Analysis of front covers

NME magazine front cover.
This magazine cover mainly conforms to the codes and conventions of the Indie genre. The masthead on this magazine is the magazines own recognisable font. It is bigger than all of the other writing on this page. This is so it stands out. The masthead is a recognisable font so that the reader can easily identify it. The masthead is slightly covered by the main image and a puff in the top left hand corner. This is typical for a well known magazine because the readers know what it looks like and they can distinguish it.


The other stories shown on a magazine front cover usually run down the sides of the magazine page however this magazine deviates from this code. On this magazine front cover a smaller story is shown in a white circle next to the main image at the side of the page. Names of bands that will also be featured in this issue of NME are shown in a strip at the bottom of the page. This strip is shown next to the word ‘Plus!’. This exclamatory is an example of a buzz word that is used to show the readers that this magazine has more to offer than all of the rest. The band names that are shown are only well known band names and feature articles. This is for the reason that many people are more interested in a story if it is more likely to be a band or artist that they like.

On every magazine there is a main image. Music magazines tend to have a main image of a band or artist more often than not, if they do not it is likely that the main image will be an image of an instrument. The most well known music magazines have images of a famous band or artist as they want the reader to find an article about someone they like. The main image on this magazine front cover shows the reader what the main article in this particular issue is about. The main coverline of this magazine is in an outsized font than the other stories that are being published in the magazine. The main coverline is directly under the main image which clearly shows that the two codes and conventions match and are meant to be there. There is a quote taken from the article about this band and it is situated directly underneath the main coverline. It makes the reader want to buy this magazine to read this particular story. The quote taken from the story is used for fans of the band to be drawn in. They could see this and be interested in it and will buy the magazine.