Colour: The main colours used on the front cover are black, white and red. Black and white are typical colours associated with indie/rock but the red makes the cover more vivid and interesting. As black and white contrast eachother they clearly stand out. The NME logo has always been red so that has been taking into consideration when creating the front cover. The overall mood the colours create are a classy but edgy style.
Design: The words and image have the same colour scheme so they tie in very well. It is clear the main story is about chemical romance as it is the largest text and there is also a picture of the lead singer. This story dominates the first third of the cover whereas 3 other stories are one after the other down the right side. However, they all have a common theme. Firstly they have white thick text on a red background which gives a little summary of what the story is about. This clearly separates each story from eachother as the red stands out, making it look like there is a lot of different stories. Also the red relates to the title of the magazine. Underneath, there is the title of the story in a white bold font standing out when put on the black background. That is then followed by a longer line giving an insight of what the story is about. It is also in a different style, similar to times new roman. It is obvious that my chemical romance is the main feature mainly due to the noticable larger font but also the third line is in red whereas on other stories they are white. Also the text is in capitals whereas on the other stories they are in lower case.
Images: It is common for most music magazines front covers to have a close-up image dominating the majority of the page. However, in this edition the image shows the whole body of the lead singer of my chemical romance, Gerard Way. NME is a young, quirky, popular music magazine similar to their target audience, teenagers passionate about rock, which is why they have not followed popular conventions of music magazines. This relates to the indie/rock genre as it is associated with wanting to be different and some would say rebellious. The target audience will recognise Gerard Way as My Chemical Romance is a typical band that they are into. He would not be seen as famous to older people which is why he and his band is ideal for NME. Also it is about their comeback which will be very interesting for their fans to read. Gerard Way is very appealing as girls will be attracted to him and boys will aspire to be like him mainly due to his music talent but also to his cool charm.
Pose, style hair, make-up: He is dressed quite smart but still scruffy due to him not having his top button done up and a thin tie. His scruffiness makes him come across more attractive because a lot of girls are turned off by boys that care too much about their attitude. He is portrayed having a laid back attitude which is very welcoming. He is wearing very fashionable clothes that the target audience can relate to, smart fitted long coat, faded skinny jeans, big black boots and a thin tie. It is a popular style for people that are into indie/rock. The majority of his clothes are dark colours, black and grey, which are sterotypically associated with indie/rock. Even though he is dressed quite smart, he is not intimidating to the audience which will attract them. His pose of standing with is hands in his pockets and a straight face portrays a mysterious and quite sexy impression. He has a typical rock look, jet black scruffy hair, pale skin and emotionless which again the audience is very familiar with.
How are words used on the cover? The masthead is in the convential place, top left, clearly standing out in a chunky red font. This makes it clear what magazine it is and as it is always the same the target audience is very familiar with it. Gerard Way even covers part of the E with his arm but as NME is so popular it is easy to tell what magazine it is. My Chemical Romance is shown in a large bold font which attracts readers as they are a popular band for their specific genre. The text surround the image but are in a structural order, instead of being put anywhere. This makes the stories clear and neat. It is actually quite a sophisticated format which contrasts to the free natured, rebellious sense associated with rock and their fans. The word rock is mentioned on the cover several times which expresses the interests of the readers and gives you a clear view of what the magazine is going to entail. It clearly defines that the magazine is aimed at indie/rock music fans. The bottom strapline shows other bands that are going to feature in the magazine such as maccabees which again gives readers an idea of what the rest of the magazine is going to include. This magazine would clearly stand out on a magazine due to the large fonts, image and vibrant colours.
Language: The language grabs the readers attention as it is bold and blunt. There is not a lot of text but enough to give an idea of what is inside. The text uses normal everyday language which attracts readers as it's not intimidating. The readers are more interested about the music than a high use of special vocabulary words. Two of the stories use rheotorical questions which are "But where's Bernard?" and "The messiest duet ever?" This is a very clever technique as it is a subtle persuasive way of making the audience read the magazine to find out the answers. Also the main feature uses a quote "no more rock opera" which again is very intereseting as it gives readers an insight of the story and makes you want to read it to find out about the rest of the article.
Overall impression: It is clear that the front cover is targeted at a young teenage audience that are passionate about rock music. The image of Gerard Way supports this because the majority of adults will not know who he is. I think the front cover is very appealing as it portrays a modern, punky, edgy style. However, it still comes across quite classy as it has a structured format and a mature colour scheme. It gives you a good indication of what is included inside as a lot information is compacted on a small space. Everything on the front cover is done in a particular way to portray a indie/rock style to attract the target audience which I think is very well done here.
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