Magazine Analysis

NME

Front cover
This magazine in terms of its FC has a darker theme and a deeper meaning for its main story which is
the main selling point of the magazine as it could be smoothing that would seem very interesting for
readers. Its design is basic and quite minimalist in terms of the amount of things in the FC itself. This
means the main focus and selling point is the main image and article of Ian Curtis. The FC header for
this article includes the terms the unseen notebooks of and a personal journey into the mind of a
troubled genius this along with the black and white emotionless image of Ian himself are what
makes the theme of this magazine darker and may appeal to more to some readers in an interest to
find out new unseen information into his life and his music in the way his lyrics tell much more
than a conversation with him ever could. That quote at the end is also included on the cover from
his widow.
These pieces of text are quite large on the page and set around the large writing of his name across
the centre of the page to draw attention of the reader. This attention grab to the main feature also
includes the fact that there are only three other cover lines on the FC.

Contents Page
The CP of this magazine is confined to a single page as appose to some which cut across two or
maybe more pages. It is organised into three columns, Regulars, Features and Band List. Within
these columns the articles are ordered in ascending order of appearance of each feature throughout
the magazine.
The colours used match that of FC which are black, red and white, therefore following the set house
style of colours chosen for this particular issue. The use of only one image keeps for a more basic but
contents themed CP. The image itself is a direct gaze close and is positioned in the centre of the
page linked to the appropriate related article. This gives it the idea that he is directly looking at the
reader and as the reader you cant help but notice the image and make eye contact with it and him
because of this and draws you in wanting to read that story.
Much like the cover of the magazine, the main colour scheme used is a deeper darker feeling of
emotion and tone by the use of black, white and even a light dulled down grey tone but as well as
the use of red band list` page numbers , pointers for three different features in the magazine of
Albums, Film and Live. Not only that but is used with the inclusion of white writing on a red box back
ground for the featured category lists as well as the NME titling at the top of the contents page. This
inclusion is nice as it adds some break in colour to draw away from the darker tone of the other
colours on the page but also links back with the colour theme of this magazine with the white on red
front cover masthead.

Double Page Spread

In the DPS I have chosen to present, the image is set across the centre of the DPS on the inside of
the two pages itself. This layout is different to the conventional expectation of one page image the
other text. The benefit of this layout allows for more text and more detail thanks to the additional
page space. Also it draws the reader in to the DPS because the image draws you in and then the way
in which the reading line of the text is, it means the read for the article is smooth and is annoying
from the readers point of view as they dont have to move their eyes around too much and lose
focus on reading the information.
Again, the main colour scheme used is dark and almost colourless with a black and white image and
just black writing, the only break in this is the use yellow to highlight the name of who said the
included quote that is shown to the left of the image on the DPS. The fact that these colours are
once again used is possibly to continue the whole feel and theme of this story which is the main
feature of this magazine with the darker, duller more darkening fell matched by the same feeling of
colours. The use of yellow may just be there to break that dark theme and add a bit of a brighter
touch to the story or is there as the quote and story is shedding a light on the dark history of the
story itself.

Loaded

Front Cover
In comparison to the cover used by my comparison NME cover, this one is slightly more
conventional in terms of its layout and features used on the FC itself. It has the typical large centred
masthead that is conventional to the magazine brand, close up image of the Gallagher brothers in
whom of which the main feature of the magazine is about. It does however break the convention in
the way that it includes quotes from both of them to link to the image and also in the way in which
all other front cover topics and coverlines are confined to a single grouping at the bottom of the
page. This does however give a clean, tight and compact style to the cover and makes it easier for
the audience/consumer as all the information they want from a cover is in one place and easier to
focus on. It also includes a unique and unconventional style in terms of the way the price and date
for the magazine is displayed in the top right corner of the Loaded masthead. It is also coloured in
red and white colouring as appose to the background colouring of the magazine being a duller black
and white scheme. The red and white colour scheme is also used with the information given for the
stories along the bottom of the page and is then mixed up when it comes to the dark blue and white
used for the quotes used. These colours are used as they help to add a verity to the cover design and
give it some colour away from the black and white image. It also helps to differentiate between the
cover features if the quotes are coded blue and the coverline information being red.

