Analysis of NME and Q magazine.

Front Cover Analysis.

The target audience for NME is teenagers, both male and female, we know this because there are male and female musicians on the front cover. The main readers will fall into the age category of teenagers as it largely focuses on today’s music. However, NME won’t appeal to all teenagers, only the ones that like the music it features.

The main image on the front cover is of Lily Allen. Lily Allen has probably been chosen to feature in the magazine because she has been in the press a lot as being well known which is what teenagers are stereotyped as being. She looks like the stereotypical image of an ‘emo’ with her black messy hair and smoky eyes. Although the text next to the image which says “Lily Allen takes on the world” represents her as being a strong female so her appearance could be used to make her look more authoritised.

The main coverline is in a much larger font size than the other writing which appears on the front cover. It is written in a house style font. The letters aren’t the same size and they are not all straight. This makes the coverline look like it’s made up of letters cut out of newspaper headlines. It is also in black in white; white writing with a black background, these are also newspaper colours. This links in with the fact that NME used to be a newspaper.

At the bottom of the magazine, there is a list of band names, this is used to attract one of buyers. They are separated by yellow line, this is part of the house style. The word ‘plus’ is written in an arrow pointing towards to the edge of the magazine, suggesting that the bands will be found inside.

Above the masthead is a black banner, the black stands out over the red of the masthead. In the banner is a picture of Alex Turner, a member of the famous British band, Arctic Monkeys. It is anchored by text advertising new music.

Other coverlines are inside circles, making them stand out and to separate them from the main coverline.

The feature about ‘how David Bowie started the Credit Crunch’ has been used because it relates to real and major issues going on in the world.

NME has a simple colour scheme. It uses colours such as red, blacks and white. They have used a white background so that that the text and the pictures don’t blend in with it and they stand out more.

Contents Analysis.

The purpose of a contents page is to give the reader the bit of information about what is inside the magazine and where to find it. It needs to be simple and easy to read. The colour scheme from the front cover remains consistent on the contents page. It splits it’s contents into sections so the readers can find what they are looking for easily. The white background is successful in which it allows the reader to not be distracted and to keep there attention on the text.

The big picture of Astoria shows it’s importance and that it’s one of the main features as it appears on the front cover too. You can see it in the bottom of the picture.

On the far left had of the contents there, is a list of band featured in the magazines, this allows the reader to instantly turn to the page with the band of there choice, this would also feature more information of the band for the reader to look at.

The subheadings for each topic also stand out as they are black boxes with white wording, on the other hand the layout of the boxes makes them stand out more as they are all in a vertical line down the right hand side of the page. The numbers of the pages are also quite bright meaning the stand out, as they are in a red font.

Double Page Spread Analysis.

The feature’s head line is in the same style and font as the main coverline on the front cover, it’s also a pull quote from the text. This shows that it’s related. Lily Allen’s name is also in this style which makes it stand out from the other text. The background is white so the readers attention is just on the text and the picture.

The picture of Lily Allen covers the whole of the right hand side of the page, leaving the left page for all of the text. The article is started off with a drop capital. The lead is positioned above the four columns of text and is in a larger text size.

Lily Allen’s clothes match the colour scheme of the feature, her shirt shows masculinity and that she is more masculine than feminine. She is looking directly at the reader connoting that she’s strong and demanding attention.

At the bottom of each page is a the page number, the name of the magazine and the date. The name of the magazine is in the house style font and colour as it always is whilst the date is in a smaller font and is in italic. This helps to create a house style which is the magazine’s design that distinguishes it from the other music magazines. The picutre credits are written in a small sized font, in bold at the side of the body copy. Lily Allen’s name is written in the top right hand corner of the page in a black box. This tells the reader who the article is about.

Front Cover of Q.

The target audience for Q magazine is teenagers, both male and female, we know this because there is a musician on he front ,she is topless, everything is covered, her pose will attract more male audience. The main readers will fall into the age category of teenagers as it largely focuses on today’s music.

The main image on the front cover is of Lily Allen. Lily Allen has probably been chosen to feature in the magazine because she has been in the press a lot as being well known which is what teenagers are stereotyped as being. She looks like the stereotypical image of sexy,independent women with self reaspect , panters beneath helps to create this stereotype of her.The text :”Lily Allen & her wicket, wicket ways..”  adds the mistery to her character.

~ by dianasarkova on February 3, 2010.