Textual Analysis: Front Covers

Source: Scan of a Magazine                                            NME published by IPC Media is a magazine which could be placed in both the genres of Indie and Mainstream music and could be described as a hybrid. NME abrieviation for New Musical Express has been published weekly since March 1952,. Its main competitors is likely to be Kerrang as this is also another successful music magazine published weekly. This is issue no. 48 which is priced at £2.40. The front cover of the magazine is strong. Using key features to attract its audience such as a mid-close up shot and an image which has a person using direct eye contact with the reader. This is good method of catching the readers attention because the use of eye contact invites the reader to want to know more about the magazine. It allows them to look closely at the detail of the picture, which on this cover is the photo of Amy Winehouse revealing her piercings and tattoos. This edition aims to attract its reader by using a celebrity face, Amy Winehouse was a popular musician known and loved by many people. Readers and particularly fans may feel they can relate strongly to the content of the magazine as they were able to watch the events of Amy Winehouse's life. A specific cover line invites us into the life of Amy 'INSIDE HER SECRET STUDIO SESSIONS' which is a world exclusive to this magazine filling a niche in its market with other music magazines. This is an example of an effective cover line which puts us in a position of curiosity and interest. The image of Amy Winehouse is convential for our generation of magazines, celebs are often presented with their own trademark in this case it could be argued that Amy's tattoos and piercings are unique and represent her own unique taste in music. The front cover of this edition uses three main colours for its graphics black, red and white. These three colours are manipulated so that they work well producing a colour scheme across the page whilst they are able to clash making individual pieces of information stand out against Amy Winehouse's fair skin and dark hair. The front cover uses a direct mode of address, when reading the cover a reader feels as if all the information is captivating and aimed specifically at them. 'NMW AWARDS VOTING IS A GO! HAVE YOUR SAY'. There are several cover lines which each address the audience differently making each story seem appealing and exclusive to this issue of NME. This edition is also made exclusive as it contains 'FREE CLASSIC AMY POSTERS' this is a form of advertisement of the content inside the issue which is appealing to those members of its target audience who are a fan of Amy Winehouse's music. The masthead is in captials, this suggests that the magazine is quite formal and would be directed at late teens and adults. The simple yet practical layout shows that the audience are likely to mature stepping away from a typical teen magazine. This edition creates a mass market audience as it has several band names  appearing in a strapline which are in competition. 'KASABIAN vs BOMBAY vs NOEL vs MONKEYS vs VACCINES' this unites several fans of these groups and makes them attracted to this magazine and also advertises the NME Awards. The use of quotations in the cover lines is a lure 'I THINK NOEL WAS PHONEHACKED' it makes the audience intrigued to know who is speaking and adds an element of danger to the storyline which is entralling for potential readers. The majority of text is presented using sans-serif font however serif font appears occasionally on the cover. I think that this front cover is well designed in its layout of graphics, a lot of text appears on the cover so that it does not feel empty howver it does not over shadow the image of Amy Winehouse allowing her to remain the main focus of the page. This cover is able to balance the advertisement of celebrities and music bands whilst displaying a few of the articles inside.