NME Evaluation

This front cover very clearly uses house style for its colours – featuring only black, white and red. The photograph is also black and white, reinforcing this. Black and white were the signature colours of The Specials, and so any Specials fan scanning shelves of magazines would immediately recognise the colour scheme. The red is used to highlight certain parts – for example, the magazine logo – and contrasts highly with the black and white. This prevents the magazine looking dull, and also draws the eye to key areas. The language used is imperative – “the UK’s most revolutionary label” for example. This gives the magazine an authoritative voice, making it seem very knowledgeable and therefore the magazine you should buy. The image is very effective – a montage of images of the band, it’s positioned so that the band appear to be springing out the page at you. This is extremely eye-catching. The cover features several common conventions – for example, the magazine logo is situated near the top left of the page. The price is listed just below it – and on the opposite side of the page, at the bottom right, it the bar code. These are extremely common features to see on a magazine front cover. Other articles – in this case “BIG GIG HEADLINERS AND 2010’S FIRST WINNER ANNOUNCED” – are also listed on the front, though they are smaller than the key article. All text on the cover is in capitals, to make the magazine stand out. At the top and the bottom of the page are straplines, listing other bands featured inside the magazine. This allows the potential buyer to know what they will be reading about, without even opening the magazine.

This style of contents page is image-dominated, featuring a large image of a different article than the front cover. The image has a small caption – a very common convention – telling the reader who the photograph is of and where it was taken. The house style is continued – the predominant colours still being white, black and red, giving the magazine a sophisticated look rather than a colourful and possibly “kiddy” appearance. This continuation of colour scheme also creates a cohesive appearance throughout the magazine. A large, sensationalist headline draws your eyes towards a letter from the editor, introducing the reader to the magazine. There is a small inset image, featuring the band from the front cover. This increases the cohesiveness of the magazine, and also highlights this important article once more. On the left side of the page, there is an alphabetically arranged list of all the bands featured inside. This is a fairly uncommon feature, as more commonly contents pages feature a list of articles. However, this puts the emphasis on the bands instead – showing the magazine to care more about the music, rather than the events of the past week.

This double page spread adheres to a house style colour scheme, but substitutes the red found throughout the rest of the magazine for pink. This suggests a change of tone from the rest of the magazine, showing this band is a departure from the others featured more prominently throughout. The left page is almost totally taken up by a photograph of the band – with a small caption at the top left – which itself features black very heavily, blending in with the rest of the page. The composition of the photograph reflects the title of the page, “Pheonix Rising”, with the band member’s faces gradually being positioned higher and higher. The text is split into columns on the page, which is much more aesthetically pleasing than huge blocks of text. A key quote is written in pink in the middle of the page, to draw your eye to it. This quote also provides an insight into the article, so for anybody skimming through it could attract attention with a sensationalist quote.