Magazine deconstruction – NME – Lana Dey Rey

MAGAZINE COVER

DECONSTRUCTION SKILLS

 

Graphics

1. What is the colour scheme? :
   • Is it based around a selected       ‘palette’ of colours or a particular selection of tones within a colour       palette?
   • What does it suggest about the       style of magazine or the theme of the issue??
   • Does it relate to the content?
   • Does it relate to the main image?

 

This cover mainly focuses on the select colours of red, white and bright blue; these are all colours that are found in the American flag background. The blue that has been used is quite a quirky and electronic colour and therefore suggests that she is quite a lively and crazy character. The overall tone is quite bright and suggests again that she has a buoyant character about her. From looking at this cover you wouldn’t expect to see a load of dark, dull images inside the magazine as it wouldn’t be what is portrayed through the composition and colours of the cover. There is a box surrounded by small stars acting as a boarder around the text. This is also filled with the perky blue colour. By using the stars and that colour we get the impression that the magazine is going to be quite exciting as the box seems like something from Las Vegas and is rather casinoie.

2. What colours are the fonts/text? Do the colours relate to the image or      content… how?

 

The main article in the middle states ‘I’m a psycho’. This helps us to imagine why the bright blue colour has been used, as it is quite an unordinary and electronic colour. They have restricted themselves to only use a select colour palette of black, white and bright blue for the text. In doing this they have made us assume that the magazine is going to be a good, exciting read but at the same time a rather mature read as they haven’t gone over the top with colour.

 

3. How many different types of font      are used? Do they relate to the      cover theme, content and\or image?

 

This magazine has roughly used around four different fonts. The main font in the centre is the same as the font in the Las Vegas styled box. This is quite a standard font to find on a magazine cover as it is bold and easy to read. There is then a similar text font along the left hand side but in an italic style. This just helps to separate one group of text from the other and recognise that they are separate messages. There has also been a use of tracking in the top right hand side of the cover. This is used to prolong the fact that they are promoting something.

 

4. Do they have drop shadows or are      they outlined? How does this affect      its visibility on the cover, does it show an order of importance?

 

All of the text elements have used drop shadow; this is because it is a mature magazine and has therefore been purposely kept consistent to satisfy the aesthetics. Also using drop shadow helps separate the text elements from the main image in the background. As well as the drop shadow the text is outlined to again help separate from the main image and also help it to stand out. Although these are included to help the text stand out, it doesn’t mean they are more important than the image as the image plays a heavy part in the selling of the magazine. People are inclined to buy a magazine if it has a famous star from the music that they listen to on it. Therefore the image is just as important as the text elements because with a bad image or no image at all the magazine would not sell.

 

5. Notice how the text and image elements      are aligned… why?

 

The main text features on this magazine cover are not parallel they are angled upwards slightly, on a tilt. This is an unconventional thing to do and portrays that ‘Lana del Rey’ the star of the cover, is quite a rebellious woman and suggests a rock side to her. I wouldn’t expect this to be any other genre of magazine such as pop, as it wouldn’t follow the conventions of the pop genre style, being precise and glamorous. Also as the text is angled up it could be suggesting that she is happy with her life at the moment and she is a lively character, where as if it were facing down then it would appear as if her life or personality was also falling and give the impression that she is a miserable person.

6. Notice what      elements sit on top of others?

 

There are layers to a magazine cover because it would look very dull and simplistic if it were all on one layer. Sometimes the layers can represent as order of importance but in most cases it is just to add depth to the overall composition. On this cover the promotions top right are on the top layer because they are more important in a selling sense than the text behind it as people will be influenced to buy the magazine if it offers a freebie.

Text elements

1. Where is the price, date, barcode…      how big is the price text? Is the      size and placement important… why?

 

On this magazine cover the price and date are located just under the masthead, this is because the magazine wants the reader to easily find the price as it is a relatively fair price for this particular magazine. Also NME is a monthly magazine that is most commonly subscribed to and not purchased in shops therefore, if it did happen to be a fairly expensive magazine that people would not be willing to pay for then it would not be necessary to hide the price discreetly in the barcode as it would be too late once it has been subscribed too. The barcode is found conventionally in the bottom right hand corner of the magazine cover. This is quite surprising as the rest of the magazine is very unconventional.

 

2. Notice where and what style any      ‘promotions’ are… e.g. free CD, or poster inside, free pull-out; are they in a separate box or section?      How does this affect the order of visual importance and general layout?

