We can instantly tell from the central image on the front cover that there are going to be issues and articles of Cheryl Cole inside the magazine; we can also tell from the cover lines that there are going to be articles or issues about other music artist such as 50 Cent, Snow Patrol, Muse and others.
Q is monthly magazine targeted at male music lovers around of the ages of 24-44, as the magazine usually has interviews with popular musicians and serious in-depth stories as men of this age group may be interested in reading deeper articles. The target audience of this magazine are people who do not listen to one particular type of music as the music artists in this magazine range from “The White Stripes” to “50 Cent”; this shows diversity in music type.
The central image is of a famous pop star singer - Cheryl Cole; she is using a direct mode of address by staring straight into the eyes of the reader which engages the reader to whatever the magazine is trying to put across. She is wearing a red lipstick which almost seduces the reader as the colour red attracts attention and is very eye-catching. I think the magazine is trying to put across a sexy look to satisfy their audience being men. Q wants the reader to feel as if they have a relationship with her, they want the reader to feel attached to the Cheryl and therefore feel as if they have to buy the magazine. Cheryl is on the cover due to the fact that she has recently released her first solo album, she needs to promote her singles and albums for them to be successful. Also as Q is aimed at males, Cheryl Cole makes an attractive draw for readers seeing as she was voted number one in FHM’s top 100 sexiest females in 2009.
The anchorage text says “3 words...Cheryl Cole Rocks” although this doesn’t say much about what the inside story is going to be about, it somehow makes the reader curious to find out what the story is about. The anchorage text also makes reference to the title of her new album “3 words”. “Cheryl Cole Rocks” could also suggest a change in the type of music Cheryl is known for; this could be done once again to satisfy its audience, as Cheryl is known for being a pop singer and the magazine is almost trying to detach her from that image. By creating a rock image for Cheryl, the target audience/consumers become encouraged to buy the magazine. This image suggests that Cheryl isn’t just sexy, but she can be also edgy.
The overall message Cheryl Cole gives is her sex appeal as she is licking her lips; also, the red lipstick represents sexuality and seduction. The black clothing, dark make-up, wet hair with the text “Vampire Weekend” creates a horror effect which seems like a scary movie ad, I think this has something to do with the film “Sin City” which most of Q readers would be familiar with.
Some women may interpret the red lipstick, and dark make-up as power; the ring on her finger which almost looks like a claw could back this up. The theme of the magazine is red, black and white; this could once again refer to sexuality, the rock image and the film “Sin City”.
From this front cover, females are being represented in a stereotypical way, no matter what magazine a female features on they are always shown in a seductive or attractive manner. This also stereotypes the readership as the magazine is showing us what we stereotypically want to see; males want a sexy image and females want to see someone that we can aspire to.
“The 10 Best New Acts” this makes the magazine sound exciting and makes the reader interested to find out who the 10 best new acts are, buzz words like that also encourages the reader to buy the magazine. “Previewed” could also be a buzz word as it makes the story sound exclusive, this also encourages the reader to buy the mag.Unlike other magazine titles this logo is very simple as it is only one letter, the reason for its simplicity could relate to the target audience of the magazine. The style of the font is very formal which could once again link back to the target audience being mature adults.
The letter Q is in white and based on a red background, which is almost contradictory as the two colours are complete opposites. Red is a negative colour which represents danger, power, alertness and some sense of sexual appeal, whereas white a positive colour represents peace and purity.
The colours red and white could also be chosen because it’s aimed at a British audience which relates to the British flag. The block title could relate to its target audience and may emphasise boldness, maturity and power.
The slogan for Q magazine is “The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine”; the slogan is self explanatory as it claims that Q is the UK’s biggest music magazine. The slogan itself attracts new readers as it makes them curious to find out why it’s the UK’s biggest music magazine.
Q magazine mostly uses “puffs” buzz words and their slogan to attract their audiences; they also promote big, famous artists on their front cover to attract all types of music lovers.
Q magazine tries to attract its audience by mentioning a wide range of artists in the puffs, e.g. John Lennon, 50 cent and many more, the audience are more likely to spot an artist they like in the long list. They also make the audience feel that they will be ahead of everyone else in the music world as they reveal the best acts of 2010, even before the year has fully started.
Q is monthly magazine targeted at male music lovers around of the ages of 24-44, as the magazine usually has interviews with popular musicians and serious in-depth stories as men of this age group may be interested in reading deeper articles. The target audience of this magazine are people who do not listen to one particular type of music as the music artists in this magazine range from “The White Stripes” to “50 Cent”; this shows diversity in music type.
The central image is of a famous pop star singer - Cheryl Cole; she is using a direct mode of address by staring straight into the eyes of the reader which engages the reader to whatever the magazine is trying to put across. She is wearing a red lipstick which almost seduces the reader as the colour red attracts attention and is very eye-catching. I think the magazine is trying to put across a sexy look to satisfy their audience being men. Q wants the reader to feel as if they have a relationship with her, they want the reader to feel attached to the Cheryl and therefore feel as if they have to buy the magazine. Cheryl is on the cover due to the fact that she has recently released her first solo album, she needs to promote her singles and albums for them to be successful. Also as Q is aimed at males, Cheryl Cole makes an attractive draw for readers seeing as she was voted number one in FHM’s top 100 sexiest females in 2009.
The anchorage text says “3 words...Cheryl Cole Rocks” although this doesn’t say much about what the inside story is going to be about, it somehow makes the reader curious to find out what the story is about. The anchorage text also makes reference to the title of her new album “3 words”. “Cheryl Cole Rocks” could also suggest a change in the type of music Cheryl is known for; this could be done once again to satisfy its audience, as Cheryl is known for being a pop singer and the magazine is almost trying to detach her from that image. By creating a rock image for Cheryl, the target audience/consumers become encouraged to buy the magazine. This image suggests that Cheryl isn’t just sexy, but she can be also edgy.
