Textual Analysis of Existing texts- Deconstructing NME cover

This magazine front cover is highly conventional .
Along the top is a selling line. "Nirvana unseen Picture" This is a short, sharp description of some of the content of the magazine. Also this is on top of a yellow background and there is not really any other colours on the cover. This forces the reader to look at this selling line and it may persuade them to buy the magazine.
A further convention of this magazine cover is the mast head. In the top left corner is the NME logo. Like most magazines the mast head is the same in every issue. The colour red is powerful because it gives lots of connotations. In this instance I think it gives connotations of danger and rebellion. I also find that the position of the masthead is significant for selling the magazine because it is positioned in the left third which is what the audience will see on the magazine shelf.
The main cover line is also red. The main cover line is very large, it does take up almost a quarter of the page. It also includes the name of the artist pictured in the image. By having the name of the artist really big it may attract readers that like this artist.  The main image takes up most of the magazine cover. If it didn't it wouldn't be a magazine cover. I find it interesting that the main image is not the only image.  To go with the selling line there is examples of the "unseen pictures" . This is another advertising technique. On the magazine cover there is a few cover lines.  These all seem to follow a similar colour scheme. The colour white, yellow and red. I like the idea of having a black and white image so that you can put any colour on top of it. Also the black and white also makes it seem dangerous and rebellious. It is as if information is being withheld from the reader. The reader does not know what the image would look like in colour. It is ambiguous and leads the reader to question.   The cover lines and not positioned on the artist and they are not very big suggesting that they are not as important as the main cover line. One of the cover lines is in a red circle.
I find this interesting because it attracts the readers attention more than the other cover lines even though it is not a main cover line. This is clever because it fills up quite a big gap and because it is in a circle it emphasises the contents and makes the reader read it.
A final convention of this magazine cover is the barcode. This doesn't really have much significance it is just that most magazine covers have barcodes on them, I need to make sure I include a barcode on my magazine cover. I think the bottom right hand corner is a significant place to put a barcode because  it will not take up too much space and also will not be noticed too much by the reader.