Textual Analysis - NME

Front Cover

Masthead

The masthead of the magazine, as always is the case, is the name. In the example of The New Musical Express, the masthead is an abreviated version of the real title. NME use the shortened version to allow audiences to take one quick look and find the magazine name without having to read a long amount of text.

The colours of the masthead are red and white, which are the most commonly used colours throughout the magazine and are used as token colours. Along with the red and white text, the masthead has a black outline to create a boldness around it and make it stand out.

Strap Lines

The main strap line of the front cover is at the top of the page, in a much larger font than the other strap lines and also has a change of colour on the most important section of the text. Both of these are used to attract the eye of the audience and to show the importance of the issue.

The other strap lines of the front cover are scattered across the page inside splash circles with consistent colour combinations of white and yellow font on the red splashes and black and red font on the white splashes. The designers use these splashes to contrast the background of the cover and catch the eye of the audience to look at the strap lines and read on.

Headlines

The main headline of the cover, as is very common in the rock magazine genre, is the name of the featured artist of the main article. The main words of the headline, 'Kings' and 'Leon', are in a much bigger, bolder and simpler read font to catch the eye of the audience and allow them to read it quickly and easily. The colour of the main headline has been used to represent the theme of the issue, gold font to represent the Christmas theme.

The main headline is accompanied by a headline strap line and a quote from the featured article. The strap line is a play on words of a Christmas carol (theme of the issue) to represent the theme and purpose of the issue and also the use of the word 'Lords', another term for God is a reference to Christianity which also adds to the Christmas theme effect. The strap also uses a lexical term by mentioning the genre of the artist which will appeal to the target audience because they will have an interest in the subject and will have a knowledge of the term. The strap line font colour is red, which like the main headline represents the Christmas theme of the issue

The quote that accompanies the main headline and headline strap line, will hook the audience into the article because they can relate to the quote. Because the featured artist, Kings of Leon, have become the biggest band in the world and are very popular, the target audience can relate to the quote 'Everybody loves you.'

A common convention of the rock magazine genre that is used on this front cover is the position of the barcode, the date of the issue and the magazine's web address, which are all in the bottom right hand corner. Contrasting a common use, is the position of the price of the mgazine. Although the price in other currencies are in the bottom right hand corner, the main price of the magazine in sterling is underneath the masterheading in the top left hand corner.

Images

The main image of the front cover, the featured artist Kings of Leon, is very cleverly used by the designers. Along with Christmas, the theme of the issue is a review of the music year, so the designers use the biggest band of the year as the main feature, so people are likely to want to buy the issue for the article on them.

The position of the image is right in the cenrte of the cover so that it is the first thing to catch the audiences eye and intice them to buy the magazine. The facial expression of the main person in the image is a confident and perhaps smug look, as if he believes that his band have deserved their success and are very proud of it. The gestures of the band members are very casual , such as standing with their hands in their pockets, which gives the impression that the popularity and pressure of being the biggest band in the world has not intimated them. The positions of the band members in the image are as they would be if they were playing live, with the singer at the front, the bassist and guitarist at the sides and the drummer at the back to give the image a gig like feel. the

Images of the posters that are inside the issue are used to attract the audience to buy the magazine. Along with the image, the use of the word 'FREE' in the text makes the target audience more willing to buy the product if they think they are receiving something for free.

An image of the front cover of the corresponding issue is on the cover to attract people to buy both issues. Along with the image, the use of the 'collectors' will make audiences believe that if they are loyal to the magazine that they must buy both issues.

Language

Another common convention of the rock magazine genre is the use of lexical terminology. Terms that are related to the subject of the magazine will attract the target audience because they will have a knowledge of the terms and an interest in the subject.

















Contents

Images

The contents page includes images from inside the magazine to give readers a 'sneak peak' of what is to come and intice them to continue reading on through the articles. Images of the front covers of previous issues are used to encourage readers to subscribe to the magazine and to buy the previous issues.

Page References

The band index section of the contents page is placed in alphabetical order of the bands and is accompanied by the page number that the bands featured on, which gives readers quick and easy access to the bands they wish to read about.

As well as the band index section, there are page references for the stories and articles of the magazine. These are in the order of page numbers which also give readers quick and easy access to the articles and bands they wish to read about.

Columns

The columns on the contents page are all designed for easy and quick reading. The main text of the contents is the page references which readers will wish to look up quickly to allow them to view the pages they want to read and the vertical columns allow them find what they are looking for without fuss.

Language

Similarly to the front cover, the contents uses lexical terminology to interest the readers. The readers of NME will have a common knowledge of the subject and by using the terms related to the subject, the editors appeal to their target audience.

Text

The colour of the text, bar a few examples, is continuosly red, white and black throughout the contents page. This is because they are all simple to read colours, so provide easy access and are the main colours of the magazine.

The occasional colour change on the contents page are generally used to stand out from the dark background, for example yellow against a dark red background. Also, like the front cover, the contents page has gold text to match the Christmas theme of the issue.



















Double Page Spread

Colours

The colours of the article are very much used to depict the band involved. The band, 'Glasvegas' are seen as a dark and some what depressing band, so the designers of this page have used dark colours across the page to add to the effect of the dark band. To contrast this, the images of the band involve them drawing with a brightly coloured sparklers. Because the article is depicting the darkness of the band, in the images when they are trying to draw something bright and happy they fail, showing that when they move away from a dark and dreary atmosphere they are out of their comfort zone.

Text

The colour of the text, besides a few examples, is continously black throughout the double-page spread. This is to match the dark and dreary themes of the article and the band.

The size of the different parts of text, changes with the importance of the text. The headline of the article is in big and bold capitals to stand out and attract the attention of the readers to the article. The sub-heading text, is also larger and acts as an introduction to the main text.

Columns

The columns of the articles are used to allow easy reading. By reading down straight vertical columns, the readers can easily and quickly read down the page and onto the next without being confused.

Text Boxes

The text box in the top right hand is used to remind the reader of the theme of the issue and add to the Christmas effect. Also, the text box involving a quote from the article is used to intice the audience into reading it. If the reader sees the quote and has an interest in the noted subject, they may wish to continue reading on. Finally, the text boxes on the images are used to introduce the band's names and give an incite into the purpose of the images.

Break up of the Article

The headline is across the middle of the page to break up the sections of the text and images, to immediately attract the attention of the readers and to allow easy and quick reading of the headline and the main text.

The images and text of the article are diagonally symmetrical from eachother. This gives the double-page spread an interesting contrast instead of being completely vertical and the same as most other articles.

Language

Like the other parts of the magazine, the article includes lexical terminology to appeal to the target audience, as they are likely to have a knowledge and understanding of the subject. The parts of the article that are not conversational dialect, have more formal language than the speech to act as introducing text. Contrasting this, the sections of the article that are speech, includes informal language and colloquial and sectional dialect, this is because of the spontaneous aspect of the conversation.

Other Information

In the bottom left hand corner of the page, the page number is used to allow readers to quickly find the pages articles they wished to read. The page also includes the magazine logo and the issue date as a reminder to the audience.


Will Portch