The photo taken of Simon Cowell is a professional photo and looks

very crisp and clear; NME made sure the image taken is a very good

one as it is one of the main aspects to catch the eye of a customer.

The photo is a close up. This is to catch the facial expression of

Simon Cowell. The reason they want to catch Simon Cowells

expression so badly and want to show his face very clearly is

because he’s known to be a powerful man through his TV show X

Factor. He’s also very well known from this show, so who ever

passes this magazine will instantly notice it. He's grinning and

seems to be looking right at you. This catches costumers eyes

making them wonder why he's looking so cunning, tempting

costumers to buy the magazine.

The information is arranged like this to give it importance. As half of

the page is used for text and the other half for the image is shows

they are just as important as each other.

We know what’s in the magazine from looking at the articles shown

on the front cover. The articles aren't very detailed. This is called a

taster, as it gives the customer a taste of what's inside this issue of

NME. If they like what they see they will most likely purchase it.

There are iconic signs. For example the NME sign is instantly

recognisable. Symbolic signs are also involved. The Christmas

bobbles are used to show us it’s a Christmas edition of the

magazine. There is a snow effect on the top of the masthead. This

also gives a Christmas feel to the magazine.

The colours of the masthead are white and gold. This is significant

as it gives us a Christmas feel to the magazine. (Goes with the

theme).

There’s a website for this issue of NME magazine.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/dec/15/sim

on-cowell-v-nme this is done to give us some more information on

the magazine. Costumers would look at this to gain some more

information about the magazine before a purchase. NME might of

payed this website to publish their magazine to bring attention to it

and advertise it.

The magazine cost 6.15. This is shown on the barcode. The barcode

is found on the bottom left hand corner of the front cover.

NME are good at using representational issues. For example on the

front cover they show Simon Cowell. He is a very successful

dominant male in the image. Normally it’s a young male but this

time it’s an old one. This is different and is a powerful way to

represent the front cover of the magazine.

The magazine is in English. The use of language has sense of

humour involved “The Grinch speaks” this gives viewers interest

into reading it. The language of colour shows that the magazine is

aimed at a young audience. They use a bright red colour and a

paper white colour. This adds affect to the magazine instantly

attracting customers who come across this magazine.

Looking at the contents page I instantly noticed the big picture in

the middle of the page. This image relates to the article under it. An

image of a band is used as the main image. They look like they are

practising a performance; this image is used as it links up with the

article under it.“Kasabian got romantic in a church” this heading is a

good way to attract readers as it’s in bold righting and a large font

making it very hard to miss. It also makes a reader want to know

what they mean by Kasbian getting romantic; it has some sense of

humour as the location of this is in a church.

On the left side of the page it has an index. The page looks very well

organised and put in a simple format helping the reader know

where everything is. The index is in a red font with the title in black.

This is done as it’s the NME theme colours and it also stands out as

the page is plain white.

On the bottom of the page I noticed NME advertisement. The

advertisement is advertising NME music magazines. They did not

have to pay for this advertisement as its of the same company and

same producers so it’s a smart way of advertisement as they isn’t

losing money to put it there yet it will attract customers to buy

those issues of the magazine. The font is in a bright yellow; this is

smart as it instantly stands out. Normally the use of colours are

black and red but by using a bright and different colour like yellow it

instantly makes the reader look their as the yellow instantly attracts

eyes. The yellow can also represent uniqueness as it’s not a colour

normally seen in the NME magazine.

The header on this page is the basic NME logo as expected. In red

and black.

On the bottom right hand corner there is a red arrow with white

font inserted inside of it. It says “The UK’S no1 gig guide starts p58”

this shows the reader a exclusive page in this Christmas special

edition on the magazine. Many costumers probably bought the

magazine for this one feature. The red arrow stands out as it’s on

top of a plain white background.

• The background is white so the reader’s attention is just on the text

and the picture.

• The picture of Lily Allen covers the whole of the right hand side of

the page, leaving the left page for all of the text. This makes Lily

Allen look very dominant and powerful as she takes up half the

page on a double page spread.

• Lily Allen’s clothes match the colour scheme oh NMEs theme colour

(Red) her shirt shows masculinity and that she is more masculine

than any normal feminine, this gives the impression that she is

boss. She is looking directly at the reader showing that she’s strong

and demanding attention.

• The title of the double spread sheet is very appealing. “People think

I'm an attention seeker, but I'm just honest” I spoke about her body

language being strong and demanding attention. This adds some

humour as she says she isn’t attention seeking while her body

language says she is. The font of the title is very big and is very

unusual font. This goes back to the ‘attention seeking’ as the title is

definitely seeking customer’s attention.

• Four columns of text are used, and seem to be in a small and

simple font (most probably italic.)

• Some of the important words are highlighted in red. This brings

attention to them right away. Red is used as it stands out and is also

one of NMEs theme colour.

• The title is in a big font which is impossible to miss. It also has a very

thick black outline. This gives each word a lot of power.