 

This magazine has placed its promotion down the right hand side of the cover. Again this suggests that the magazine is quite a rebellious magazine as it is ignoring the conventions of having the promotion in a bar along the top of the page. They have however still used two contrasting colours for the promotion to help certain elements of the text to stand out. This issue of NME magazine is promoting posters. Therefore we know that the audience for this magazine is going to be relatively young as you wouldn’t expect to find an older reader sticking posters up around their room. But also we gather that the readers for this magazine like to follow their favourite bands as they are posters of different rock Bands. NME would have placed a poll daddy on their website to get this information out of their keen followers.

 

3. Notice how the content of the text      features have an order of importance… what      is the order and why? How have they achieved this?

 

Along the left hand side there are some articles suggesting what to find inside the magazine, they are in a normal text and don’t really jump out when you look at the magazine, suggesting that maybe they are not really of as high importance as the other elements. There is a very large text in the middle which straight away jumps out at you and with its large text we assume that this is the most important text element on the page. Also when reading the large text we discover that it links with the main image therefore congealing our idea that this is the most important text element. However there is another element of the cover that jump out at us due to the over powering use of vibrant blue to support it. On the right hand page we can see a blue box promoting the free posters. This is clearly of high importance as the bright blue colour has been purposely used to help the text stand out. This isn’t surprising as promotions are in most cases made to stand out as they are a large selling point in the magazine. I would say that this magazine has successfully archived the order of importance on this cover as we can easily see which elements have been made to stand out from others.

 

4. Is there web address or other      media?… obviously placed or not … ? 

 

There is a web address advertised on this cover but is not obviously placed and would not be seen unless you are closely reading every element of the cover or even analysing it. This is because it is in very small text and placed within the barcode. This suggests that the magazine is directed at an older audience who don’t tend to use the internet as much as a younger reader. Therefore it was not a priority of the magazine to make the web address stand out.

Images

1. What is the image? What is the      composition of image ?

 

This is a mid-shot of Lana Del Rey an indie rock singer from America. She has her hands on her hips, which is quite a sexy pose but at the same time she has her head tilted and has her tongue out. The tilting of the head is quite a hip hop styled thing to do which doesn’t really help with the fact this is a rock magazine. But in this case I don’t think it has much to do with hip hop, it is more of a tease as she is a very attractive woman, and is in a sexy pose. The fact she has her tongue out does help support the rock style as it suggests rebelliousness and is generally a rocky thing to do.

2. How is the artist/band      ‘represented’ … explain?

 

This artist is represented as a sexy, rebellious woman. Also we gather from the background and the main image that she is a white American woman. We learn all of this through the mise an scene of the photo. She has her hands on her hip which is quite sexy and is sticking her tongue out which influences rebelliousness. She is wearing red lipstick which suggests lust therefore we see her, in a way, as a bit of a sex icon. However in contrast to this she is wearing quite a high cut dress that doesn’t reveal much cleavage, therefore suggesting some self-respect and reservation. But at the same time this high cut dress is knitted from the waist up and does show through her bra. This could be suggesting that behind this reserved front she has another lustful side to her. It appears that there has been a heavy use of artificial light. By using artificial light in the way it has been use it makes this image appear as if she is under a spot light. As well as this meaning she is important and ‘under the spot light’ it could also suggest again a rebellious side to her. This is because it appear that she is under the torch light of a police officer or search light.

 

3. Has the image been affected in      Photoshop, been cut out or with its original background? Does its post-production treatment      relate to the subject, theme, content etc?

 

From a close look at the image it appears that the lighter parts of the image have been made lighter and the darker parts made darker. This could be to back our knowledge that she is a white woman and has purity to her, as her face has clearly been made a lot brighter. This could have also been together done to help it suit the background and help it come together as one image. The darker parts that have been made darker are more obvious in her hair. This has been done to help make the light parts look lighter and make her hair look more radiant, sumptuous and defined.

 

4. How does the colours in the image      affect the general cover colour scheme, or has the image been manipulated      to fit the colour scheme of the cover?

 

The image has been slightly manipulated to fit the colour scheme of the cover or vice versa. Her nail are of this electric blue colour that has played a heavy part in the composition of this cover as the majority of the text has been filled with this colour. Her face has been manipulated in Photoshop to help blend with the white in the flag background. She is wearing red lipstick that as well as suggesting lust also goes well with the red in the American flag background.

5. How many images are there? Where in layout, why?

 

There are three images on this cover including the main image. The other two are images of posters in the promotion that are included to let the reader know what the posters look like before opening. This is mainly for those that buy the magazine from the shelf so they are teased into buying it.

6. Are there any ‘thumbnails’ [little      images] … where, why, are they      accompanied by a caption or feature text?

 

This cover has no thumb nails; this is mainly because it is not necessary to have thumbnails on this magazine as it is a monthly magazine that is normally subscribed to, so there is no need to include as much information as possible on the cover to help sell it.

