NME magazine analysis

The second magazine I will be analysing is “NME” which is a indie/rock magazine published by IPC Media.

The magazine as a whole:
NME is a music magazine that focuses on genres such as rock, indie, alternative and pop-rock. The magazine is published by IPC Media and, in turn, Time Warner. IPC Media also publish Uncut. The median age of the NME readers is 25 years old, and it’s audience is 70% male and 30% female. The balance of editorial copy to imagery in NME is about 60/40%. The magazine always feautures a few sections in every issue, but for the most part, the contents of each issue is different. This aids the anarchistic image that NME has; they don’t conform to conventions like most magazines by printing the same feautures each week.

Advertising in NME:
The advertising in NME relates to it’s audience well as most ads are for new music releases, concerts, technology and DVDs. There are 68 pages in the magazine and 26 of these pages are used for advertisement, therefore 18% of the magazine is used for advertising. There are also no inserts in the magazine and as it is published by a global coorporation there are four different cover prices; NME costs £2.40 in the UK, $6.70 in the US, $7.99 in Canada and €3.70 in Spain. The lack of advertisements in NME affects production value, so they use matt paper as opposed to glossy paper. This is because it is cheaper to produce a magazine with matt/newspaper paper than it is to produce a magazine that uses glossy paper.

NME’s style:
NME tend to ignore particular ‘rules’ when it comes to layout and design. For instance, most issues of the magazine ignore the rule of thirds on cover; they feauture unjustified lines and there is a strong similarity in layout and design of covers. Every week the contents page conforms to a very similar layout and is always on the right face. ‘On Repeat’ is a section that is featured in every issue; it always has a similar layout and is situated on the left face after the contents page. Pink and black text is used with the same fonts appearing throughout and sections are broken down using bright colours like pink and blue. They use these fonts and colours to create a unity throughout the magazine so that it sticks together well. The page number is always near the edge of the page as opposed to in the middle and gutters are used between columns in articles and interviews and are always the same width which makes for a pleasing layout and design.

The Cover:
There are three layers on the cover of this issue of NME. The masthead is always situated in the top left hand corner of the cover; it is big, bolg and typed in block capitals. I think that the masthead has been designed this way because it represents the readership of the magazine well. NME readers are typically anarchistic, rebellious and young. The fact that the masthead is typed in block capitals makes it really stand out, just like the readers of the magazine. NME’s masthead it also recognisable as it is the same from issue to issue and the only thing that changes is the colour. The central image is layed over the masthead which suggests that readers of NME would be able to recognise the magazine without seeing it’s name. The photograph on the cover is of Nirvana, a heavy rock band. The men in the picture have long hair and their clothing indicates a lack of conformity. The man in the middle of the image is holding a lighter whilst the man on his left is smoking a ciggarette. This indicates that they are rebellious and anarchistic as smoking is betrayed as bad and something that rebels do. The image itself is black and white which is unusual for the central image of a magazine cover. This suggests that the readers of NME are attracted to unique things and that they enjoy rebelling against conventions. Only three articles are signposted on the cover, and only one of those is accomponied by a page number. The predominant colours on the front cover of this issue are yellow, black and white.

The Contents Page:
The contents page in NME is always situated one page into the magazine on the right face; it takes up one page. There are seven images on the contents page and the balance of imagery to copy is abuot 70% imagery and 30% copy. The images are accompanied by captions and corresponding page numbers and the contents is presented numerically with important articles being highlighted. This is one advertisement on the contents page which is for a subscription to NME. Three fonts are used on the contents page in about five different sizes and two colours (black and white).

