Music Magazine: Front Cover Analysis

For my coursework I am tasked with creating my own music magazine aimed at a specific target audience, but before I draw up my initial ideas I have to analyse certain aspects of these sorts of magazine. Starting with the front cover.

The front cover of this issue of the NME depicts Robert Smith of The Cure fame. The close-up photograph takes up the majority of the page and text is either on top or around it, to not obstruct the reader’s view of the famous musician depicted on the front. The colour scheme of the image is red, white and black. This is complemented by the colour of the text around the image, which also follows the simple red, white and black colour scheme. This gives the impression that The Cure will be the main feature of this week’s magazine.

The font on the front cover varies in style, size and colour. The Magazines name is in a fairly large, bold font in the top left corner of the page, which is common in all magazines and the featured artist, in this case The Cure is presented with a large red font, a colour which is pleasing to the eye and eye-catching to the reader.

The front cover also features several quotes, which stand out against their backgrounds thanks to the choice of colour and font.

Other bands and articles are presented in a smaller font in little white boxes with sub headings underneath giving the reader more of an idea on what else will be featured in the issue. These are pushed to the right side of the page, as the human mind often reads from left to right, meaning these are meant to be read after the Magazine title and main feature, the titles of which are pushed to the left side of the page.

Above the title, at the top of the page is a header listing some of the artists playing at Reading and Leeds Festival. The white and red colour scheme helps the text stand out against the black background of Robert Smith’s hair.