Possible ideas for my magazine

• I like the NME magazine for many reasons, I like the style of their magazines, consisting of a dominant main image which makes the magazine stand out. I am also a fan of the majority of the ‘indie’ bands that a featured in the magazines. For example Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and Oasis. These are the main reasons why their magazines are a possible choice for mine.

Institution of the NME

• NME was first published in March 1952 and has had a weekly issue ever since. In the 1970's it became the biggest selling British music magazine. Since it was first published it has had 9 editors. It's current editor is it's first female editor, Krissi Murison.

The cover on NME always features a famous artist. Artists such as Kasabian, Lily Allen, The Prodigy and The Kings of Leon have recently featured. NME also holds its won award show, the NME awards sponsored by ShockWaves hair gel. There is also an NME music channel and an NME radio station. The magazine also has a website.

Front covers of NME magazines As you can tell from the NME front covers they all stand out as they consist of a dominant main image which is striking and will attract the readers attention as they are well known in the indie music genre. As well as this I like the fact that the masthead is in the same position in all the magazines, which shows consistency throughout. Finally most of the front covers include cover lines stating what other bands/artists will be featured in the magazine which is important to the readers before purchasing the magazine

Contents pages from the NMEThe NME contents pages all have on the left hand side of the page the different bands or artists that are featured and what page they are featured on. As well as this I like the fact that the title of the contents is in big and bold which stands out to the readers. I also noticed from looking at the contents pages that all of them have a main image which makes it stand out more and look more appealing. Underneath the main image is always a small article which links to the main image.

Articles from the NME The articles from the NME are appealing to the readers as if they are interested in the certain band or artist they are most likely going to enjoy the article. Most of the NME’s articles consist of a gripping headline which will draw them into reading the article and also a main image to go with the text. The colours used on the page compliment each other with makes the page stand out and make it look appealing to the readers.

Target audience for the NME

NME magazine costs £2.20

From these NME stats I have found out the target audience is male around the age of 23 and the class ABC1 as the magazine is quite expensive. For my magazine I want it to feature similar indie music artists to the NME and also appeal to the male genre but instead the average age of 16-21. I will include similar articles to what the NME use for example, exclusive interviews, album reviews, festival photos and gig dates.

SummaryFront Cover Contents Double page spread

When designing my front cover for my indie rock music magazine I will take into consideration images associated with that genre of music. Including images of guitars, bands at gigs or festivals.

When designing my contents page for my music magazine I will use a similar layout as the NME, a main image backed up by some text. As well as this I will have what will be featured in the magazine and the page numbers.

When designing my double page spread for my magazine I will use a striking main image of the person the article is about backed up by some text which will interest the reader. It is important to me that there is an image as well as text so it is more appealing to the readers