Double Page Spreads in NME:
There are two double page spreads in this issue of NME (pages 10/11 and pages38/39). They share one similarity in the fact that they both feature at least one small image with a white border. Aside from this, they are quite different. The first double page spread is based on Arcade Fire’s final tour date in Edinburgh, whereas the second double page spread is a feature on St Vincent’s newest album; this immediately tells us that they will be set out and used in different ways. The first article spreads all photographs and text over the double page, whereas the second article features a full bleed photograph of the artist on the left face and text with some small images on the right face. The balance of imagery to text is similar in both articles; around 60% imagery and 40% text. Both articles use captions for the majority of smaller images, leaving the larger photographs to speak for themselves. Both articles use a standfirst to give the reader a brief summary of the article but only one of the articles uses pull quotes from the text. In both articles the writer has been credited; the first article prints the writers name at the end of the text in bold face, whereas the second article mentions the writer in the standfirst. The photographer has also been credited in both articles. The language used in both of these double page spreads is similar; it is quite formal and no colloquialisms are used. This is the type of language that NME readers are used to – correct punctuation is always used and the articles use a wide vocabulary rather than sticking to plain and simple language that you might expect to see in a magazine aimed at a younger demographic.

Uncut magazine analysis

The first magazine I will be analysing is the October 2011 issue of “Uncut” which is a rock music magazine published by IPC Media.

What is IPC Media?:
IPC Media is one of the largest publishers in the UK; the print they produce reaches almost 75% of UK women and 42% of UK men. The main audiences that IPC Media focus on are men, mass market women and upmarket women. In 2001 IPC Media was sold to Time Incorporated which is the magazine publishing branch of Time Warner; this means that IPC Media is part of an international coorporation.

Uncut’s Readership:
Uncut magazine has a male readership of 86% with an average age of 37 years old. Around 60% of these readers are married or living with a partner and 77% hold full time jobs. Uncut has been described as “NME’s cooler, older brother” and is aimed at men who enjoy music genres such as Modern Indie, Rock, Classic Indie and Americana.

Advertising in Uncut:
The advertising in Uncut relates to the audience as most of the advertisements are for concerts, new music and technology. All of these things appeal to the target audience who we know spend approximately an hour a day on music-based websites and are very interested in music. We also know that 86% of the readers of “Uncut” download music every week and 68% own an mp3 player, which clearly shows that they are interested in music and technology. There are 131 pages in the magazine, including front and back covers; of these pages, 35 are used for advertising. This means that 45% of the magazine is used for advertising purposes and 55% is used for editorial. Because of the money that they are getting from advertising, the publishers can afford to sell Uncut at a reasonable price and print it on high quality, glossy paper.

The Cover:
There are 3 layers on the cover of Uncut. The masthead is bold, large and red. It covers the entire width of the magazine and had been designed this way to draw attention to the name ‘Uncut’ and to craete a sense of continuity and familiarity with other issues of the magazine. The central image fo T.Rex is layed over the masthead; it is in black and white which indicates that her is from a retro band. oyu can see that he is playing an electric guitar which suggests that the magazine will be focused around music and, in particular, rock music. His clothing is very ‘glam’ which probably expresses a part of his personality.

The Contents Page:
The contents only takes up one page in Uncut; it is 5 pages into the magazine and is right facing. There is one large image that takes up the 2/3rds of the page and the balance of copy to imageryis about 30/70%. This suggests that the readers of Uncut like the contents page of the magazine to be clearly layed out, comprehensive and easy to navigate. In support of this, the image has a caption which directs the reader to the page that the corresponding article is printed on. There are no advertisements on the contents page, allowing the reader to easily allocate the articles that they wish to read. There is no message from the editor; the page is strictly used to display the contents. Two different fonts are used on this page with four different font colours and six different sizes. This variety makes the page more interesting and more visually pleasing.

Double page spreads in ‘Uncut’:
There is a lack of double page spreads in Unut; most articles run to three or four pages. This tells us that the readers of this magazine clearly enjoy reading about their interests in great depth. It also suggests that the magazine is layed out in distinct sections that always feauture, and allows room for a few long articles and one or two double page spreads. Clearly the average reader of Uncut likes to know that every issue that they pick up will share very similar conventions with other issues. There are only two double page spreads in Uncut both of which are completely different. However, they share one similarity in the fact they both show an equal balance of editorial copy and imagery. The images that are used on the first double page spread are small and all have white borders around them, however the image on the second double page spread takes up the entire second page and is full bleed. Pull quotes are not used in these double page spreads; they tend to be held back for bigger, more focused articles and interviews on three or four page spreads.