Analysis of front cover

Enable to understand the type of content needed to make our front covers look realistic and effective, we analyzed an existing magazine front cover to understand the importance of every detail included.





Colour: the colour scheme on the front cover is very bold and simple. All the writing is in white or gold. However the
title of the magazine “NME” is in red which is outlined in white.
The white outline matches the rest of the front cover colour
scheme, however the red allows the title to stand out and
add a bit of variation. The background is a solid black; this
allows everything else to stand out effectively on it. The
black background and typography colour also helps
represent the genre of the magazine. If it bright and
colourful it could suggest more of a pop magazine.
However the use of dark colours suggests more rock
and acoustic/individual music. In the bottom right corner
is the barcode with price, date and website. Although the
price remains in a black font like every other barcode,
the date and website although small is it a red colour.
This does not stand out instantly however allows the
reader to recognise the colour red to be match with NME.


How the cover tells the reader about content/genre. The typography gives most of the content away for the readers, however the actual bands themselves help identify the real genre of the magazine. For this addition of NME the main image and “spotlight” of the front cover is Kurt Cobain. This immediately represents a genre of rock and grunge. The other teasers and strap lines allow the audience to get a full understand of what type of article will be included which help make their decision on whether or not this magazine is for them.


Layout: the lay out of this October the 10th
episode is very organised and simple. All the
main and interesting articles are displayed
around the main central image. This is very
effective and it allows the most advertising
of the content to be shown and wastes no
very big and in the centre which draws
the reader’s attention straight away.




Images used: There is one main image of Kurt
Cobain which tells the reader he will be a main feature
in the magazine. It is in black and white which fits in
with the colour scheme of the front cover



The essential feature such as barcode, price, date and title although may not seem symbolic, they represent extra details to the magazine. The title NME has been shortened from the original: new musical express. The abbreviation does not represent the music genre as well however it is more short, snappy and memorable. The people that do recognise the old title will understand how it relates to the magazine as it shows the readers the new, most update music. The “express” represents the amount of information talked about and suggests it is a regular magazine. The price for this episode of NME is £2.30. In the current magazine business magazine tend to be between the prices of £1.00-£4.00. This makes NME seem not too expensive however not to cheap. This could represent the good articles and feature the readers could read about if they bought it, whereas a cheap low end cost of magazine suggests the articles will be cheaper and less information will be published.


Typography: the text on the front cover varies in style depending on the message. The artists which are talked about in articles are situated around the main image in the style of handwriting. This reminds the audience of the time when journalism was more classic; just writing in a bar. The colour is in a sequence of white then mustard gold, white ect. The artists named vary genre. There is Jimi Hendrix who is a classic NME featured artist but also artists such as Jay-Z. The other typography shown on the front cover is more bold and formal. It advertises the main features. Although the font is serif the colour scheme remains the same as the rest; white and gold.

Before starting to design my own music magazine, i looked through and researched different magazines and the style in which they portray. I analysed many different genres in order to fully understand the type of audience they are aimed at. I found a copy of "NME" from 1969. At that time it was still called New Musical Express.Although the image has changed in terms of colour, format and editing, the change that stood out most to me was the change in music genre content. In the 1968 black and white paper magazine the content was more classic rock with articles such as Bob Dylan and Cliff Richard, whereas in the 2009 glossy bright colour magazine although the content is still based around rock such as Jimmy Hendrix, the amount of "pop" and modern hip-hop is increasing e.g. Jay-Z and Arctic Monkeys.