Deconstruction of NME Front Cover

NME is an acronym of New Music Express. This creates enigma, as the full name of the magazine is not widely known, and the knowledge of this trivia makes the audience members that do know it feel privileged, in the know, included, cool and also helps to create a bond of loyalty to the magazine, almost the same way that sharing a secret would help to affirm your loyalty and trust in a friend. The title of New Music Express also sounds something like an old newspaper, which contrasts the word ‘New’, and creates enigma, as the audience is none the wiser as to what genres of music will be covered by the magazine.
The magazine used the same colour schemes of pink, black and white throughout to help to maintain a sense of continuity. The colour bright pink is commonly perceived as feminine, and is used to draw in female readers. It also carries connotations of heat and passion. The colour black creates a sense of enigma because you can’t see all of it and something could be hiding just out of sight. It also has masculine, dark, dangerous, mysterious, morbid, dishonest, clouded secretive, unpredictable and old connotations. This old connotation is also in direct contrast with the title ‘New’ Music Express, and this clash adds to the enigma. The colour white has connotations that it hides nothing, tells you everything, is honest, open, innocent, new and fresh, which links to the title of ‘New’ Music Express. The deliberate mix of bright feminine colours with harsh masculine colours attracts both male and female readers, and the bold clash is more likely to catch the audience’s eye. The medallions create enigma, and are in contrasting colours of red and blue to stand out from the main colour scheme and to draw the reader’s attention. The colour blue has connotations of being cold, distant, depressing, royal, of a high status, and loyal, which links to the title as knowing what NME stands for is makes the audience feel included and trusted and loyal to the magazine. The colour red connotes heat, passion and danger. The main image is a black and white picture bordered by a solid black frame, which extends around the whole of the outside of the page. The black and white photograph carries connotations and historical context of being old, which contrasts the idea laid out in the title of a ‘New’ music magazine, and creates enigma. The border contains the picture, almost as though the magazine has caught the people in the picture, and the audience must read the magazine before they can escape and get away. The border also surrounds masthead which helps to keep the theme and house style throughout the magazine. The people in featured in the main image are wearing old clothes, which shows their age and links them to the title of the article, which is about their lat ten years. They look relaxed, and their gaze is aimed directly at the audience, whilst their facial expressions show curiosity and shock at finding people looking at them like they are in a fishbowl. The direction of their gaze combined with their expressions draws the audience in, and creates enigma. The way that the main image has been arranged draws in both the male and female gaze, in that men want to be them, and are inspired by envy, and think that maybe the magazine will tell them how to become like the people in the picture, and women want to be with them, and are drawn in by admiration for the artists’ music and the way they look and behave.
The use of the phrases “special issue”, “secret” create enigma, and the audience wants to know why it’s special, and so the y will have to read the magazine to find out. The tag lines are placed strategically on the page to draw the audience’s attention, and words like “plus” are used to create enigma and advertise to the audience that if they buy the magazine they will be getting all that they see and more, which connotes that the magazine is good quality for money, and gets the audience curious.
The main story repeated 3 times in various positions across the page, which reflects the rule of thirds, and keeps with the theme. The title of the article is show in a medallion, which adds enigma. The bar code is in bottom right corner, which is an area known as dead space, because this is where the audience member puts their thumb when they turn the page. The cover loosely follows the rule of thirds, but the words and tag lines more of less create loose border around the faces of the men in the picture.