Case Study 2 - NME Magazine

For my second case study, I have chosen NME magazine, which in this issue, features the famous rock legend Paul McCartney. NME magazine, consists of rock and indie music and a colour scheme is clearly shown with once again 3 specific colours which are, red, black and white. Majority of the front cover has bold font and the font style seems to be consistent. The masthead is on the side of the cover, in big and red which will capture the audiences attention to read the magazine. McCartney's name is also written similarly as he is the cover star of the issue and people may want to read the article that features him in it. Pull quotes are mentioned under the masthead and on the other side of the cover in the corner, other article names are listed to show what else is inside the magazine. McCartney's pose is very firm and upright as he is adjusting his tie, which shows high authority and professionalism. Although his head is held up high, which also shows high status, his eyes remain focused and looking straight ahead and his facial expression appear to be quite serious looking. This cover page is quite unusual in terms of cover lines as it does include specific names which link to certain articles on the top right hand corner however, the main focus is based on the cover story of Paul McCartney. Other magazines, such as my previous case study Kerrang! magazine, have various cover lines along with the cover story displayed on the cover page whereas, this NME cover page does not.

This is the contents page of the issue which has a title named 'inside this week'. The colour scheme remains the same and several photos are shown along with the page numbers of articles related to the photos on the side. These seem to be the main articles that are featured on the magazine as at the bottom of the page, there is a plus section, which includes other parts of the magazine. The plus section on the contents page, has subheadings of the different sections of the magazine. For example, it has a features category, a book now category and also a radar category. At the bottom of the biggest photo on the contents page, which is Kanye West, there is a pullquote. Usually the cover star's photo remains to be the centre of attention even on the contents page, however in this issue of NME, they have shared the limelight with another star, who is also featured in the magazine. A 'subscribe to NME today and save up to 38%' ad is also shown at the bottom of the contents page, which includes NME's website and other issues of theirs. The issue date is shown at the top of the page, below the title.

This is the double page spread (DPS) of the issue and it features the cover star, Paul McCartney. The layout of this article is simple as one page of the DPS is an enlarged medium/close up shot of McCartney and the other page is the actual article itself. The colour scheme is still the same and the title of the article as well as the pullquote are both written in bold and black. A dropcap is also used in a bold, red colour. There are 3 columns, which are all aligned as well as a little blurb under the title with specific names highlighted in red. Overall, the structure and layout of this DPS is very neat and tidy and easy to read as well as understand. As for the journalistic features, the title of the article 'Return of the Macca', is a great emphasis on what the article is going to be about, which is Paul McCartney's return to the music industry. The article consists of the reasons behind his return and what his new album is all about.
This is the NME press pack which gives all the information of the magazine. For example, it provides details about the cover price, the audience and the frequency. The cover price is usually £2.40, and the frequency is weekly. As for the audience, 66% of the readers are male whereas, 34% of the readers are female, which shows that NME's target audience is mainly men aged 15-34.