Magazine Research: Rock Magazine

NME Front Cover

Facts about NME: 

- Started in 1952

- In January - June 2010 the total circulation was around 33, 875

- Krissi Murison is the current editor

Conventions of NME magazine front cover:

- Title stands out as colour is bright compared to the background colour and is bold, so the audience is able to easily read the title, even at a glance. There are only two colours used but this is effective as it stand out from the picture and can be replicated as a theme throughout the magazine or main feature.

- Name of main article is in a big font, in a colour that also stands out (this immediately draws the audience to look at the article)

- Quotes from main articles (to intrigue the audience, about views and opinions of a music artist)

- Picture of a music artist on front page (The picture of the artist usually depicts the focused article in the issue)

- Cover stories in smaller font (Giving the audience a wider variety of reading)

- Barcode, with pricing

- Issue number

- Date of issue

- Exclusive, special offer or special edition title (Entices audience to buy the magazine as its a promotional tactic)

NME Contents Page

- Title of page "NME THIS WEEK" shows the current articles that will be included in this weeks issue, available for the audience to read.

- Different fonts and different colours showing different articles

- Subscription offer at bottom of page, therefore enticing the audience to regularly subscribe to the audience.

- Different headlines for different articles therefore categorising them, so its easier for the reader to find what they are looking for.

- Page numbers are listed beside the articles so the reader can skip straight to their favourite article or the article they most want to see.

- Date of issue is listed at the top to inform the reader of what issue they are reading.

- Another promotional attic used is the extra magazine included in the magazine which is the "no1 gig guide".

- A mini article is used in the centre which appears to talk about a music trip the editors of the magazine have been on to experience. A message from the editors is a common object used on contents pages.

NME Double Page Spread

- There is one main image on the page showing that the article is focused around this artist. However double page spreads vary on the amount of images they use. 

- The article usually starts off with a bigger font letter and then the rest of the text is reduced on one same size. This effect is used for style and presentation of the text, as seen above.

- A pull quote is sometimes used, from the article and displayed as a larger piece of text which usually is a quote that may leave the reader to wonder what it's about. Above a pull quote does not appear to be used however a song produced by this artist is incorporated into a larger font to fit in with the theme of the article. 

- The letter 'USA' are in the background clearly showing the reader that this article has got something to do with the artist and the United States of America. Also to accompany this she is sitting on an american flag which compliments the 'USA' letters. 

- The background is plain therefore the reader can directly focus on the article and the image of the artist.

Through conducting this research, i have found out many conventions used in the front cover, contents page and double page spread and found that by using these conventions, i can successfully create parts of magazine in a professional manner. It would be unwise to ignore these conventions as they have been used for years in the magazine industry and have been successful therefore i will be using them.