Music Magazine Cover Analysis - NME

Masthead: NME is an abbreviation of ‘New Musical Experience’, it can be said that this slick portrayal speaks greatly for the magazines target audience. NME is usually known for its bold, red title. In the case of this cover, a replacement of an equally vibrant colour is used to stand out and draw in the reader. The magazine itself relies little on the colour of the masthead, more on the placement and the consistency of this. The masthead is more often than not placed over the image, and therefore conforms to the magazines conventions. Due to its size, it very much stands out on the cover but is not the most prominent feature.

Image: The positioning of Rihanna in this shot is a fairly typical for a magazine front cover. In most fashion magazines, models on the front cover are often seen to pose in a similar position to that of what Rihanna is, though instead of standing completely upright she’s leaning at an angle that challenges the conventions of this shot. Her attire is relevant to the message NME is trying to portray about her character – she is edgy and likes to be a part from the crowd. Though the actual image is provocative, it seems to appear very much as a backdrop to the text in front of it. The bird she has on her shoulder fills the blank space in the right hand corner, and also adds small amounts of contrasting colours to that of the magazine. Her make up and nails match her attire and also the colour of the font that has been predominantly used. By using elements of what Rihanna’s wearing, NME obeys the set conventions. This in particular is something many music magazines and other types of magazines of a similar nature often take into consideration when producing the front page. She is making eye contact with the reader, establishing a connection and need to read around the image to be enticed into purchasing the magazine.

Font: The three boldest, most important pieces of text share the same font, the designer of the magazine must know these short pieces of texts will be the most relevant and should stand out more than that of the others. The bright colours speak greatly for the age demographic; it is perhaps targeted to more mature teenagers and young adults than anyone else. Whilst it looks very professional and sleek, it also uses two contrasting fonts. The extra details that are given below the cover lines are presented in a more mature font. By having two very different fonts attempt to integrate with each other, it reflects the age demographic this magazine is trying to target – being between the stages of a teenager and young adult.

Colour: Colour is a very important part of this magazine; it ignores the usual conventions in terms of possessing a red title, replacing it with a bright pink instead. The fact that ever colour used on this cover matches in more than one place is very clever and establishes the consistency we would expect.

Cover lines: Each cover line is written in capital letters, which further draws in the audience. The image and the boldly stated ‘RIHANNA’ cover line gives the audience a clear idea of what they will expect to find inside the magazine. Like most music magazines, a list of artists that will be included in the magazine is also presented to us. This entices a reader who might not be interested specifically in Rihanna to buy the magazine as it may include opinions of someone they’re a fan of.

Cover price and publish date: Both are of little importance, hidden at the top of the magazine. The price indicates that it would be aimed at the target audience that I assumed it would be, young adults and older teenagers.