There is a lot happening on this front cover. It's sort of messy but in a neat way. The picture is of the lead singer of Green Day holding a bright yellow guitar. This guitar has had an impact on other parts of the magazine such as the background of the 'Jack White's New Band' story. This magazine (like many others) has stuck to two colors; a pale green and bright yellow. Again the title NME is printed in bright red so it obviously stands out against the pale green that is behind it. Above the title there is a sentence saying 'Free euro festival guide inside + win tickets to every festival featured', this catches the readers/buyers attention and may encourage them to buy the magazine and it also is very noticeable as it is black and white. Green Day is printed in pale green, I don't know if that was done on purpose to go with the name of the band but that is a nice touch either way. The bottom of the magazine is quite outstanding, in the left corner there is, what seems like, a bright red arrow with the word 'PLUS' written inside and it then points over to the right and has a couple of stories on Eminem and Tank Girl. All in all i think this is a very successful front cover.

This issue of NME I think is very good. NME is printed in bright red letters on top of a dark background which makes it appear more noticeable. The picture is of the band The Verve and the bands name is printed in a turquoise blue which looks nice against the red. All the writing with a blue background is about The Verve and the writing in red are other stories. I think this picture is really good as it has the lead singer at the front and then sort of curls round in a line behind him of the other singers. The barcode is in the bottom left corner out of the way and other stories are printed down the right hand side in the corner so nothing else on the magazine is covering the actual picture. There are a couple of stories about other bands, their band names are printed in big white letters to make it clear to the readers.

The title BLUR is printed in big, bold white letters and placed in the middle of the page making it stand out. The main image is of the band itself. The background is of a field which is pretty unusual for NME, however this makes it unique. The field is obviously used to represent Glastonbury.

There are a few pugs dotted around the edges in bold colors, it catches the readers eyes.

The name of the magazine is printed in bright red and although it is placed behind the picture, it still stands out very much so.

This magazine has the words "Special Issue" in the top right hand corner in red showing readers that it is one of a kind.

Introduction

Hi I'm Mel, I am an A Level Media Studies student. I use this blog to research and plan all my AS Media coursework. For this project I have been asked to analyze and review the front cover of music magazines. I will then be creating a magazine myself; I will be designing a front cover, a contents page and a two page spread. My theme will be Indie/Rock.