
NME has used red for the masthead main colour. Red is a very gender neutral colour, so it doesn't really show that the magazine is for a particular gender. Where as colours like pink and blue gives of a better indication of the reader that the magazine is intended for. The red shows that maybe a woman could enjoy the magazine if she wanted to read it even though the typical reader is a male. The type face is more of a masculine type face, which is the way that the magazine shows it is focusing on more a male readership.
This masthead has helped me in deciding the kind if masthead I want. My masthead is going to be a 3 or 4 letter word much like NME, and have a longer caption under the masthead that will show what the letters stand for. But the type face used isn't the type face that I would use, as I am trying to go for more of an edgy and quirky magazine and that needs to show through my masthead as it will be the first thing that most people see.