Magazine Cover Analysis

Mast Head:
The mast head on this magazine cover doesn't stand out very much (the letters NME in white) this is because it is a very well known magazine and means it can concentrate on the picture and main cover line.  The mast head is in a sans serif font which again doesn't draw too much attention to itself and allows more focus on its surroundings.  It has been placed in the top left of the page because it is aimed at a British audience and in our culture we naturally look at the top left of a page first and finish in the bottom right due to the way we were taught to read.  NME have done this so that the name of their magazine is the first thing we see so even though it doesn't stand out, we still know what genre of music the magazine is about due to NME being a famous company which most people know. 

Main Cover Line:
The main cover line stands out very well with the use of yellow font on a dark background.  They have done this so when the person see's it they know that it's big news, since Blur had split for so long and had hardly been mentioned in a magazine yet alone the front cover, it grabs the readers attention.  It is placed in the bottom section of the page just below the main picture, this is the usual spot for the main cover line to go.

Cover line:
The other cover lines are place don the right hand side of the page which is the last place that the eye is drawn to when reading a magazine, they did this to emphasise how big the news of Blur's return was, the bigger the news, the more people are going to buy it.  Also they are yellow and white to keep with the theme of 'Blur' as these colours are the same as the main cover line.

Main Image:
The main image is a picture of the members of Blur with the frontman Damon Albarn standing out the most as he is the most famous, if Blur fans see his face first when they look at the magazine then they know instantly what the articles about.  The band members eyes are level with the start of the top section of the page, this is the perfect height because it's not so low that there's lots of empty space above it and it's not too high that it makes the people look ridiculously tall.  

Barcode:
The barcode is seen as the least important feature of a magazine and is therefore placed in the bottom right of the page which is the very last place people in our culture would look

Colours:
The colours used on this magazine cover include; yellow, black, blue, white and red, these colours have been chosen because they stand out well on eachother, yellow, white and red all stand out best against dark colours such as black and 
blue.