Analysis of two professional indie music magazines

Both red and white colour scheme – possibly a common theme of the indie genre as both magazines follow the same colour scheme

The main focus of the front cover is the main image.

The artist is in a close up and is using direct address to the reader and is most probably the very first thing that draws them towards the magazine. He is against a plain white background to stand out even further.

Q features non indie artist as well whereas NME only shows artists on the front cover who fits with the indie genre.

The barcode has no set position and varies place each issue

The Mast Head is short in capital letters are put in either the left or right top corner of the page.

They are probably produced this way in order to allowas much content (text) to be put on the front cover as possible. It also allows the main image to be zoomed in as a close up or mid shot of the featured artist or band.

In general NME contains much more text than Q and appears more appealing as it has more cover lines making it appear jam-packed full of articles and entertaining content

NME also has subsidiary images included on the front page more often than Q suggesting that it could have more content or a wider variety of articles. (not shown on this particular cover)

However, NME has a variety of colour incorporated into its main images depending on the featured band/artist and what colours relate to their theme and style of music. Sometimes NME has collectable editions and will alter the colour scheme to fit the tribute artist.