Front Cover Analysis 1

Front Page Analysis - 1

The front page of any magazine must grab the attention of the reader and give a fair representation of the content you will expect within. This is particularly important within a music magazine as the front cover will give an idea of the genre of music the magazine specialises in.

4 NME magazine – ‘Lily Allen’

NME magazine, usually associated with serious and edgy music styles advertises this with the front cover model, Lily Allen. The font is messy and cluttered in the way it is laid out and uses different sizes and a black background to emphasise the edgy style of the magazine and the artist, Lily Allen. The style matches the quote “I can’t keep living like this, it’s doing my head in.”, suggesting a crazy lifestyle much like the music Lily sings. The jumpy, mismatched font suggests that Lily doesn't care what people think of her, this also comes across in her style of music. Font can be used to represent a magazine and an artist in certain way, and this is why I will be careful to use a font that matches the vibe I want my magazine to have. A key feature here is use of colour. Sticking to predominantly to red, black, yellow and white, the boldness of the red and yellow make the magazine stick out, implying that it isn’t a tame sort of music genre. The black and white stop the magazine from becoming overly trashy and add seriousness to the layout. We assume that the genre of the magazine is rock and alternative indie music, however name drops of other artists in different genre e.g. Eminem – Rap, and even front page star, Lily Allen – Pop. We see a more edgy style from Lily, which could make her more appealing to fans of alternative music. Her almost emo-styled black hair cut and eyeliner contrast to her rather normal, casual outfit – checked shirt and a gold necklace. The jewellery adds a small splash of glamour but other than that, her appearance is toned down. Despite this, her red coloured shirt still makes her stands out adding a sense of edginess and danger. The strong branded logo ‘NME’, makes the magazines presence constant and bold. Simply designed in black and white it doesn’t contrast or differ the reader’s attention from the main features. This is something that I think is useful in keeping the brand name central, however making sure it is not too obvious.