Contents Page

Much like the convention that is followed by a number of magazine and in particular, music
magazines, this loaded magazine has arranged contents page(s) that are sorted by order of
appearance but in grouped categories. On this page, the listed topics are the magazines starters`.
This page is very minimalist in the way that the craters of the magazine are taking into account
they`re readers and are not overwhelming them with a substantial amount of things going on or a
lot of information or writing to take in. They instead use photographs to illustrate and highlight
certain key stories and even a quote is used to do the same thing. These are a good idea as they are
a strong visual representation on stories that different groups of their target audience may be
interested in but are also good ways to grab peoples attention and draw them into that story and
also fill up that excess space around the page and bring a more interesting, attractive and fuller look
to the page itself.
These images are a mixture of long shots and medium close ups which is another way of adding a
stronger verity in terms of the design of the magazine and contents page and also grabs the readers
eyes and draws them in to different things depending on the style of the image itself and can get
them interested in diverting that attention towards the article it is about so is another way in which
the magazine creators can draw the readers towards the magazine and different articles. These
images used are also staged, professional looking modelled images of these featured celebrities
much like many other magazines and is one main convention of the contents page. However, the
way in which they are used on the contents page is that they seem at first glance to be randomly out
of place and scattered around the page in different places around the text and are also boxed
squared of photographs as appose to the professionally outlined models just being used in and
among the text. Both these are going against the typical convention of many magazines and their
contents pages and is a good way for them to separate themselves from other magazines as well as
maintaining some degree of attractiveness about the product.
Much like the text on the cover, the text used here on the contents page is a sans serif typeface. This
sans serif style however is used mainly on the majority of the text such as the Contents and loaded
heading and subheading at the top of the page, and on the text for the featured stories, the page
number along with the date and magazine title in the bottom right of the page. But as for the main
use for the date as well as the typeface for the page numbers and also the David Beckham quote are
all using a serif typeface. This adds some verity as well as distinction for its use of it being the
typeface for a quote and as for the other purposes of the serif use, it stands out because of it being a
different typeface usage to the other text and means it stands out and is an easy reference as its
other main use is the page numbers for the articles so it helps being easy to refer to the page
numbers easier. Also in terms of adding verity to the page, it also makes it slightly more attractive
because of the look and style of the serif typeface even in a small quantity among the sans serif used
on the rest of the page.
Along with the minimalist amount of content on the page, there is also a darker quite similar colour
scheme among both the text and image colours and also with the colour use on the front cover in
terms of the black and white, darker scheme with the cover background image. This adds a similar
link in the way that the magazine starts off with a similar house style in its colour and images so that
the creators dont suddenly change style and throw of its readers and also lets the readers know
whats to come.

Double Page Spread

In this double page spread, immediately convention has been broken in the sense that many
magazines will display a portrait image down either one of the page, use a portrait or landscape
image across the centre of the DPS pages or use multiple smaller images around the pages
themselves, but here however, the creators have used a large landscape image covering over half
the page down as well as across over the DPS itself. This is a big way to break convention but again is
a good thing as it adds a verity and differentiation between this magazine and others. It also is very
hard to miss and will make readers easily notice the spread and attract them enough that they may
want to read the article. There is also an inclusion of an introduction to the DPS where he sums up
what the DPS is about in a large red box titled ring of truth`.
The overall design of the DPS is based strongly around the style of Ricky Hatton as it is his column
and is styled in a red, British theme and boxing gloves with red stars. This is very significant of the
article as if is well representative of what it is about and also is an easily noticeable, attractive style
and design and is used to add to the style and nature of the article topic as well as stand out and
draw the customer into reading whats on the page and take notice of the DPS itself.