Cover Analysis

Rule of thirds:
You can clearly see here that the designer has used the rule of thirds in this front cover as the masthead is in the first third and the eyes of the band is on the line and therefore it is a midshot. On the line of the last third is the main cover line, and the rest of the information is in the last third or at the sides out of the way. This helps the audience read clearly, as it has a good layout.
House style:
The house style includes bold writing and bold colours on black and white which makes it clear. It will also attract the audience as it is hard hitting and includes different fonts such as on the “insane” to show how good the article is and to show how good their life is, and therefore will attract the audience to that specifically.
Texts:
There are three types of text used on the cover of this magazine. The text for the logo is the same as the text for the cover lines as it is readable; however the text in the masthead is bold with a border around it. The text for the main cover line is bold with a slight edge on the words, this makes it stand out and makes it look different from the rest and also draws the audience to it. In the main cover line there is almost a hand written text which has a ‘spooky’ edge to it which reflects the word “insane”.
Colour pallet:
The colour pallet is a simple three colours of: red, white and black. These colours are popular in magazines as they are readable. Black and white are mostly used for the background and the red is used for the writing as it contrasts, black and white are used when red is not readable.
Cover lines:
The cover lines on the front cover of the magazine are all on the left hand side of the magazine as the layout of the magazine is an F plan and therefore it is clear to the audience what the main cover line is and which the others are. They use the same colours as the main cover line to show that they are the same thing however use a different font which could show that they are less important and less of a feature. Also the text is placed in front of the images so that it is readable what is in the magazine.
Centre of visual interest:
In my opinion this is the masthead of the magazine as it is bold and bright. However this then goes to the faces of the band and the main cover line as it is different to the rest of the magazine and interests the audience.
Main image:
The main image is a mid-shot of the band “Kasabian” they are costumed in black and white which are two of the colours from the colour pallet used in the magazine and so they are purposely dressed like this so that they go with the colours of the magazine. In addition to this they are both looking straight into the camera with serious facial expressions. Finally because the cover line mentions the word “insane” this is anchorage with the image as one of the members is dressed with a top hat and therefore could connote to some the mad hatter, which suggests that they both are insane.
Main cover line:
The main cover line is in the middle of the page and the word that stands out is: “KASABIAN” however the whole line is: “the return of Kasabian inside their insane new album”. However only having one word in capitals means that people interested in the band will pick the magazine up automatically and look at it and therefore it will boost the sales. Also the magazine is in the shape of an “F” plan and therefore all of the text is on the left hand side and the cover line goes through the middle-this is the layout that I would like to use for my magazine as it is clear for the audience.
Barcode:
You need the barcode on the page because it shows information such as an issue number and the date in addition to this it also has the price so people can clearly see before they buy the magazine.
Masthead:
The masthead is over the main image of the band and it is in capitals and therefore is bold and stands out. Also because it is in the top left hand corner of the page it is the first thing that the audience looks at, also because it is bold this means it is easy to read. The name “NME” sounds hard hitting which is the genre: indie/rock and therefore it will attract the right audience.