Photoshop Grid

For the images used the the previous post I used the grid on Photoshop. I opened both the images in separate Photoshop files and opened a new file. On the new file I clicked on "Show" in the "View" menu and clicked on "Grid"; this put grid squares on my blank canvas. I then pasted both the images onto my grid and arranged them suitably next to each other before cropping the canvas and saving it as a JPEG file.


I did this as inserting two images onto my blog post makes it difficult to arrange them next to each other in a way which presents the post well. It saves time as I am not messing around with the arrangement of my images as they are already pre-arranged.

NME Research

New Musical Express (NME) is a weekly British magazine. The main music genre is a stretch from punk rock to indie music and so has precise target readers; though this isn’t one specific genre, in most cases, the target audience are fans of both styles of music. It was first published in magazine format during the 1980s after being in newspaper style since 1952 and was popularised by their coverage of the sixties’ super groups The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. NME is published by IPC Media’s magazine branch, which is the leading magazine publisher in the UK. NME has a large online presence, it’s website which was founded in 1996 is the largest music website in Europe and is a constant winner in Interactive Consumer Magazine Awards. Their website is quoted many times within the magazine, frequently within interviews – “check out the full video interview online” which shows a link between the two medias.

The main attraction towards the NME magazine is the cover image. In most issues the image takes up most, if not all, the spaces on the cover with Coverlines around it. In all posed images on the cover, the model is making direct address to the reader, again making the magazine more appealing. In most cases the cover image is linked to the double page spread within the issue. It is typically an interview with a big artist(s), which is clearly advertised on the cover by their image and a few quotes from the interview.

Average sales of NME Magazine reach up to 30,000 per issue with the NME brand itself, television, radio, online etc. reaching over a million people per week. 50% of the NME audience is 16-24 years old and 23% are between 24 and 34 years old (http://www.nme.com/mediapack/). These ages are where most people thrive on technology and so a website for their magazine would be ideal. As well as this, NME is on television, radio and even has its own mobile application so more people can be reached and become interested in the NME brand. Due to the fact that going online is easier and cheaper than going out to buy a magazine, the NME website gains a lot of interest and clearly more than the magazine itself. Around 38% online audience is between 35 and 50+ years (http://www.quantcast.com/nme.com) an age range that doesn’t appear in the magazine sales survey, this shows how the ease of the online website can increase the audience to more diverse ages that are not deliberately targeted by the brand. The easy access of other media could see sales in the magazine itself decreasing.

Final Cover Draft

This is the final draft for the cover of my college magazine. I have used all the objects I have previously blogged which were successful to create a cover relevant to my target audience of college students from 16 years old up to the early 20s. 


There are some features I have incorporated which I have not mentioned or shown before. Below my masthead is a date and an issue number, I added a barcode on the bottom right corner and created a headline using light blue font and large text to make it stand out so that readers were able to see that it was linked to the cover image; I also kept the colours relevant to the main colours of the magazine to show it was a headline. All of the features I mentioned above were added to mimic existing magazines which included them. I wanted my magazine to be taken seriously as well as being relaxed which is why these features were put in.


A problem I had was time management which I will improve for my coursework. If I had more time or I managed my time better I would add more coverline text to fill up the blank spaces as well as alter the background colour of my main image which I explained in a previous post was unsuccessful due to the insufficient amount time I spent on it.

Coverline Text

For the title of one of my coverlines, I used a different font. The font I used was "Technine" and is a typical style used for things such as horror movie titles. The title for my coverline was "Traffic Trauma" so I used the relevance of the word "trauma" to link my font style with the text. I also changed the colour to a more blood red which is also linking the title and the font. I did this to make it stand out more on my cover to attract some of my readers to the otherwise less noticeable coverlines which are overshadowed by the main headline.

Coverline Images

For my coverlines, I incorporated images relevant to the coverline itself. I used the Frame Tool to change the shapes of the boxes where my images were placed. The shapes I used were a standard rectangle and a hexagon. I altered the images to add more diversity to my cover; I wanted the layout to change so that my audience do not get bored of seeing something which is too consistent. I felt that my young audience are typically free spirited and spontaneous and I wanted my magazine to do the same.

Cover Image Photoshop

I attempted to photoshop my cover image. My intention was to use the magnetic lasso tool to separate my model from the background so I alter the background colour. Due to the spots on my model's jumper being a similar colour to the original background, it became difficult to separate her; as you can see by the image above. Due to not having enough time to do it precisely, I abandoned the idea.