Front page analysis
"The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998." - the information is taken from wikipedia.org
NME magazine is one of many music magazines, competing with other music magazines on sale, such as Kerrang and Q magazine. ‘The XX’ are the cover stars of this issue; this is because they feature in an article in the magazine. The magazine stands out with its eye catching hot pink and white text against the darker areas of the front cover, in attempt to grab the audience’s attention along with the direct address of the band image. All members of the band are dressed in black, making it contrast against the lighter background colour; this may suit the genre of their music with their relaxed but serious facial expressions. Romy Croft is positioned between the other band members and is the centre focus point, showing she is the lead member of the group. Most of the image is covered by text “so what’s next for Britain’s new favourite band?” however the word ‘favourite’ is only an opinion but wants to reach out to the fans and to people who haven’t heard of them yet. There is also a quote from one of the band members “There’s no plan to do a second album...” this is to give people an insight into the article and to draw in the audience to discover more about the personal image of the band and to find out what they might have planned to do next.
The target audience is probably of the mid teens for both sexes, as the magazine is youthful with the types of genres they would be interested in and the wording is short and snappy. The masthead and the cover lines are presented in capitals and the text with ‘THE XX’ (centred) is the biggest typeface (besides from the masthead) is also in clashing pink and white, so the audience’s eyes are drawn to this.
‘Revealed: the best bands, the biggest let downs’, this makes the audience feel part of a secret, and there is something they can discover. The next subheading ‘New Manchester RIOT’ the word ‘riot’ is bigger than the rest, this grabs the audience’s attention and they will see this on the shelves when they buy it. Also on the bottom, left hand corner the text ‘+ more...’ attempts to hook the audience’s curiosity, its aim to get them to want to take a look inside at the rest of the contents of the magazine. ‘Festival Poll 2010’ is something the audience can get involved in.
The cover doesn’t look crowded but the publisher has made good use of space and the text and layout is clearly presented. More bands such as Arctic Monkeys are listed down the right hand side, so the audience can see what else they will find inside the magazine, the ‘+’ as a symbol, not the word, plus. Content Page analysis
This contents page of NME magazine is clearly titled ‘INSIDE THIS WEEK’ in bold black serif font, in the top centre. The audience do not need to be told it is a contents page; they can easily tell by the page numbers and can see what they will find in the issue. The contents page is laid out in three columns; the reader can easily find what they are looking for quickly if they are looking for something in particular. Some of the page numbers are presented larger than the rest along with a picture that is related, so the reader does not have to look through a list of pages numbers to find what they are searching for and gives the impression they are more important. There are also a few quotes and a description so the viewer can get an insight of what they will find on this page. There is plus columns, which has the rest of the page numbers, this is easy to spot and the page numbers are in bold. In the right hand corner of the page there is a red box, the white text against the red looks eye catching, it is simple and does not over crowd the rest of the page. 
At the top of the double page spread, there is a quick description about the article to entice the reader, it is separated to act as a title but is only to give a glance for the audience. There is also a subtitle underneath this which gains the reader’s interest before they read the whole interview. All text is in black some parts like quotes are in bold to highlight specific interests; the way the quotes cut into the article is effective as they are the most interesting quotes from the interview and they will want to read on. The use of the large ‘I’ and ‘F’ draws in the reader’s attention to the paragraphs. These paragraphs are organised into columns so, in my opinion, is easier to follow and looks neat. The first picture on the left page is related to the subtitle, the top picture on the right page gives the impression of the band more laid back and shows the bands normal behaviour, and what the band is like day-to-day. The quotes are close to the pictures which link them to the article and make them seem friendlier. The language used in the article is informal in order to find a better connection with the audience.
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