NME is denoted in bright red letters, it does stand for New Musical Express which connotes that the magazine exists to get the latest updates about bands and new music to the their audience fast. The ‘Express’ is supposed to remind us that NME was originally a newspaper before it became a magazine. The target audience of NME is teenagers, both genders, however, this cover may just appeal more to girls because the band, Kings of Leon, on the front cover is full of attractive males. Is it aimed at a niche audience of teenagers who like indie music/bands.
The main cover picture is of an internationally famous band, it is clear that this band is the biggest attraction of this magazine issue, it relates to main article. The bands facial expressions are serious and this fits the main cover line and pull quote. Two of the band members are facing left while other two are facing the front. Their dress sense appears to be casual, two of them are wearing leather jackets that we immediately associate with rock stars.
The lighting used for the image is possibly low key judging by the shadows it has created on the faces of the band members, this emphasizes the seriousness of their attitude towards music. The image tells us that the female audience is the target audience of this issue, as they will feel more drawn to the magazine from seeing this image as it makes the band appear more attractive.
Four of the cover pictures in the top right corner overlap and anchor the banner. The other four cover pictures underneath overlap the pictures above, all the poses in the images are different; some connote the fun of being in band. Theres at least two in which the band member posing in a stand that they may think looks cool. Their clothes are casual everyday wear, that we would see teenagers wearing, it can connote that they want to empathise with the target audience and act younger than they. There is a particular cover picture of The Ting Tings, we can only see the female lead vocalist, she is standing in a pose with her hands on her hips, this will be to draw in the male audience. It is actually done with a Male Gaze attraction to it, she is the only female on the front cover of the magazine. All these cover pictures are bordered in red and labelled in white Impact text, the colours for the masthead so we link them back to NME and it could also mean that we won’t find them elsewhere. Other denotations on the front cover include drugs awareness (Kings of Leon article, main attraction), the latest news updates on bands and what they plan to do, festival information. Posters included in this issue and the price.
Particular items such as festival information, news updates and posters are in the magazine features so the target audience will feel curious enough to pick up the magazine. Some people may only purchase the magazine for these particular features anyway, it widens the target audience even more to people who want to read about the upcoming festivals but not interested in gossip, or people who want the posters but don’t really want to read the full magazine.
The main cover line and pull quote have been made to standout with certain colours, the cover line is in the same red and white as the magazine masthead, the font used is Impact. This is, again, the same font used for the masthead, however, the word “OF” in the band name is in a different font, it appears to be Times New Roman in bold, and underlined. This maybe to make the name standout more clearly against any other text on the cover and also to give the cover line a feel of the band it relates to. The pull quote is in same font but a more pale gold-ish brown colour, possibly to highlight the importance of the quote and how big this article will be. It does stand out from the rest of the cover because of the colours. It is smaller than the cover line and there is a space left between them both. They do both have a drop shadow to define them more against the background, the drop shadow of the pull quote is more darker and bigger which gives it more of an impact on the audience when they see it. The border at the top is black, the word ‘FREE’ being white and larger than the rest of the text, which is in yellow, will most definitely catch the audience’s attention. That particular word needs to stand out more than the “poster section”. The words “poster section” maybe in yellow but all the font is always Impact, the yellow maybe to connote the difference between the images and the article/reviews/news/etc in the magazine. The Festival Poll is in black Impact text, on a yellow snowflake. The ‘2008’ part is in red but the font has changed, possibly, to JasmineUPC. This will be to make the year stand out more and assure the audience of the correct year. The text underneath, in black is also in the same font. These colours are very clear against the yellow snowflake, because the background behind the band on the main cover picture is white, it makes sense to use yellow for the snow flake, the snow flake will symbolise winter gigs. The price underneath the masthead is in black against the white background, the font used is different to others, obviously to separate the price from the main features of the cover. The banner at the bottom of the cover, containing the news, is mainly white with red Impact text on it for the headlines. But the part that says ‘news’ is black with white text in the same font used for the price.
The mode of address used is not very clear but it does sound like it maybe peer-to-peer. It contains reviews, a gig guide, interviews with bands, a letter from the editor and a poster section. Live music events. News updates and festival polls. The subjects covered are mainly music, drugs, night outs. This tells us the ideal self created by the magazine is more about trying have as much fun as you can.
Gender is not really represented as greatly on some pages as it is on others, it varies on types of band. Musicians such as Kate Nash are represented as being more feminine in appearance and body language rather than the text. The kind of men and women who appear in this magazine are of an indie style, their style is very different to those that appear in Kerrang. NME represents them as legends, the bands/musicians will have pictures that express the authority they have as ‘rock stars’, they will be described in words such as ‘mighty’, ‘perfect one of three’ and ‘God-like’. If the magazine knows fans do not like a band very much, they will humiliate them more. Important words will stand out in bold or red. These representations relate to readership by giving you someone to look at as an ideal self or partner, it is most likely that females will be looking at the males as ideal partners and the boys will see an ideal self in the bands and musicians who get praised. Boys see themselves more in a band and the girls are more likely to look at the pictures of band members/musicians they find attractive, they may pick out certain interviews to read about the ones they like too. Because NME is a music magazine, there is limits on dressing up advice, as you find in a fashion magazine. They do mention the dress sense of people featured in the magazine but they don’t dedicate a whole page of the magazine to what you should or shouldn’t wear. The kinds of celebrities/bands/musicians featured in the magazine are always the ones who are very popular and have some connection to the indie music industry.