The overall message Cheryl Cole gives is her sex appeal as she is licking her lips; also, the red lipstick represents sexuality and seduction. The black clothing, dark make-up, wet hair with the text “Vampire Weekend” creates a horror effect which seems like a scary movie ad, I think this has something to do with the film “Sin City” which most of Q readers would be familiar with.
Some women may interpret the red lipstick, and dark make-up as power; the ring on her finger which almost looks like a claw could back this up. The theme of the magazine is red, black and white; this could once again refer to sexuality, the rock image and the film “Sin City”.
From this front cover, females are being represented in a stereotypical way, no matter what magazine a female features on they are always shown in a seductive or attractive manner. This also stereotypes the readership as the magazine is showing us what we stereotypically want to see; males want a sexy image and females want to see someone that we can aspire to.
“The 10 Best New Acts” this makes the magazine sound exciting and makes the reader interested to find out who the 10 best new acts are, buzz words like that also encourages the reader to buy the magazine. “Previewed” could also be a buzz word as it makes the story sound exclusive, this also encourages the reader to buy the mag.Unlike other magazine titles this logo is very simple as it is only one letter, the reason for its simplicity could relate to the target audience of the magazine. The style of the font is very formal which could once again link back to the target audience being mature adults.
The letter Q is in white and based on a red background, which is almost contradictory as the two colours are complete opposites. Red is a negative colour which represents danger, power, alertness and some sense of sexual appeal, whereas white a positive colour represents peace and purity.
The colours red and white could also be chosen because it’s aimed at a British audience which relates to the British flag. The block title could relate to its target audience and may emphasise boldness, maturity and power.
The slogan for Q magazine is “The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine”; the slogan is self explanatory as it claims that Q is the UK’s biggest music magazine. The slogan itself attracts new readers as it makes them curious to find out why it’s the UK’s biggest music magazine.
Q magazine mostly uses “puffs” buzz words and their slogan to attract their audiences; they also promote big, famous artists on their front cover to attract all types of music lovers.
Q magazine tries to attract its audience by mentioning a wide range of artists in the puffs, e.g. John Lennon, 50 cent and many more, the audience are more likely to spot an artist they like in the long list. They also make the audience feel that they will be ahead of everyone else in the music world as they reveal the best acts of 2010, even before the year has fully started.
NME is a music magazine target at male and female music lovers between the ages of 15-24.
NME stands for New Musical Express which may relate to the purpose of this magazine which is to reveal new artists and genres to the world. As New Musical Express is quite long to say it has been shortened to NME to make it sound catchy. When “NME” is pronounced it sounds like the word ‘Enemy’, this could have something to do with the fact that it used to be a newspaper with a rebellious audience.
NME stands for New Musical Express which may relate to the purpose of this magazine which is to reveal new artists and genres to the world. As New Musical Express is quite long to say it has been shortened to NME to make it sound catchy. When “NME” is pronounced it sounds like the word ‘Enemy’, this could have something to do with the fact that it used to be a newspaper with a rebellious audience.
The colours used on this block title (black, white and red) contrasts from one to the other; this could represent the contrasts of all the new music discovered in this magazine. Red and black are negative colours and this could be used to relate to the whole idea of the magazine sounding like “Enemy”, such colours could also reflect the target audience being mostly men. Whereas the colour white could reflect diversity of the new music covered in the magazine. As white represents peace and purity, the complete opposites of red and black colours, you could say that it has something to do with its female audience and the contrasts between the music. The colour red stands out more than the other colours and helps attract its target audience.
The font is a simple bold lettering, which relates to its target audience (teenagers) being bold, youth who might want to be different- new music, new style. The capitals used in the font may be to attract its audience by boldness, and the pointy centre of the letter M, could reflect the magazine having a ‘cutting edge’ to attract the youth.
The main article in the magazine is about a member of the punk band My Chemical Romance which is explained by the anchorage text “MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, on their punk comeback album”; this anchorage text also mentions the interests of the target audience – PUNK; this would not estrange the regular readers from what they are accustomed. However, NME will also attract customers that have an interest in a broad genre of music as this is a ‘comeback’ of My Chemical Romance and would possibly strive to be popular in the upcoming year. There is a direct mode of address between the reader and the man on the cover as the magazine wants to create a strong relationship between itself and the reader to encourage them to purchase this magazine.
From the front cover, the magazine covers the latest news in music, there are puffs that read "Jay Reatard RIP" and "Courtney and Keef, Worst Duet Ever?", this tells the readership and potential readers that the magazine will cover the general news of the music world, particulary the indie genre. The puffs also suggest that the readership will know about indie music and non-mainstream music, you wouldn't expect a fan of The Saturdays to read this magazine. They also use the buzz word 'Plus' to give the readership the sense that they are getting more content for their money.
The central image is of Gerrard Way from My Chemical Romance, NME wants us to feel like we have a relationship with him due having a direct mode of address. However, his body is twisted away from the camera and only half of his face is on view, this suggests that NME wants to create an element of mystery around Gerrard Way, they want us to know him but not the whole of him.
There are slogan-type cover lines at the top and bottom of the magazine, both of which promote artists featured in the magazine. It is interesting how both cover-lines contain a buzz word each, i.e. “NEW” and “PLUS”; this attracts readers as it makes it seem like there is something in this issue that is exclusive and not found in others, e.g. NME was the first British magazine to include a singles chart, so they could potentially continue to surprise their audiences with new ’inventions’. The fact that the artists featured in these cover-lines are in fact not classified as punk, such as Kid Cudi, allows the magazine to function as the “New Musical Express” that it is by featuring new genres of music.
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