Magazine Cover Conventions Essay

NME Magazine is an Indie-Rock Style Magazine, stating on each cover how they are the ‘New Music Express’, uncovering the latest artists and giving the latest news on everyone’s favourites. The type of conventions you’d expect to see on a cover like this would mainly be defining aspects of the main image, such as artistic camera angles, urban backgrounds and indie clothing.

The cover image involves Morrissey, a well known artist in the indie-rock world, and a man who is considered an icon in this music genre’s culture. His stance in the picture appears very dominant due to the low-angle camera shot, and the direct ‘gaze’ he holds with the audience, this connotes his position in the hierarchy of this music genre, and this is then anchored by the strapline, referring to him as the ‘Mozfather’. Also the sub-genre of the magazine is again portrayed in the background of the main image, as it shows a brick wall, which depicts the urban, street feel that the indie-rock theme revolves around. Surrounding the image in all the coverlines, mastheads and quotes etc, the colour scheme is very bold using brighter colours to contrast with the darker background image. The dominant colours appear to be red and white as these are the colours used to make the masthead and main coverline jump out at the audience, but blue and yellow are also used to highlight certain quotes and important sections to make sure the audience still pays attention, but just after the main headlines.

The masthead of this cover is the logo/ name of the magazine. It is printed in very bold capital letters, and then outlined in two more colours to really make the text pop and catch the reader’s eye. There are also other elements of text that may draw in the reader’s attention such as the house style and typography, which is very bold and clear on the whole of the cover, this means the readers can instantly read the standing out text to determine whether the magazine appeals to them or not. Also the cover contains different examples of anchorage, like the strapline on the article refers to Morrissey as the ‘Mozfather’, which is then anchored by the low angle image showing his dominance. Also the banner at the top of the cover, anchors the secondary images, highlighting the offer of the free posters.

This links in with the fact that the cover also contains some promos. The free ‘MASSIVE POSTERS’ inside will attract attention as it will appeal to consumers, and the pug in the top left corner saying ‘free’, stands out as it uses block, bold colours to immediately draw attention to the offer. These promos are then again highlighted even more as they link in with the secondary images that feature on the cover, which will again attract some attention therefore leading the reader to the promotion again.

Overall, the features that appear most important are definitely the main image, as this usually establishes direct address to the audience, as the main featuring artist/band on the cover will use ‘the gaze’ to attract attention to the cover. Also the main image allows artists many opportunities to include various connotations and polysemy to highlight different interpretations of their style, and allows them to use aspects of iconography and include icons to link in with their sub-genre.

Another key feature that is vital for drawing attention is all the fonts used and flashpoints included as these aspects will be responsible for getting across key points to the reader, and highlighting the most interesting snippets to encourage the reader to buy and read the magazine.

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