Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were concerned about the music press at the time, therefore they have came up with this magazine. Q was published by EMAP media group in October 1986. At the very start the magazine was standing out against its competition as of its high quality of production and monthly issues. In the early years of the magazine, it was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". With world-beating exclusives, definitive album reviews, outstanding production values and an inimitable sense of humor it has shaped the music in UK and beyond. 97% of Q's male, 15-34 years old audience rate it as a quality magazine.
Front Cover:
At the first glance on this magazine we can see the "Q" masthead. In comparison to my previous magazines, this masthead is pretty unique. I consider it to be different than the others as it only consists of a letter and a square background which makes it look like more of a logo. On the other hand is it very classy, eye-catching and simple which presents the brand very clearly to the audience. Due to its short name "Q" is easily remembered in the readers head, which ideally has an effect on the consumption. The masthead is positioned in the top left corner of the magazine which amongst the magazine market is considered as a stereotypical placement of the masthead. Most magazine place their mastheads in this exact position as it causes the brand to be very visible. Again, comparing this exact masthead to other mastheads visible on other magazines we can see that in fact it covers the main image. To us, it shows the vulnerability of the brand itself which reinforces the ideology of promoting the brands name.
On the front cover we can see that a puff piece has been placed flush right, roughly in the middle of the magazine. The puff line has been placed in a circle which makes it look like a sticker. By this it stands out, as the only shapes visible on the page are squares or rectanbles. Additionally the colours used in this puff piece create harmony and work well together in order to present the text. By this the text is easily conveyed to the audience and draws the attention to the 'sticker' presenting exclusive content which is inside the magazine.
In this case the barcode is placed in the top/middle section of the magazine as in comparison to other magazines which I have analysed. The barcode is essential for the magazines as by this they can be legally sold in stores. On this front cover we can see that the barcode has been placed flush left right beneath the masthead. In my opinion it has been placed there by purpose as the masthead drags our attention away from it, therefore we do not notice it.
The main image of the front cover is set that it fills the whole page, bleeding with the margins. In the image we can see Cheryl Cole which later on is even underlined by a main cover line. By the image filling in the whole page it attracts customers as when the magazine is placed on a newstand, it allows to tell the audience the genre of the magazine based on the image. Cheryl Cole is a famous celebrity, which as a result will mean that the circulation of the magazine will be high as the readers know her therefore they will be more persuaded to pick up the magazine. In terms of mise-en-scene on the image, we can see that Cheryl Cole wears a top which presents a large amount of her skin. Additionally her body positioning e.g. ring touching her tounge she is presented in a "sexually appealing way. This may cause this exact issue to have a bigger interest amongst the male audience as they will be attracted by the impression of Cheryl Cole.
The main cover line on this cover states " 3 words... Cheryl Cole ROCKS". The postitioning of the text from "3 words" being the smalles and "ROCKS" being the biggest, has a very positive effect as it gives us a impression of creating tention. Additionally for each part of the main cover line, a different font style has been used. Begging from what looks like a free-hand style font, to a heavy, bold font and finishing in a thin, tall serif font. The part of the cover line which to me was seen as the most important was the text "ROCKS". This is because the font is written in red which continues the style of the masthead, however the kerning used in the word "ROCKS" has made the text spread across the whole width of the page. While reading the cover line we may feel as we are taking steps on to getting into the main points of the story. Furthermore, the colour red could be refering to the main image as we associate red with 'sexual' connotations.
Double Page Spread:
While looking at the double page spread we can see that it has been sorted neatly onto two seperate pages. On the left we can see a image of the subject of the article which takes over the whole page whereas on the right we can see that the page has been dedicated for the article about the subject which in this case is Lady Gaga. This layout is very clear and understandable which presents both graphical and text information in a clean manner. The columns have been separated with a suitable column gutter, allowing for the text to be spread out which increased the clarity of text allowing the reader to flow through the text quicker without any vast problems. The sorting of text into columns have emphasised the amount of written text which makes the article look very detailed at the first glance.
