Use these questions to analyse at least 2 music magazine front covers: What type of magazine is it?
NME is a magazine that is aimed at young students that obtain a passion for rock/indie music, with socio economic grading of C2 or D. The bands that seem to appear on the front cover of NME are usually The Horrors, The Killers and The Automatic. NME has hosted events for MTV awards and to advertise their magazines further.
However, in contrast, Essence magazine is a magazine that includes artists such as Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys. Essence magazine has also been known to host events and invited guest stars such as Jada Pinkett Smith, awarding her with “most inspirational Black woman” of Hollywood. Essence is quite an exclusive magazine, mainly aimed at darker women, judging by the language device on the front cover, for example “Be a Rich, Black Woman”.
NME is a magazine that is aimed at young students that obtain a passion for rock/indie music, with socio economic grading of C2 or D. The bands that seem to appear on the front cover of NME are usually The Horrors, The Killers and The Automatic. NME has hosted events for MTV awards and to advertise their magazines further.
However, in contrast, Essence magazine is a magazine that includes artists such as Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys. Essence magazine has also been known to host events and invited guest stars such as Jada Pinkett Smith, awarding her with “most inspirational Black woman” of Hollywood. Essence is quite an exclusive magazine, mainly aimed at darker women, judging by the language device on the front cover, for example “Be a Rich, Black Woman”.
From the front cover what kinds of issues/articles are going to be inside?
In NME, the articles would be about Glastonbury festival, gossip about a variety of bands and interviews with the front cover stars, The Horrors.
Essence magazine would include articles about inspiration darker women, who share their marriage and love secrets, including sexual reference. Also, there are lot of kickers and explanatory lines on the front cover that introduce some of the articles, which have been hinted to be aimed at only African women.
Who is the target audience for the magazine? What particular age group? What are their interests? How do you know all of this?
The target audience for NME would be young students, aged 16-29, with socio economic grading of C2 or D, with not much experience in employment, but have an extreme passion with music and its industry. This is evident because of the ABC figures and percentages posted on the internet, stating that NME’s core buyers are usually young males. Essence’s target audience are dark skinned women, aged 30-45, who aspire to be good housewives, mothers and employees, with socio economic gradings of B or A.
Essence magazine would include articles about inspiration darker women, who share their marriage and love secrets, including sexual reference. Also, there are lot of kickers and explanatory lines on the front cover that introduce some of the articles, which have been hinted to be aimed at only African women.
Who is the target audience for the magazine? What particular age group? What are their interests? How do you know all of this?
The target audience for NME would be young students, aged 16-29, with socio economic grading of C2 or D, with not much experience in employment, but have an extreme passion with music and its industry. This is evident because of the ABC figures and percentages posted on the internet, stating that NME’s core buyers are usually young males. Essence’s target audience are dark skinned women, aged 30-45, who aspire to be good housewives, mothers and employees, with socio economic gradings of B or A.
what mode of address is the magazine using? What does this tell you about the type of relationship it wants with its reader?
The mode of address used within NME is evidently informal and colloquial, shortening words such as “Glastonbury”, using words such as “freaky” and “rock”, to fit in with their target audience’s conversational, normal day-to-day basis language. NME is quite exclusive, making it clear from the image of The Horrors, that the magazine is aimed at people that share a passion for Indie music.
Similarly, the mode of address is Essence is very exclusive, mainly in a racial way, because the magazine is aimed at dark skinned women. This is evident from the language device used, with website links such as “Brownsista.com” and large sans serif font kickers saying “Be a rich, black woman”. It is significant how the word “black” is in a bigger font than “rich”, insinuating that culture and race is more important and valuable than money. With articles on what “black men really want”, being very exclusive to lighter skinned women and men.
Who is on the front cover and why?
The mode of address used within NME is evidently informal and colloquial, shortening words such as “Glastonbury”, using words such as “freaky” and “rock”, to fit in with their target audience’s conversational, normal day-to-day basis language. NME is quite exclusive, making it clear from the image of The Horrors, that the magazine is aimed at people that share a passion for Indie music.
Similarly, the mode of address is Essence is very exclusive, mainly in a racial way, because the magazine is aimed at dark skinned women. This is evident from the language device used, with website links such as “Brownsista.com” and large sans serif font kickers saying “Be a rich, black woman”. It is significant how the word “black” is in a bigger font than “rich”, insinuating that culture and race is more important and valuable than money. With articles on what “black men really want”, being very exclusive to lighter skinned women and men.
Who is on the front cover and why?
