Q Front Cover Analysis

This front cover analysis is of the UK music magazine Q which was first published in October 1986 and now has a circulation of 130,179 which is low compared to the competitors like Kerrang magazine. The magazine is called 'Q' as in the sense of cueing a record. It was originally going to be called 'Cue' however the founders, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, did not want it to get mistaken for a snooker magazine. In addition, they thought having a one letter masthead would be more attention grabbing and noticeable when on the shelf in a shop.

  
The publisher of the magazine is Bauer Media Group which also publish Kerrang. Q has now expanded to radio and television and even hold its own Q music awards annually so it has a horizontal intergration of institution. By having all these it can expand and strengthen Q's brand identity. It focuses on the rock and pop genre widening its target audience and is published monthly at a price of £3.90. It usually gives away gifts like CD's when it is published which increases its audience. The magazine has a website which is very interactive and you can find out a lot more about artists on the website than in the magazine as magazines are once a month and the features change. You can also look at the front covers of every months issue from 1986 to 2011.

Even though nowadays this magazine has become more popular with the younger generation due to peoples music tastes, it is originally aimed at 25-40 year olds of both genders and it is said to be more about more mature music.  The magazine shows this by featuring artist such as John Lennon, The White Stripes and Biffy Clyro. However much more popular artist have now started being featured to increase their circulation, such as Cheryl Cole and Lady Gaga.

  
The front cover only has one image which is on the main feature, Cheryl Cole. The images is a big close-up employing a direct mode of address. Her facial expression is quite intimidating and fiesty as she is staring directly at the reader. Cheryl cole will attract the attention of a female audience because they will aspire to be her and males will be attracted to this magazine because of her sex appeal by the way she is licking her lips. This is relating to her star persona and her new songs at the time, “Fight for this love” and “3 Words”. She only has the main heading dedicated to her, she does not have any cover lines relating to her feature. However her heading relates to both her and the magazine. As it plays on her new song '3 words' by using it to say 'Cheryl Cole Rocks.' Not only is this following on with three words but also relates directly to the main genre of this magazine, rock. This will entice readers more because they will recognize the artist who is infact a pop artist, but also get the rock part from the magazine that they want. By having a more popular artist they are widening their target audience, because they used to have just rock artists.

At the top of the magazine cover is a black banner with white writing. It is there to attract the readers attention, as it is just above the masthead it will almost certainly get read. It is also a chance to make their magazine look better than its competitors as it says, “UK's biggest music magazine.” The masthead stands out very clearly as it is a massive white 'Q' in a red box in the top left hand corner. Making it easy to spot on the shelf and grabbing potential readers attention. It is also over the top of the main image, making it even more noticeable; unlike many other issues published by Q.

   The cover lines are all tightly packed together, making it look like there is a lot in this magazine. It also links with the previous magazines like the ones above. Everything is situated around Cheryl Cole's head so you can see her clearly and it is all set out neatly and very square like. This makes it look more professional and expensive.

   Different typefaces are used throughout the magazine cover which are effective as they lead the readers eye around the page. Some are bigger than others making them have a higher importance and grab the attention of the readers first. Others are smaller because they are not what the majority of the audience want to read, however this gives the magazine a wider audience because it draws more people in. The banner at the top is a serif which makes it look very professional and newspaper like.

   The presentation of this magazine is very professional and organised. Straight away making it look like one of the best quality and expensive magazines. Over the year Q have changed the style of their magazine, they have gone through stages where the masthead was different colours, and where the magazine layout was messy and crazy.

The images at the top are showing how the masthead changed colour every issue years ago, however the bottom issues show how Q have started keeping their masthead just one colour and keeping it in the same place.
  
The use of colour in this front cover is very simple, just red, black, white and silver. This link to the fierceness of the image of Cheryl Cole and her star persona again.

  
This front cover addresses the reader by having a different range of old to new music artists featured in the magazine. It also looks very neat and professional making it look like it is very good quality and expensive.