language in general used in the NME magazine.

From looking at the magazines the main focus is on the cover photo, cover line, caption & anchorage as these are the main things that stand out in all the magazine covers. The magazine has emphasised the main cover story, however the magazine does also focus a lot on secondary leads to add as much detail on stories as possible to draw attention to the magazine.

The tone of language is similar in each of the magazines, the tone shows humour and doesn’t talk serious or professional. This suggests the magazine is aiming at a certain age group (teenagers) and standing out to them using a certain tone of language.

MastheadMost common masthead out of all NME covers. Mainly always placed in he top left corner with the red front & white outlines.

Feature article photoImage is always covering the full magazine as a background and never fits the full image in the cover page.

Selling lineSelling line always placed across the top of he magazine covering just a small strip of the top.

Secondary LeadSecondary story always placed on the left or right side of the cover page. Explains the type of lifestyles and stories the magazine has to offer.

AnchorageSuggesting the lifestyle of the artists on the cover photo. Also adding a sense of humour. The caption usually explains the reason for the photo.

Tone of language‘Plus…’ Suggests they are sick of offering so many great things, sarcasm. ‘I was sick’ and ‘Why Britain’s gone silly’ show what kind of articles and story the magazine offers and reaches out to a certain audience

Direct mode of address can appear ‘in yer face’, serious, warm…

Indirect mode of address can be mysterious, lively, sombre…

Creates a wacky, fun image, sharing an identity with the reader that offers the ‘independence’ of indie music.

Enigma – what are they getting up to now?

The colour is the same on the masthead throughout the magazine. The red large front with the white outlines. There are certain magazines with different colours, however the magazine has stuck to the same colour masthead. The background is white on a lot of the covers to make the central image stand out. On some covers the background colour is changed to suit the image but the colour is always plain. The colour scheme doesn’t really have a meaning it’s just the design of the cover page, NME in red font, white outline in the top left of the screen with a plain coloured background to make the central image stand out.

The font on the NME magazine stayed red with white outlined was the masthead for NME for a long time, however now they change and use the same masthead with different colours and slightly different designs. Each cover can be linked together with the placement and size of the masthead nit the colour has constantly changed overtime with NME trying new designs.

The main image is always larger than the actual cover, this creates a good effect as it makes the image stand out more and look more realistic on the magazine cover. The photography seems to show dominance in all the artists which suggests their success and power. The photos on the cover I have are either mid, shoulder shots which on the cover makes the artists look bigger or high angle, low angled shots. The high angle shot tends to make the artist/person on the cover look small and weak, whereas on this cover it makes Dizzee Rascal still have a strong, dominant role. Some of the photos are humorous and exciting which draw the reading in. The themes seem to suit the artists, for example for Green Day they have gone for the typical, band artists look which is seen as in the past not in the future, however Dizzee Rascals photo looks like a photo more up to date in the present and maybe slightly futuristic.

NME seems to use it’s space well, organise the magazine so the Masthead is in the top corner, photo is the background, advertisement banner across the top with captions, anchorage, secondary stories and others all fit in well. They never have any open blank space but also do not make it too crowded.

I think NME design the covers the way they do because it suits the music/artists they show well, it is stylish and stands out to a lot of it’s audience. It makes everything stand out clearly and shows exactly what it’s audience wants to see.