Analysis of Front cover - NME

The title of the magazine is NME, short for “New Musical Express” which is shown just below the title. The use of the short notation of the magazine attracts the audience to remember the name of it and the colours used are very bold and strong. The colour red makes the magazine dangerous and the capital letters gives the wider attention towards the audience. This is a music magazine and only specialises in one type of genre of music which is rock as the use of words “rock” and the artist used on the front cover illustrates this. The audience that it is targeted to are young teenagers, punks and people that have an interest or enjoy rock music.
As you look on the front cover, the top bar also known as the special selling line, illustrates what the magazine will contain. This immediately gives a chance to the audience whether they should buy the magazine before reading it. This benefits the magazine as this immediately attracts the audience to buy the magazine. As the lettering is in bold capital letters, this attracts the audience 1st. They have “Gorillaz” in red showing that this is the artist that is going to keep the audience interested and also this grabs the reader’s attention. The main colours that the magazine has used for this cover issue are mainly black, white and red. This signatures the magazine and allows the audience to immediately tell the difference between other magazines.
The image used on this magazine is a member of the band, My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way. They have used this image to enlighten the audience that the band is coming back for their new album release. They have used a full body shot to show the audience his whole body features. This could also interpret the changes of the artist from many years. He is tilting slightly and his face is looking directly towards the reader. This can emphasise the reader to buy the magazine. The colours of his clothing are black and white with a blue tie which interprets that he is a rock star. This stereotype how rock people dress; which is black and white.
The puff words on the side of the magazine shows the main story headlines or gossip that will appear in the magazine. They have used only two colours which are red and white. The first set of words has a background of red showing the little comments and below shows the information and the mini jokes towards the actual article.
The buzz word, on the bottom of the magazine, “Plus” informs the audience that there are other artists that are also involved in the magazine such as Kid Cudi, Maccabees and etc. This is a promoting technique to lure the audience to buy the magazine.
The anchorage text on the left side of the magazine informs the audience that the main participation of the magazine is the band My Chemical Romance. It also has a pattern of the colours white and red. This is an overall theme for the cover issue allowing it to be dangerous and exciting for the audience to look at. The first sentence is in bold capital white letters which appeals to the eye of the audience. The use of the punctuation, exclamation mark and the inverted commas, instantly shows the audience that the comeback of the band is not going to be rock opera; it’s going to be something new and different. It also interprets that the magazine is shouting at the reader’s attention.