NME Plan

Analysing Education cover plan

In order to create a successful cover it is imperative that all the cover tools are placed in the correct location. For “SME” my Marylebone 6th form dedicated magazine I attempted to create a young fresh look which is similar to that of the music magazine “NME”. It is almost supposed to be a joke relating to the magazine. Because my goal was to attempt to make “SME” resemble “NME” parts of the music magazines cover I copied. For example, I used a font similar to that of the masthead on the “NME” cover. The reason for this was because I thought that the sixth form audience would be attracted to it because of its similarities. The masthead followed the traditional placement that it is placed in on most magazine covers, the top left corner. What I did however was place part of the word behind the model (Danielle Emina). Obviously this made it easier to fit the masthead in, but it also gives the reader the impression that “SME” is a successful company. This attracts the potential reader to the magazine because it is popular.

The scrapline is placed above the masthead for 2 reasons. It is unconventional as generally it is below the masthead. I added this feature to make the magazine seem young and in a way slightly clueless as it does not follow the typical media cover pattern. The other reason was because I did not want it to clash with the main image. The reason it is purple is to disestablish itself from the masthead but to still make it recognizable for the reader. The main focus should be on the SME rather than the scrapline.

The main image spreads across the whole of the cover. This is to give the reader the atmosphere of the school because the image is in the playground. The actual image is of a student at the school (Danielle Emina). It is a medium shot and has connotations that Danielle is happy at the school. The image is also meant to link to the main story in the issue which relates to “learning in style.” In the image, Danielle holds her folder. This shows her link to education. The image was taken during a lesson where we took images of certain students. These were both in the original form and on a white background.

The kicker and explanatory text are in a clear white font so they do not clash with the image. They are in a futuristic font because I thought that this would attract a teenage audience, our target audience. There are 3 kickers and 3 explanatory texts. The kicker’s fonts are larger because they are meant to stand out and attract the audience. The explanatory text is quite literally the explanation of the kicker.