Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands.
I have chosen to analyse this magazine cover because the layout is very extravagant and eye-catching it looks like an interesting magazine.
The name of the magazine 'Q' is very noticeable with its bright red background in the top left hand corner of the cover. The colour scheme stays constant throughout the cover with the colours; black, red and white. It makes the magazine look fiery, especially with the picture of Florence in the centre of the magazine, as she blends in with the colour scheme with a small, black outfit and bright red hair.
The sub-headings also stand out, again especially the one in relation to Florence and the machine, which is in red, with 'florence' in a different font to the rest. Going down the page the headings tend to get smaller until the very small highlighted red ones at the bottom, which represent other stories to fill out the magazine.
The image portrays that the magazine will be about Florence's success, making her appear to look taller and bigger than large, famous landmarks such as The Statue of Liberty, which is obviously photoshopped but still puts across he same idea.
Here is another example of a Q magazine cover.
Again the theme/colours are the same, as they are on every issue of the magazine. I think it's better that way because then it's easy for regular buyers to spot the magazine.
Unlike the photo of Florence, this photograph of Cheryl Cole is a close up, and has been edited to give the 'wet look', with drops of water also included in the photo. The photograph makes Cheryl Cole look quite fierce but makes her look 'sexy' at the same time which would automatically draw in the male audience, as well as fans of Cheryls music. She looks very 'rock-chic', with the jewellery; the metal stud ring, which is easily related to rock, and clothing and the black/grey background blending in. However, Cheryl's lips are a vivid red colour which fits in with the scheme of the magazine (as did Florence's red hair on the cover above) and her skin appears to be a lot paler than usual - as though she has had a change of image to appear more 'rockstar' rather than 'popstar'.
The main headline '3 Words...CHERYL COLE ROCKS', jumps out on the cover and tends to be the first thing I want to read when I look at it. In my opinion this is a good headline because as well as 'Cheryl Cole rocks' being 3 words, she also release a debut album named '3 Words', so I think that the title could be in relation with this as well.
Across the top of the magazine cover it says 'The UK's biggest music magazine', it doesn't stand out too much, but it is eye-catching, which is why this is effective.
Similar to the cover above, there are also other artists names featured on the cover, this time on the left, such as; John Mayer, 50 cent, Midlake, which again shows that the magazine consists of not just one genre of music.
Also on this cover the font appears to stay consistent in each heading, with just different colours separating the words making certain words stand out more than others.
I have chosen to analyse this magazine cover because the layout is very extravagant and eye-catching it looks like an interesting magazine.
The name of the magazine 'Q' is very noticeable with its bright red background in the top left hand corner of the cover. The colour scheme stays constant throughout the cover with the colours; black, red and white. It makes the magazine look fiery, especially with the picture of Florence in the centre of the magazine, as she blends in with the colour scheme with a small, black outfit and bright red hair.
The sub-headings also stand out, again especially the one in relation to Florence and the machine, which is in red, with 'florence' in a different font to the rest. Going down the page the headings tend to get smaller until the very small highlighted red ones at the bottom, which represent other stories to fill out the magazine.
The image portrays that the magazine will be about Florence's success, making her appear to look taller and bigger than large, famous landmarks such as The Statue of Liberty, which is obviously photoshopped but still puts across he same idea.
The photo of Florence is a long-shot/medium long-shot. Florence is a well known artist so this fact alone would draw in a lot of readers who support her, she stands out from everything else including the title, the pose she has held in the photograph somehow helps her to overpower everything else on the cover. As well as her being very central in the photograph, making this automatically the first thing you see when you look at the cover.
Although the magazine has got 'Florence and the machine' on the cover, when looking closely you can see that they are also advertising other artists which are also mentioned in the magazine, therefore it isn't actually only aimed at people who like Florence and the machine, and people who only like the genre of music that they make.
From the large '+' symbol, readers can see that many more artists are also featured, (showing that the magazine isnt just all about one genre in particular), such as Liam Gallagher, Freddie Mercury, Robbie Williams, etc, so therefore the magazine is broadening the range of readers by making these names stand out aswell, although not so much as to overpower the point of Florence being on the cover.
As well as this, the text in the circle in the bottom left-hand corner, also says '41 PAGES OF REVIEWS', I think this broadens the amount of readers even more as there are a lot of people who buy music magazine just to read the reviews so it's important that this stands out, and I think it stands out on the cover quite well.
Although the magazine has got 'Florence and the machine' on the cover, when looking closely you can see that they are also advertising other artists which are also mentioned in the magazine, therefore it isn't actually only aimed at people who like Florence and the machine, and people who only like the genre of music that they make.
From the large '+' symbol, readers can see that many more artists are also featured, (showing that the magazine isnt just all about one genre in particular), such as Liam Gallagher, Freddie Mercury, Robbie Williams, etc, so therefore the magazine is broadening the range of readers by making these names stand out aswell, although not so much as to overpower the point of Florence being on the cover.
As well as this, the text in the circle in the bottom left-hand corner, also says '41 PAGES OF REVIEWS', I think this broadens the amount of readers even more as there are a lot of people who buy music magazine just to read the reviews so it's important that this stands out, and I think it stands out on the cover quite well.
Here is another example of a Q magazine cover. Again the theme/colours are the same, as they are on every issue of the magazine. I think it's better that way because then it's easy for regular buyers to spot the magazine.
Unlike the photo of Florence, this photograph of Cheryl Cole is a close up, and has been edited to give the 'wet look', with drops of water also included in the photo. The photograph makes Cheryl Cole look quite fierce but makes her look 'sexy' at the same time which would automatically draw in the male audience, as well as fans of Cheryls music. She looks very 'rock-chic', with the jewellery; the metal stud ring, which is easily related to rock, and clothing and the black/grey background blending in. However, Cheryl's lips are a vivid red colour which fits in with the scheme of the magazine (as did Florence's red hair on the cover above) and her skin appears to be a lot paler than usual - as though she has had a change of image to appear more 'rockstar' rather than 'popstar'.
The main headline '3 Words...CHERYL COLE ROCKS', jumps out on the cover and tends to be the first thing I want to read when I look at it. In my opinion this is a good headline because as well as 'Cheryl Cole rocks' being 3 words, she also release a debut album named '3 Words', so I think that the title could be in relation with this as well.
Across the top of the magazine cover it says 'The UK's biggest music magazine', it doesn't stand out too much, but it is eye-catching, which is why this is effective.
Similar to the cover above, there are also other artists names featured on the cover, this time on the left, such as; John Mayer, 50 cent, Midlake, which again shows that the magazine consists of not just one genre of music.
Also on this cover the font appears to stay consistent in each heading, with just different colours separating the words making certain words stand out more than others.
No comments:
Post a Comment