Front Cover - Analysis 3

This is a copy of the 'New Musical Express' Magazine.

1 - Top Banner.
This top banner basically informs the reader that there is a free CD with this issue. They also boast that the tracks on this CD are 'Hand-picked by Muse'
To really catch the readers eye for this they have used an orange background with huge capital bold white text.

2 - 'Official Wembley Preview Issue'.
This suggests to the reader that they have had inside access to know what kind of a show they are planning to put on.
This would have interested many people as this show has been named by many as 'The Best Gig In History'. This was also the first show at the new Wembley Arena, which could have attracted many people to find out more about this place.

3 - 'NME' logo & Slogan
The NME logo is quite vibrant and easily recognisable. For this issue they have set the picture to overlay the logo slightly, but still enough to be recognisable.

4 - Image.
They have used an image of the main band they seem to be focusing on in this issue ('Muse').
This would suggest that this issue is aimed at 15 - 30 year old as 'Muse' tend to be for more mature audiences.
This image has been set out in such a way that it looks as if Matt (Lead singer of 'Muse') is holding the free CD.

5 - Main Feature/Free CD.
The free CD is located in the middle of the magazine cover to make it stand out more, they have also added Muse's logo onto the front of the CD.
In the top corner they have included a quote from Muse saying 'We'll be listening to this before we go onstage', this has probably been placed there to inspire other musicians to buy this magazine for the CD, so they can listen to it also.
They have also included a list of bands that are on the CD. This will allow readers to quickly browse through the band names and see if there are any they are fans of.

6 - Barcode.
This has been placed in a convenient place towards the bottom corner to allow them to fit all the necessary information around it easily.

7 - Bottom Banner.
This is the only part of the front cover that is not related to either the CD or Muse. This basically gives a round up of 'other features' in the magazine. It uses a black background with vibrant red text on top to make it very eye catching to the reader.

8 - Exclusive New Material.
This CD boasts a new track from Muse that was 'specially recorded last week' for NME. They have placed this as orange text over a black background, which looks very effective.