The main image of the double page spread is placed on the left page of the double spread. In my opinion it is one of the CVI's which we can see on the double page spread as of it's size and sexual connotations. In the image we can see a celebrity - Lady Gaga who covers her breasts using her hands. While taking the photograph, Lady Gaga's eyes were pointed straight at the camera which as a result has made it seem as if we as readers, come across a eye contact with the celebrity.
The article on the right page of the double page spread has used a simple serif font throughout all of the columns. To me it suggests that in this case it is not about how attractive the text looks, but who the text is about which again it is about Lady Gaga. By the simple font being used for the article, it can suggest to us that a more mature audience is targeted by the Q magazine as they pay more attention to the quality and amount of text rather than its presentation. Additionally, we can see that a drop cap has been placed in the article. This plays the role of a sign where the article stars as the large font attracts our eye. Lastly, on top of the article we can see a huge letter "L" being overlayed in red. This suggests the name of the celebrity as it is the first letter of her stage name - Lady. In my opinion, this is very effective as it is considered as a CVI on the page, because our eye is attracted by this to the article. The red colour has been specifically used to overlay the letter as it creates a strong cotrast against the negative space behind the article text, however it additionally continues the Q masthead image and the sexual connotations.
A sub-heading has been placed in the top right hand corner of the page which is used as a chapter indicatior. This suggests to the audience what content the page will contain as when they are flicking through the pages the first thing they see is the top right corner of the page. By the wide kerning between the letters the simple phrase "Lady Gaga" has been emphasised to show her value to the magazine. Additionally the phrase has been seperated into two fonts. "Lady" has been written in a font which depicts more female characteristics whereas "GAGA" has been written in a capital, serif font.
Contents Page:
At the very top of the page we can see a header which is a thick line which passes through the width of the page. The line has been filled in with black, for the white "CONTENT" text to stand out. Additionally, on the left of the text we can see a Q masthead being implemented into the line. This has created a contrast against the rest of the black line which shows the importance of the "Q" brand and their content. This heading follows the red/white/black colour scheme of the Q brand. Furthermore, this "line" could count as a leader in terms of presenting the issue number and date of the magazine as by the black background, this specific information is excluded from the rest of the page.
On the left of the magazine page we can see that a column has been created in order to show what content can be found throughout the magazine. We can see that the column has been sorted into two sections which are: Features and Every Month. The features section shows us the content which is specific to this specific issue of the magazine, whereas the Every Month section show the content which is visible in each monthly issue of Q magazine. The "Every month" heading has been underlined by a red background to show that it is a part of the "Q" image. As an addon we can see that there has been a selected section within the Features column, which is called "Women in music". This section has been dedicated for women and its content is emphasised by a different coloured background. The font used for the text in the columns is very straight forward and follows the red and black colour scheme making the text easy to read and find on the page.
The main image which we can see on the page is on the right hand side right beneath the header. In the image we can see Adele, a female singer. By Adele being in the image, it directly links onto the "women in music" section withing the features, which tells us that this issue of magazine has been dedicated to females in the music industry. Her posture and face expression is very mature and she makes eye contact with the camera. As a result of that we as readers gain a positive image in our head about the person. On the other hand, by the image being a close up we are not shown any other content different than her emotion-less face. By this we as readers are intrigued onto finding out what the article says about her as we cannot make out any key areas from the image.
Furthermore, Q has a review section which is positioned at the bottom right hand corner. Other magazines which I have analysed also contained a review section however they were blended in with the rest of the content index. Q has made sure that the reader focuses on the review section, by excluding it from the rest of the features and placing it in a separate section. This is a very effective method to show content as it dominates over other features and we can see that it uses the same header as "CONTENTS" which shows that Q as a magazine pays a lot of attention to this section. By separating the reviews from the rest of the features it makes it easier for readers to find this section and look directly into what it contains.
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