In-depth Analysis - NME

This edition of NME is very different in comparison to others.  The hot spot immediately shows us that this is an anniversary special on The Smiths. The large picture is of the band, as this is in black and white this helps put the emphasis on the fact that this bands musical roots are from a different decade. NME have used an old image of the band all with eye contact that will help draw the reader in but also to run within the dated theme. The stripped back gritty image shows us that these people are all about their music they have no gimmicks.

The border of the main image has a Polaroid effect, which was very current and fashionable to use then. In the top right corner you can see the second of only two pictures is the picture of there album, so we can already tell that this is not going to just be a piece on the band but more so on the album.  As they have only used two images this helps keep there readers focused on just the two. The main colours are red, black and white, NME ‘s logo is usually in red and always has been but as red is a very vibrant colour anyway this helps this issue stand out in the newsstand. They have also used this colour theme as it is linking in with the smaller image of their album. As there album are the same colours. The typography they use in this issue is very square and block like, in-between the word “Morrissey” and “Marr” is meant to be the & sign but is portrayed in a very musical way, they have sectioned off only these two names to see that these where the main people in this band.

You can see that in the bottom with a black back ground there are different names of artists this helps the reader see that its not only about The Smiths but what’s in this issue, the names in this black box are very current artists. Maybe they are trying to be provocative, directly above the name “artic monkeys” (the current kings of indie rock), referring to the smiths album “Greatest indie album ever made”. Even though this issue is based around this band, the article actually starts on page 20. The have done this so that when the readers on NME pick this up in the shop they will flick through the first couple of pages, to see that NME has more to offer. As soon as you turn the first page to your left you can see that there is a advertisement for trainers, clearly selling to there main target audience; men. But to your right is the contents page, full of pictures and page numbers. They would have put this on the right hand side as they know that readers eye, without knowing will naturally drift to the right page. On page number 7 there are several snapshots of what looks like a construction site. As soon as the reader sees this they have no clue on what this is about, this could help in two ways, 1) it will make the readers immediately guess and 2) you want to know what the story is behind the picture. This page is not really appealing to women so again is perfect for there male audience.


NME FLAT PLAN.

This is NME's flat plan for tehre Smiths issue. from this i can see how they set out there normal issue's. From thios i can borrow some page ideas for my won magazine.