NME - Cover Analysis

As stated before, the main title of the magazine is NME. It stands for 'New Musical Express' which used to be the name of the magazine when it was first published. In the last 20 years, it has abbreviated its name to just NME. Although this is the case, its original name still exists underneath the main title in a smaller text.


The main image of this issue of NME is a picture of the lead singer from the band 'My Chemical Romance'. The picture is a medium close up of the lead singer and is focused on him because of his change in hair colour. The image of the singer, named Gerard Way, shows him to be looking straight down the camera lens and out into the audience. This look may have a 'come and buy me' effect to a person in a shop, especially if they see somebody they look up to with a different hair style. Some could argue that the pose in the picture is fairly feminine due to fingers in his hair and possible seductive look. As well as this, the singers clothing is BLACK, and the background of the magazine is a light blue colour. This has been done so as the bright red of the hair stands out to the audience more. If you were to walk past this magazine in a shop, the first thing your eyes would be drawn to is the colour of the mans hair.

There are only three other pictures that appear on the front cover. Theses are small thumbnail pictures showing the reader some FREE items that they can receive if they were to buy the magazine. It also gives an insight into what else the magazine magazine may contain story wise.


There are different tag lines on the front of the magazine. They are written in the colour white in BLOCK CAPITALS so as they stand out better. They are written in sans serif font however in a small size. This is done so as the the main cover image is not covered by the writing. Although the information displayed in the cover lines is not as important to the reader than the main cover story, it appeals to the reader because they are telling the reader about music performers going on tour.

The title above is the main cover line for the magazine. Looking closely at the title, I can see that it has a drop shadow. This is done so as to make it stand out more to the audience against the darkness of the black shirt. The writing is also in white so as it can be seen clearly against the clothing. As well as this, there are a few different ways the creators have played with the language on the front cover.Above, is a quote from the cover story. The reason there is a quote on the front page of a magazine is to tell the audience about the article they will read inside. The word 'we' suggests that although there is a picture of just the lead singer of the band in question, the article will actually be about them all.

As well as the quote used, the magazine cover uses a pun. 'Gerard Sees Red' could have two meanings to it. Either the obvious, that his hair has changed to this colour, or even to suggest that he is angry about something, and if you were to continue to read, one may think that he is possibly angry about 'what goth has become'.