Composition

 

1. How has the cover been composed –      grid use? Is it a conventional grid composition or does it break      convention… how and effect?

 

This cover is unconventional because the text in the middle is slanted along with the text down the left hand side. This suggests quite a rebellious side to the magazine and to the character in the image. This is a very surprising thing to see on the cover of a rock magazine as rock is quite an unconventional, rebellious genre. The image is a mid-shot placed in the centre of the page which is quite a standard in the sense of a magazine cover.

Target audience

1. How has the cover appealed to its      target audience?

 

NME is directed at a mature but slightly younger, uni based audience who like rock/indie music. This magazine has appealed to them because it has ignored some of the conventions making the reader feel different and individual. Also the bright blue colour is quite out there and not very common again making the reader feel different. Collecting posters is quite an indie thing to do and also a rather youth thing to do suggesting that this magazine is for a younger audience and therefore does appeal to its target audience.

2. What is the target audience – age      – gender – hobbies – technology use – internet and tv use – shopping/fashion      – how they experience music and music videos etc.… how do you know?

 

This magazine is probably directed at an audience in the region of 18-30 years of age. I wouldn’t say that this is for a male audience only as it is more indie rock as a pose to more heavy rock, but as it is still a rock based genre I would say it is directed to males of this age. However on this particular issue they have used a female artist for the main image, and have made her seem quite sexy and influential to a female audience. But despite this the content of the magazine and over all genre is still rock and rock is commonly associated with a male audience. Along the left hand side there has been and advertisement in one of the articles, headed ‘Pete Doherty’, about a new album + new tracks. Many rock followers tend to but there music in CD forms from shops, but on this cover there is no sign of a CD promotion or advertisement. As well as this, as stated before NME is directed at a uni based audience, therefore they are more likely to be using the internet, and so they will be more likely to use the internet for their music. So I assume from this article and the overall target audience for this magazine, the music will be downloaded from the internet regardless of the fact rock follower purchase CDs.

 

3. How does the tone and register      work to appeal to the target audience?
   Register: Formal, informal, casual,      street, slang use, urban, serious, funny, sensational, sarcastic,      sophisticated etc?
   Tone: contents? About what sort of things?

 

This magazine is written in quite an informal way in the sense it’s rather casual in tone. They have used substitutes for words such as ‘+’ instead of writing the word ’plus’. Although it is informal it is not slag it is still presented well and still gets the message across. They have used quite dramatic tones, this helps further express what is said. All of the articles on the cover are band related suggesting that the target audience are principally focused on reading about their favourite bands. Also one article is advertising a new album + tracks, suggesting that the target audience use the internet to get their music. This is because the cover states ‘tracks’ therefore meaning the audience/reader can individually purchase songs. As I stated in one of my other deconstructions, the articles tend to leave you on a slight cliff hanger, this makes you want to read on to reveal the full story.

 

4. Are there any ‘incentives to buy’      that are trying to attract a particular audience or new readers… how, why?

 

Along the left hand side there is an article suggesting that Pete Doherty has a new album out, and they are advertising the different tracks, from this we can gather that the audience is going to be on the internet to download their music. So NME obviously know who their target audience is, if it were an older audience then maybe they would have promoted a single or something along those lines.

 

Institution

1. Who makes the magazine?      [Google/Wikipedia]

 

NME (New Musical Express)

2. What other publications      do the company have?

 

NME has no other publications, only its NME magazine.

3. What other media      products?

 

As well as the magazine NME has a website that tells you about the latest music news, sells tickets for concerts and festivals, has an awards ceremony ‘Shockwaves NME Awards’ and offers reviews on the latest CDs, songs and albums. NME also has its own app on Spotify and iTunes.

4. Is there any synergy with      other media? i.e. is there an associated TV or radio station?

 

There is a NME channel on their website that allows you to watch NME videos, music videos, interviews, reviews and live music sessions. They also have a radio station link on their web page.

5. Do they sponsor or      support any festivals, events or initiatives?

 

On the website they are advertising the new Fiat 500, showing that they are directed at a mature audience. They are also selling tickets for gigs, concerts, festivals and even theatre productions. NME has its own awards ceremony called ‘Shockwaves NME Awards’.

6. What does the magazine      website offer?

 

The website offers the reader a very interactive experience with many videos and pictures to view, the reader can fully engage in the website especially if they enjoy listening to live music and reading about their favorite bands as it has loads to offer. All the text on the website is appealing and formative, which helps them to absorb the information given at a more enhanced level. NME isn’t all about music though, the website does offer tickets to the theatre and has videos in which actors from the latest movies are interviewed at the premiers.

pre production survey