The Horrors are on the front cover of NME, being a very clear representation of the magazine’s chosen genre of music, Indie. They have the appearance of young males who listen to Indie music, but this is obviously a stereotypical image that is followed by many Indie fans. I think the editing that has been done to the band’s faces makes it look scary and live up to the name of their band “The Horrors”. Also, the band have had massive success from 2006 to present, which is why NME readers would be attracted to purchase it.
Essence has soul and RnB singer Erykah Badu on the front cover, for many obvious reasons. The magazine is aimed at dark skinned women aged 30-45, women to admire the likes of Erykah Badu, who is a dark skinned woman, with the similar problems as other women in life, a single mother, heavy career to handle and success and fame that could put her children in danger. So, she shares her secrets with her fellow sisters.
What does the main cover line say? What does this imply about the artist/band? What overall message is the artist/band giving?
NME’s front cover line is the name of their front cover band, “The Horrors”, making it quite confusing as there are no main kickers or explanatory lines on the front but it gets to point very quickly.
Essence’s main cover line is “Be a Rich, Black Woman”, which implies that not only is this music magazine, but a magazine that offers tips and advice on how to climb the social ladder of life.
Are any (social/ethnic/political) groups being represented? How does the magazine represent them?
In Essence, the black ethnicity is promoted and the magazine is racially exclusive to white women, from the fact that the language they have used is only aimed at black women. The magazine represents the black culture very respectively and well, which is why there are so many dark skinned talented stars that have been credited for their work. There are no social, ethnic or political groups represented in NME. This may be because NME wants to stay away from representing anything socially, morally or ethnically and wants to just focus on music.
Are there any ‘buzz’ words? What effect does it have on the reader?
Essence has soul and RnB singer Erykah Badu on the front cover, for many obvious reasons. The magazine is aimed at dark skinned women aged 30-45, women to admire the likes of Erykah Badu, who is a dark skinned woman, with the similar problems as other women in life, a single mother, heavy career to handle and success and fame that could put her children in danger. So, she shares her secrets with her fellow sisters.
What does the main cover line say? What does this imply about the artist/band? What overall message is the artist/band giving?
NME’s front cover line is the name of their front cover band, “The Horrors”, making it quite confusing as there are no main kickers or explanatory lines on the front but it gets to point very quickly.
Essence’s main cover line is “Be a Rich, Black Woman”, which implies that not only is this music magazine, but a magazine that offers tips and advice on how to climb the social ladder of life.
Are any (social/ethnic/political) groups being represented? How does the magazine represent them?
In Essence, the black ethnicity is promoted and the magazine is racially exclusive to white women, from the fact that the language they have used is only aimed at black women. The magazine represents the black culture very respectively and well, which is why there are so many dark skinned talented stars that have been credited for their work. There are no social, ethnic or political groups represented in NME. This may be because NME wants to stay away from representing anything socially, morally or ethnically and wants to just focus on music.
Are there any ‘buzz’ words? What effect does it have on the reader?
The words “hot”, “rich”, “sex” and “rock” all stand out, because these are the words that have been proven to constantly attract a reader’s eye in a newsagents. The effect these words have on the reader is that it makes the articles look more interesting and also promotes and augments the suspicion of what the article would be about, making the reader purchase the magazine.
What do the ‘kickers’ in the cover lines suggest will be inside the magazine? What does this tell you about the type of audience the magazine expects to get?
What do the ‘kickers’ in the cover lines suggest will be inside the magazine? What does this tell you about the type of audience the magazine expects to get?
NME will have interviews with The Horrors and Glastonbury details. Essence will have articles on music with Erykah Badu and will have tips and advice on life aswell.
What colours are used? Do you find them attractive?
I like the colours used in NME, because they are colours that clash slightly and stand out, which is what Indie is all about, standing out and clashing. The bright, fluorescent colours like the yellow make it more striking to look at. The colours used in Essence are quite regal but faded, maybe used with an overlay or Gaussian blur on Photoshop, making it look attractive but also quite difficult to look at because it can make the reader feel dizzy.
I like the colours used in NME, because they are colours that clash slightly and stand out, which is what Indie is all about, standing out and clashing. The bright, fluorescent colours like the yellow make it more striking to look at. The colours used in Essence are quite regal but faded, maybe used with an overlay or Gaussian blur on Photoshop, making it look attractive but also quite difficult to look at because it can make the reader feel dizzy.
What fonts are used and why?
A decorative and sans serif font is used in NME, to make it stand out more as there is quite little text. Essence uses sans serif font on all of its kickers but on the “buzz” words, it uses a serif font, to point out how “hot” the article and magazine will be.
A decorative and sans serif font is used in NME, to make it stand out more as there is quite little text. Essence uses sans serif font on all of its kickers but on the “buzz” words, it uses a serif font, to point out how “hot” the article and magazine will be.
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