Front Cover Essay
The magazine I am going to analyse is NME. The magazine uses specific connotations in various ways to make it clear to its intended target audience that it’s aiming its product at. The audience that the product is aimed at is a niche market and because the music market is so big, they use connotations such as a colour scheme, fonts, graphics etc to show the audience who they are aiming there product at. In this case, NME uses various stories that can be found on the inside. This is displayed along the left hand third of the cover, when magazines are stacked in the shops, the leave the left hand third visible before putting other magazines on top. So NME has put most of the information on this side. But most importantly they place the master head here. Because we read from right to left, when we look at a magazine we automatically look at the top left hand corner hence the masthead being here. The magazines slogan (new musical express) has been used in a small font which fits in with the rest of the colour scheme. The word express in the slogan translates to “on the go” so the slogan means music on the go. With this slogan used, we can now understand that one sector of the niche target audience is people who are travelling and want to find the perfect magazine. The style that the magazine is presented is effective by the use of certain elements. The central image is a main part of trying to sell the magazine. Direct mode of address is used well in conjunction with this as he makes the reader feel he is looking at them. The use of underlining certain texts and some text in bold shows which bits are more important and noticeable when the target audience first notices it. For example, the colour text is used for a few reasons, white is known to be a rich colour and it stands out easily on darker backgrounds. The main image is off the artist Morrissey and the description of the image reads “Bigmouth Strikes Again”. NME has used this description to target a specific audience. The description is a play on words as it is an old smith’s song that Morrissey used to sing so using this will target a specific niche audience that NME is trying to aim the magazine yet. The house style uses a colour scheme of red white and black. These are colours that are basic but when used together are very effective and can stand out in a shops shelf against any other. The font is consistent throughout and text size varies over which stories are more significant to others e.g. the main central image had text that is large and bold to make the reader view this but the stories discovered along the left hand third that the reader see’s first on a shelf uses pictures accompanied by graphics. The writing for these graphics has a different colour background for the text to make it stand out. If the reader isn’t interested in these stories, the magazine has used a text graphic along the bottom to show in brief terms what else can be found in the magazine, it doesn’t follow the magazines colour scheme/house style but as the magazines only doesn’t apply this once; it makes it stand out from the rest of the page. We find out that certain connation’s target different areas of the niche music market but the stories displayed on the cover. The three cover lines show three different types of music audiences and the wording to display them isn’t as obvious but also targets the specific audience it is aiming to. The 3 music artists cover lines aim at there intended audience by using phrases from what they’ve said or what’s coming up for them in terms of music. So the 4 graphics with typefaces and wording have targeted 4 types of music genre. Other bands are included at the bottom so the reader can easily view what’s on the inside by just looking at the cover. To use up space but make it look effective, they have placed a red circle in the top right hand area. This graphic is trying to represent a sticker to add a little bit of effect and use the space in the top right third and it reveals a story that can be found on the inside. So overall, NME is targeting a niche audience but is trying to make it as big as possible. Specific connotations make this possible and these are images, graphics, house styles, texts and many more. They use these to the highest effect and in my opinion pull it off very well and that’s why the magazine is a success.
The magazine I am going to analyse is NME. The magazine uses specific connotations in various ways to make it clear to its intended target audience that it’s aiming its product at. The audience that the product is aimed at is a niche market and because the music market is so big, they use connotations such as a colour scheme, fonts, graphics etc to show the audience who they are aiming there product at. In this case, NME uses various stories that can be found on the inside. This is displayed along the left hand third of the cover, when magazines are stacked in the shops, the leave the left hand third visible before putting other magazines on top. So NME has put most of the information on this side. But most importantly they place the master head here. Because we read from right to left, when we look at a magazine we automatically look at the top left hand corner hence the masthead being here. The magazines slogan (new musical express) has been used in a small font which fits in with the rest of the colour scheme. The word express in the slogan translates to “on the go” so the slogan means music on the go. With this slogan used, we can now understand that one sector of the niche target audience is people who are travelling and want to find the perfect magazine. The style that the magazine is presented is effective by the use of certain elements. The central image is a main part of trying to sell the magazine. Direct mode of address is used well in conjunction with this as he makes the reader feel he is looking at them. The use of underlining certain texts and some text in bold shows which bits are more important and noticeable when the target audience first notices it. For example, the colour text is used for a few reasons, white is known to be a rich colour and it stands out easily on darker backgrounds. The main image is off the artist Morrissey and the description of the image reads “Bigmouth Strikes Again”. NME has used this description to target a specific audience. The description is a play on words as it is an old smith’s song that Morrissey used to sing so using this will target a specific niche audience that NME is trying to aim the magazine yet. The house style uses a colour scheme of red white and black. These are colours that are basic but when used together are very effective and can stand out in a shops shelf against any other. The font is consistent throughout and text size varies over which stories are more significant to others e.g. the main central image had text that is large and bold to make the reader view this but the stories discovered along the left hand third that the reader see’s first on a shelf uses pictures accompanied by graphics. The writing for these graphics has a different colour background for the text to make it stand out. If the reader isn’t interested in these stories, the magazine has used a text graphic along the bottom to show in brief terms what else can be found in the magazine, it doesn’t follow the magazines colour scheme/house style but as the magazines only doesn’t apply this once; it makes it stand out from the rest of the page. We find out that certain connation’s target different areas of the niche music market but the stories displayed on the cover. The three cover lines show three different types of music audiences and the wording to display them isn’t as obvious but also targets the specific audience it is aiming to. The 3 music artists cover lines aim at there intended audience by using phrases from what they’ve said or what’s coming up for them in terms of music. So the 4 graphics with typefaces and wording have targeted 4 types of music genre. Other bands are included at the bottom so the reader can easily view what’s on the inside by just looking at the cover. To use up space but make it look effective, they have placed a red circle in the top right hand area. This graphic is trying to represent a sticker to add a little bit of effect and use the space in the top right third and it reveals a story that can be found on the inside. So overall, NME is targeting a niche audience but is trying to make it as big as possible. Specific connotations make this possible and these are images, graphics, house styles, texts and many more. They use these to the highest effect and in my opinion pull it off very well and that’s why the magazine is a success.
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