NME Music Magazine Front Covers

NME is a very successful music magazine that is renowned for delivering quality to its target audience.

The masthead is a very well recognized symbol for this music magazine and is clearly significant with the primary color red displayed with upper case letters very effectively. The masthead uses the bright color red with the white outline in order to make the title stand out more and become more recognized. The NME symbol with both red and white signifies British culture and gives of the impression of a celebration of Brit music. The symbol is very recognizable which suggests that the magazine has trust in the loyalty of the target audience. Adding to the effect of the front cover you can see that the singer “Florence” has part of her head over the NME symbol. This is an interesting technique as the fact that her head has taken over part of the mast head signifies that she must be important as it needs to be a very important symbol to override the powerful masthead.

The image used of Florence is a low angle shot that slightly looks up at her making her seem big and powerful. The background is of a car in which Florence seems to be getting out of in what could be interpreted as an escort or a show fur which signifies to the audience that she travels in style and makes her seem very important and significant. However the audience could interpret the yellow car Florence Is getting out of to be a traditional yellow American cab which links to the main sell line of Florence in America which is a very effective technique in adding effect to the mount. The fact that she’s just got out of the cab suggests that she’s just arrived; almost as an export from the U.K to the U.S. Florence herself seems to be dressed up in an interesting fashion would appeal to some readers and could possibly be referred to as a sex object to the male audience. The magazine is making her look attractive with what seems excessive make up to add to the effect of the image. She seems shocked in the image or in anticipation, possibly for fans that are waiting to greet her. The way in which Florence is dressed up makes her sexually appealing and attracts the male sample of the target audience. Despite her sexy costume she appears confident and powerful too, as achieved by her heels, black colors of her costume and the fiery red hair which all add significance to this powerful image. Her costume shows off her legs in which again is sexually appealing to the male sector of the target audience and also makes her seem confident about her figure and image.

The sell line saying, “Florence takes America” is very powerful technique in enticing the target audience. The uppercase letters and the bright red add significance to the sell line and the way it takes up a lot of the mount and the fact that most of the rest of the cover lines are in white and in smaller text sizes signifies how important this sell line is to the mount. The sell line itself is very direct and to the point and the target audience can identify what the article about the singer is going to be about. Some of the sell lines could be referred to as representing the interests of the target audience such as, “The 25 best rock starts of all time” which is an obvious interest for the target audience and is a good sell line in which will entice the target audience. The color of the sell lines are used to add effect and significance to them as the bright red and white makes them stand out to the target audience. You can also relate the primary color red which makes up the sell line to the U.S flag which again is highly significant. The term, “Florence takes America” also makes her seem like a god-like figure within the music industry as you need to be a significant and powerful figure to “take” America therefore the significance of Florence is added to making her seem powerful and almost “captive” to some extent of how she can “take America” for “72 hours” which links on to the sell line beneath. This reads, “72 hours with the year’s greatest export.” This sell line is extremely effective as it is so direct and to the point. It says that Florence is the “year’s greatest export” making her music seem of a high quality and makes her seem very successful over the year and the fact that she is predominantly in the U.S for “72 hours” signifies that America only has three days which this iconic figure adding even more effect to her dominance and power. The language used or mode of address is basic and not to complex which makes the magazine more attractive to the male side of the target audience as they don’t want too much complication as it doesn’t appeal as much to male readers. An example of this basic language can be signified in the line, “Florence takes America,” where the word “take” is used which is slang and therefore less formal and more effective in attracting different types of the target audience to the magazine.

The main sell lines are on the left hand side of the page which is a different technique in comparison to other music magazines. The fact that they are on the left where readers read from left to right signifies their importance and make them seem more important on the mount. At the bottom of the mount there are artists in which are listed that are included within the magazine. They’re displayed in white text in upper case letters which add significance and they are a very effective way to entice more of the target audience to the magazine as some of the audience may not be too attracted to Florence so the options of other artists provide the audience to look for someone else in which they are more attracted to so therefore the extra artists listed is a very effective technique in luring in more of the target audience. There is also an image of Pete Docherty on the mount which doesn’t stand out as much as Florence however is still easily recognizable and clear to the reader. The eye level shot of Pete is of great contrast to that of Florence as she is looked up upon as a powerful figure signifying success whereas Pete’s eye level shot with a blunt expression expressing little emotion seems less important however still significant. The uppercase “exclusive” captures the audiences’ attention and the line, “Pete on life support” will reach out to his fans and others that want to find out more on how he is. The quote by Pete, “My heart stopped” seems very serious and is an effective way of attracting the target audience as it seems a serious issue in which a majority of the target audience will be intrigued to know more about.  The page seems well balanced with images and text and the overall mount is not over cluttered and hard for the target audience to interpret. It looks like it’s got a lot inside the magazine though which is going to entice the target audience to want to buy the magazine. The cover seems strategic as it has everything in a well organized fashion in which the target audience can clearly interpret and understand.