NME LIIAR analysis

Language – this edition of NME is a special Christmas edition which influences a lot of the conventions on this magazine front cover. To begin with the colour scheme on this cover is grey and black with white snow and Christmas red. This sticks to the Christmas theme and also makes the components stand  out. The masthead is in red because this makes it stand out and it’s also in san serif font along with the other main headlines. It also has snow on the top of the writing and the splashes on this front cover are all in the shape of Christmas tree baubles. All of the text is in the left third so the main image dominates the right third along with the bar code. Above the masthead is a skyline which is also related to Christmas and an advertisement. The subtitle is in serif font and smaller than the main headline because it isn’t as important.

Ideology – the idea of NME is to encourage different music and allow people not to follow the crowd and be proud of their individual music tastes. It’s all about new music and new ideas. This edition is a special Christmas edition which incorporates Christmas ideas.

Institution – NME is published by IPC Media. Originally NME was published as a non-glossy tabloid publication but it then became a music magazine in the 1980s. In 1996 NME started being published on the internet which now has 5 million users every month.

Audience – the target audience for the NME is men between the ages of 17 and 30. This doesn’t just mean it sells to those people though as 73% men buy this magazine and 27% women buy it. The average age of the consumer is 25 years old.

Representation – in the main image Simon Cowell is looking straight into the camera which creates an automatic bond with the audience. His eyes look slightly evil and scheming and the whites of his eyes are very bold and bright apposed to the pupil. His mouth is on a slight angle and he is almost smirking at the camera. He doesn’t look particularly grim like the Grinch is but he does have an edge  to him were it’s almost difficult to understand what is going through his head.