1. Analysis of magazine front covers
Cover 1.NME Sept 2009
Dizzee Rascal Edition
By Tamera Lall

2. THE HEADER – tells you what
MASTHEAD – the ‘NME’ FRONT COVER ANALYSIS features inside the magazine. It
also shows the deals you get for
could also mean enemy. It
the amount of money you pay.
is very large and colourful.
This makes in stand out and
the whole cover looks eye- THE MAIN IMAGE – of Dizzee
catching. It helps with the Rascal. He has been used as he is a
branding as this is the well-known artist of the hip hop
magazine company’s logo. genre. This will attract the target
audience who are interested in his or
USE OF A FLASH – this kind of music.
the flash stands out
against the background
which helps to attract THE SELL LINES/COVER
the readers. LINES – state features within
the magazine so it attracts the
BACKGROUND – the audience and basically sells the
background is a graffiti magazine to the audience.
wall. This represents the
stereotype of hip hop
THE MAIN COVER LINE
artists.
- says his name so you can
recognise him and it also
USE OF A PULL tells you that he is included
QUOTE – gives an in the magazine.
insight on what is
Barcode(date/issue/price)
featured in the magazine.
The use of the word
– the barcode is in the corner
which keeps it out of the way
‘man!’ keeps it casual
so it doesn’t distract from the
and helps target the
main cover. The price is kept
younger audience.
at a reasonable price so it
RULE OF THIRDS/THE suits the target audience.
LEFT THIRD – all the THE FOOTER – mentions artists of
important information is different genres which the younger
kept in the left third of the target audience would recognise and
page as this is the side that be interested in those artists.
most people look at and
read first.

3. TARGET AUDIENCE OF THIS MAGAZINE
METHODS USED TO ATTRACT THIS
TARGET AUDIENCE – I TARGET AUDIENCE ARE:
believe the target audience are
interested in more modern •A current artist of a popular music
music, mainly the hip hop genre is featured on the cover.
genre. I think the audience is •Graffiti background is colourful, bright
predominately males (74%) and
and fun.
a smaller female audience
(26%). The median age of the •The use of the word ‘man’ is slang which
readers is 23 so the target keeps it modern and appealing to the
audience is students and younger audience.
wealthy people. The cost of the
magazine is about £2.20.

4. STRETCH AND CHALLENGE
ACTIVITY-
USE THE HYPERLINK FOR DIRECT ACCESS TO NME
http://www.nme.com/magazine
NME is the longest
published weekly
music magazine. It is
read by over 1.1
million music fans
every week.
The magazine started off with the
rock genre and then slowly
started to cross with hip-hop and
NME was first released other genres. It now mainly
as a newspaper in March features current music and artists.
1952. Since then, it has It gives readers the latest new
become a well-known music, including award-winning
magazine. features, the latest releases, live
reviews, the definitive guide to the
best new bands in its Radar
section, as well as a regular look
back through the magazine's
incredible 60 year heritage.

5. MORE DETAILED RESEARCH INTO NME MAGAZINE
http://www.nme.com/magazine

6. Analysis of VIBE front cover -
Drake

7. MASTHEAD – the HEADER – mentions
masthead takes up a large various artists of the hip-
amount of the page. It is hop genre that would
white which contrasts with appeal and be of interest
the black background of the target audience.
making it stand out and
eye-catching.
MAIN IMAGE – the image
BACKGROUND – the is of Drake - a popular artist
background is plain black of the genre. He is
which contrasts with all the recognisable as he is well-
text on the page. This known. This will attract the
makes the text stand out target audience.
against it and makes it
MAIN COVER LINE –
easier to read and
although the cover line
understand.
doesn’t take up much of
SELL LINES/COVER the cover, it still tells you
LINES – highlights the who is on the front cover
important features inside and featured inside. As he
the magazine that could is well-known everyone will
attract the reader. know who he is.
RULES OF
THIRDS/LEFT THIRD – FLASH – the use of a
all the important flash in a contrasting colour
information is kept in the makes it stand out from the
left third as it is the side back ground and noticeable
that the audience will first to the reader.
read.
BARCODE – this is The cover in general is
kept on the side of the fairly simple, in regards
cover and out of the way to the colour scheme.
so it doesn’t distract This works as it allows
from the main front the reader to pay more
cover.
attention to the actual
information on the page.

8. Analysis of Billboard front cover -
Rihanna

9. MASTHEAD – the masthead
is large and contrasting with
the dark background as it is
white. It is the well-known logo SELL LINES/COVER
of the magazine company so it LINES – the sell lines give
makes the cover recognisable, a basic, brief insight of what
therefore the whole logo is inside the magazine. This
doesn’t have to be shown so it helps to attract readers and
can be covered by the image. gain their interest so they
are more likely to buy the
MAIN IMAGE – the main magazine.
image features Rihanna, a
current artist in the charts. She
is a popular artist in her genre
so this will help sell to the FLASH – the flash is in a
target audience as it will gain bright yellow box with a
their interest in the magazine. contrasting red font. This
straight away stands out from
the rest of the text on the
cover so it is more noticeable.
MAIN COVER LINE – the This should appeal to the
main cover line takes up a reader as they find out more
large amount of the space about the main cover star.
on the cover. It links with
the main image to give a
hint about what the main
feature of the magazine
BACKGROUND – the plain
which will help to get dark background is simple
which doesn’t distract from
readers interested with
what’s inside. the other features on the
cover. It is good as the
readers can focus on the
BARCODE - the barcode is important information.
kept in the bottom left hand
corner. This is out of the way
so it doesn’t distract from the
key information or the main
image.