NME Analysis

NME is one of the most iconic magazines in the music industry. It is clearly a well know magazine as it can afford to put the cover star partially blocking the masthead.

The cover star is the world famous Julian from The Strokes, and he is gazing directly outwards at the reader. This not only will attract people because the cover star is well known, but also because the reader is being directly looked at.

The main coverline is clearly "Julian goes solo". This is clearly the main coverline because it is in bold writing and in a very prominent place on the page. The main coverline is so prominent that it almost rival the masthead for superiority  over the page.


The masthead of the magazine is slightly bigger than the main coverline, which is unusual as the masthead is normally far larger. This said the bold red writing, and positioning of it make it impossible to miss and very attention grabbing.









Apart from the main coverline there are also other coverlines across the magazine. These are smaller in size, b ut still give the reader a good idea of what is in this edition of the magazine. And finally there is an advert on the cover to "Win a piece of signed stone roses artwork". This type of advert will really appeal to the MWE's target audience as they are interested in music.

I used my headline because I believe it would appeal to my target audience as it directly addresses them. It also uses the technique of alliteration which makes it more catchy, and memorable. The title “Lad Life” suggests that music is an essential part of the everyday lads life. 

My cover picture was used  as it depicts two teenagers who are clearly dressed in the indie style. This is the type of audience I want to appeal to, so I believe they will be able to relate to my magazine. The picture itself is two indie males, posing against a yellow background. After the picture was taken I decided to edit out the yellow background and put them on a clear blue and white background. This made them stand out more, and draws more attention to their clothing. The shot itself is a medium shot, this includes their whole body, and again highlights their dress sense, as there is no background to look at. My contents page picture is....

The costumer my cover stars are wearing give off a very specific image. The clothes worn suggest that they belong to a certain group in society, this one being the “Indie” group.  I did some research and asked people what social group they though my cover stars belonged to, and the overwhelming majority stated Indie. This is good as people will take a brief look at my magazine and see what style and genre it is, which will hopefully attract my indie target audience. During my research I came across many indie style magazines and used them as style models, and used similar clothing for my cover stars.

I used a variety of shots for the pictures in my magazine. As I said earlier I used a medium shot for my cover stars. This is in contrast to the type of shot I used for my contents page. Here I used a medium close up, as this picture was of a single indie man, and this shot was the best choice for highlighting the clothes worn. Also this type of shot made the picture fit perfectly into the space I had left for the image.

I chose the name “Lad Life” for my magazine as I believe it will appeal to my target audience. The word lad is used by in the indie social group as a compliment, and combined with my cover stars gives a very indie look to my magazine.

Initial Ideas for my Magazine

My original music magazine idea was inspired by a very indie magazine called Campus. This magazine features Indie fashion, and gaming. I wanted my magazine to be similar to this for many reasons. First and foremost I believe that the magazine has a very sleek look, and gives off a cool, yet relaxed image. By making my magazine similar to this it would make it appeal to the young, hip, teenage audience I was looking to target.  Also I like the content of the magazine, which again will appeal to my target audience. The content of the magazine varies from fashion, to gaming, to indie music, to top student cites. Having a section on top student destinations means that it will draw in students, again these are people in my target audience.

My Magazine Cover...

For my magazine cover I wanted to achieve a very indie look, for this my cover star is vital. I saw this image whilst doing research and I wish to achieve this kind of mage for my cover.

Contents Page Analysis

I have analysed two contents pages, here is one. This contents page is very eye-catching mainly because of the interesting pose that the model is doing. It is very different from the standard straight-on shot and the attention is focused on her legs as opposed to her face. This gives a clue to the target audience of the magazine as it may be more focused on appealing to males than females.

We can tell it is the contents page because it has a title near the top but again this is displayed in an unusual way which makes it very appealing to look at.

The model in the image is a famous singer which shows us that the main article in the magazine is about her. This helps gain readers who are fans of the singer.

The articles listed in the contents page are divided into to headed sections; ‘Features’ and ‘Fashion’. The articles each then have the page number, a bolded title and a short description about what you can find on that page. Also listed with each article are the names of the photographers and writers who contributed to that article.

The colours used on the contents page are very neutral, including the colours of the models clothes. This gives a very modern and fresh feel to the page which is how the magazine would want to be represented.

Campus Life Magazine

This is by far the most indie of all the magazines I have seen so far. The audience will predominantly be indie teenagers who attend university, but it has other parts that could intrest no uni goers. Also they have an offer on the front to win a smartphone, this is the type of thing teenagers would go for. The layout of the magazine is very good, with the cover star in the middle, and some sub-headings along the left side. The sub headings are the type of things that teenagers will be very interested in such as fashion " Build the Perfect Wardrobe", and gaming "Assassins Creed". The cover star is a stereotypical indie guy, he has tattoos and wears the "classic" checkered T-Shirt. The title is simple yet elegant in large bold white writing, with a nice twist in the way life is squeezed in at the end by being on its side. The font on the cover is quite plain with nothing really standing out, except one sub-heading in red.

Cover Analysis

  College magazine has a very hectic cover, it's target audience would be mos likely teens as the bright colours and young man on the front would appeal to that sort of audience. I also believe that the magazine would appeal to both sexes, as it has topics that would interest both such as "Making Money On Campus" and "Thank God It's Friday". The layout of the magazine is again quite manic. It has lots of sub heading dotted around, and the man on the front blocks some of the title. This means that the magazine is well known enough to partially block some of the title without people not knowing the magazine. The headings in the magazine cover things that are college/school related, such as the ones I have previously stated before. The cover star himself is a young man, who I would guess is late teens, this would attract teens as they can relate to this character. There is a lot of text on the page, and it in in quite small font, this gives off an almost relaxed disorganised look. Again this is what some teens would look for in a magazine. This magazine seems very hipster indie, and this is the type of teen that they wish to attract.

The next magazine I have looked at is chosenhill. This magazine is again about school life and features a head boy on the cover. I believe that this magazine is unisex, and will appeal to teens, as it is based around school. This is something teens of both sex participate in. The layout of the magazine is quite simple, with the cover star on the front and a few sub headings on the right. Other than this the magazine is quite bare. The colours of the magazine are fairly neutral as they are not too bright and a light blue is relaxed. Again the stories covered are school related, things to do with the orchestra, and the head boy. The title itself is very prominent at the top of the page is large white bold letters. It is not obstructed by the cover star, as this magazine probably doesn't already have an established audience. There is not a lot of text on the page, which gives off a simple look. This magazine also gives off an indie type look from the cover star.

Whichschool has the most unique of layouts of all the magazines I have analysed. I believe that this magazine may be aimed more predominantly at a male audience as it looks like an all boys school due to the blazers and not a single girl in the masses of people in the background. This layout is so unique as it has a very large area that is dedicated to the title, and this take up almost a third of a page, and below it is a large picture, not a cover star with a background behind them. Also it is very simple and does not have much text or sub-headings. The cover stars here are smartly dressed, and look quite posh, this makes me think that it would appeal to people who attend Private school teens. The title is also unique as it is in two colours, this is unlike any other title I have seen. The font is quite bold, and simple, this is trying to give off a clean cut, simple image.