Example: NME

NME target audience NME’s target audience age is 24.

The social class of NME is ABC1 65%, so the main readers are middle class. 52% of the audience work full time, 7% are working part time and 29% are still studying. 69% of readers are male and 31% of readers are female. The readership of NME is 369,000 and circulation is 40,948.

ImagesFor the front cover NME have used a picture of the new popular band ‘peace’. They do this to draw readers attention to the magazine, the band being new so some of the readers won’t recognise the people, so they will want to read the magazine and find out who the band on the front cover are. The picture of the band are posed in a simple way, but their clothing style is different and will make the reader want to find out what they sound like. The picture is also aesthetically pleasing and nice to look at, it is good quality, so readers will more likely buy it because of the picture.

For this interview, they have used a picture of the singer, Lily Allen. A picture that hasn’t been seen before because it has been taken from an NME photo shoot, and this will get fans excited, because it is a new picture. The pose of Lily has attitude, so the reader will want to read this article because it looks interesting and maybe controversial. The picture also takes up half of the space over the double page, to make it look like there is more information.

Words/fontThe words on the front cover vary to very bold and large, to smaller and not as bold. The words that are in larger fonts tend to be what is on the front cover, so the band or musicians on the front cover will also be mentioned. These larger words show that this magazine is predominantly about these musicians and there will be a large portion of the magazine dedicated to the band. There are also smaller words that don’t stand out as much, these also tell you what is also going to mentioned in the magazine, but these will be a smaller part and maybe share a section.

Inside the magazine the text and fonts vary a lot, depending on the type of music and attitude the article about it, so for example the article about Lily Allen is feisty and has attitude, you get this from the quote that is used above the article and the busy font it is in, where as in comparison to the more sensitive article about Kurt Cobain, from the images, soft fonts and the mention of his ghost you get the idea that this is an article about his life. You can tell these are very in depth articles because of the writing to picture ratio is about even, where usually pictures would take up more space

ColoursThe colours in each article vary, but there is a definite colour scheme that has to be followed of the black text on the white background, this makes the text easier to read and stands out next to the pictures. The band being written about also changes the colours, as seen here older bands like blur, and older musicians like David Grohl, they have already gained respect and they are professionals in what they do, so the articles are more simple and sophisticated, keeping to a black and white clean theme, with the odd bit of colour. The photographs are also a lot more toned down and simple, being in black and white etc.

These articles are focusing on young and upcoming musicians, that have fans but they haven’t been out long enough to gain the respect of an older band. The singers are also younger and in their 20’s so to keep with the young feel NME use more coloured fonts in these articles, that are also a lot brighter. The photographs also used are a lot more colourful, the colours being enhanced to make it more eye catching so more people will read this and the singer will gain more fans. But the colour theme of black font on a white background is still imminent.

Layout/captions.The layout of the front cover is very simple, but this is effective. NME always have a reoccurring theme of having a portrait shot of a band that the magazine is concentrating on, then the NME logo in the top left hand corner, then the name of the musician featured in large bold font, which is essentially a caption, so the reader can indentify who the musician is, and then other smaller things that are featured in the magazine in small font around the edges of the magazine. This layout is always similar for each magazine so it become recognisable to readers.

The layout of the inside of the magazine also carries out a certain theme that each magazine must follow. This will usually run along the lines of one large picture of the artist being written about, then the text will be next to or underneath the picture. There also might be captions displayed in boxes that overlap other boxes or the picture itself. The kind of things in the captions usually are quotes from the interview or shortened down summary fact files. The captions are put on or near the pictures to give the band being pictured some identity and so the reader knows the two things are related. The layout of the main piece of text does anchor the picture, they connect and look related to you know that this article is about the band pictured.

Codes and conventions.In the codes and conventions for magazine front covers the title of the magazine has to be the boldest text and only one or two words, so the reader can automatically identify which magazine it is. NME follows this code. The font has to have a high contrast to the background, so if the background it light the font has to be darker so it stands out and is easily read, NME follow this convention also. There is a code that the cover line must only be one or two lines, but NME doesn’t have a cover line, so it cannot follow this convention. The main image on the cover must be eye catching to engage the reader, I think that NME do this well and the majority of their images are very eye catching. The main image must also relate to what is inside the magazine, and NME follow this convention, for example one of the magazines has Ian Curtis on the front, so this would suggest this issue is about Joy Division. Colour scheme is also a convention, and NME have a colour scheme as in their logo is always in read, except when it is a special edition of the magazine, for example on their Jimi Hendrix special anniversary edition the NME logo is pink and purple . Short tag lines in entice the reader and give them idea what is also featured in the magazine must be used, alliteration can also help, NME use tag lines, but don’t always alliterate, but they still can be catchy, e.g. ‘Glasvegas play las vegas …Finally’. And the text must run from left to right downwards, so it flows, which NME do.

Codes and conventions, double spread. The Page Spread Shows that majority of the double page is taken up by the photograph of the interviewee and this is shown on two of the ones shown on this page, (The Lily Allen and Kurt Cobain spreads). When an article takes up a double page in a magazine, they allow the title to bleed onto the other page in order to show the reader that the pages are linked. The heading of the interview has to be the one written in the biggest text so to give the audience insight as to what the interview is going to be about. The images shown shows the kind of feel the article has to it, so the Lily Allen one is confrontational and has attitude where as the Kurt Cobain one is more nostalgic and bitter-sweet. There also is a dropped font on the first letter to show the reader where to begin. The text size used throughout of the magazine and interviews are no bigger than 11pt. Panels/Small Panels/Quotes are used to break up the images to make it more interesting to read. The article is usually a 1000 words or more used when writing up an interview. Articles are written in an informal way, so make the reader feel more at easy and like the interview is 100% genuine, also so it easier to read.