The first magazine I am going to analyse is an issue of NME. 

Front cover analysis:

 Following the route of the eye we can see that it goes across the title, through the main image and storyline and finally crossing the list of artists that feature in the issue. These have been put along the route of the eye because they are the thing that the publisher wants the potential target market to see first. In the four hot spots we see some speech from the person in the main image, the main image, and the main article. These things are in the hotspots because that is where people tend to look with a quick glance.

The masthead is in a really simple font and has stayed like this for a long time so make the imagery of the magazine recognised. Underneath the main mast head is the words ‘new musical express’ which suggests that the magazine is going to give the reader up to date gossip within the music industry.

From the cover we get the impression that the magazine has a target audience of both male and female teenagers. This is suggested because there are images of both male and female artist on the front cover and because most of the articles will be about the latest music. On the other hand, NME would gain all of its target audience because not all teenagers like the music featured.

The main storyline is in a much larger font that the rest of the story’s. The font used represents letters from a newspaper that have been cut out and stuck together. The colour of the font also shows this, because black and white are the colours used in a newspaper. Just above the main storyline is a quote in a similar font to the storyline showing they are linked other story lines in circles, this breaks them away from the main storyline and makes them stand out in their own individual way.

Dotted around the page are

At the bottom of the page is a list of band names, this would help to attract people to buy the magazine because if there is a band or artist that they are interested in then they would want to find out why they are in there.

Above the masthead is a black banner that has an article in that many people would be interested in; it is an article about the arctic monkeys, one of the most famous British fans.

Finally, the colour scheme used is very masculine and basic. Black, red, white and yellow have been used. A white background has been used so that everything else stands vibrant from the background and doesn’t blend in.

Contents page analysis:

The principle of the contents page is to inform the reader as to where they can find certain things that they might be interested in within the magazine. To do this effectively it needs to be clear and easy to follow, and NME’s contents page does this. The contents page continues the colour scheme from the front cover to show consistency in the magazine. Because the background is white, readers do not get distracted from the text.

The contents page consists of a band index, this is for the readers convenience. The main contents section has arrows next to the articles that appeared on the front cover.

At the bottom there is a black band with information about subscribing to NME. This is in black because it stands out off of the white background and entices people into subscribing to NME because of the incentive of saving money.

Double page spread analysis:

The double page spread is split into two A4 pages, the first consists of the title covering the majority of the page, followed by the text of the article and the second A4 page is purely the image related to the article.

The article’s title brings the same font as what was used on the front cover; this shows that the typical look is being carried through the magazine to show professionalism. As well as the title being in the font, Lily Allen’s name is also in it – this makes it stand out from the rest of the text.

The picture of Lily Allen is asymmetrical and on the far right hand page. This leaves the rest of the space clear for text and allowing a non-cluttered image to be portrayed. The text is written in four columns like in a newspaper, it is also started in a drop capital. In the article, the language used is informal, as though a friend is talking to their friend. This supports the idea of the magazine having target audience of teenagers.

The image of Lily Allen that is used ties in with the colour scheme. She is wearing a masculine tartan shirt and standing with her hands on her hips with her wrists facing forward showing her tattoo. This shows that she isn’t all sweet like a typical ‘girly girl’.