Existing Magazines Research

Amy Towers

The magazine front cover uses the colours red, white and black. This makes the magazine appear to be serious and this is furthered by the serious look on Madonna’s face. Madonna appears to be

hidden apart from her face, this gives the cover/magazine an element of mystery.

The splash is bold and eye-catching, therefore the reader knows that the main article in the magazine is about Madonna.

The clothes that Madonna is wearing are dark and blend in with the black background, this helps her to appear hidden and adds to giving her a sense of mystery.

The sub-headings are eye-catching as they are red.

The kicker at the bottom of the page is grey (nothing else on the cover is grey), this separates the story on the kicker from everything else because it appears to be separate from everything else.

A medium close-up shot of Madonna is used.

The logo is large and bold, therefore the reader knows that it is Q magazine straight away.

The colours used on the magazine cover are red, black, white and grey. This makes the magazine appear to be serious and this is furthered by the serious look on Cheryl Cole’s face.

The logo is large and bold, therefore the reader knows that it is Q magazine straight away.

The splash is large and bold, this makes it eye-catching to the reader. The red text used on ‘ROCKS’ makes it eye-catching.

Cheryl Cole’s face is pale, this contrasts against her bold red lipstick and black eye make-up.

The sub-headings are eye-catching as they are red, grey and white.

A medium close-up shot of Cheryl Cole is used. The dark colour of her jacket contrasts with the bold red writing.

The rain on the magazine front cover contrasts against the red text as rain is associated with cold and red is associated with hot.

The sidebar is grey which contrasts with the red text on the rest of the cover.

The logo is large and bold, therefore the reader knows that it is Q magazine straight away.

The splash is in the middle of the cover and the text on the splash is large, bold and a different colour to the other text on the cover. The word ‘breakthrough’ fits in with Kings Of Leon breaking through the glass.

The sub-headings are eye-catching as they are in bold text and in white boxes which contrast against the grey background.

A long shot of the Kings Of Leon is used. Therefore, we can see them kicking through the glass.

The clothes that the Kings Of Leon are wearing are similar colours to the grey background, therefore the glass being broken stands out more and there is more of a focus on the smashed glass.

The ‘Q’ is slightly hidden by the Kings Of Leon and the smashed glass, however the reader would know that it is Q magazine because it’s such a popular and well-known magazine and therefore they would recognise that it’s Q magazine.

The Kings Of Leon have serious facial expressions, you can see the concentration in their faces as they break through the glass.

The theme of red, black and grey continues on the contents page of Q magazine. The reader would recognise that the magazine is Q magazine if they picked it up and opened it without looking at the front cover.

The theme of Q magazine being a serious magazine continues as the Kings Of Leon all have serious facial expressions. Also, the sky is dark/grey and the Kings Of Leon are wearing dark coloured clothing.

It is clear to the reader that this page is the contents page as it clearly says contents in bold, black text.

The logo clearly shows that it is Q magazine.

This page is clearly set out and easy to read. Therefore the reader will be able to find the articles that they are looking for.

The different sections of the contents page are clearly labelled, with pages that appear in the magazine every week in their own section with the subheading ‘Every Month’.

The different sections of the magazine are clearly separated from each other on the contents page.

It is clear to the reader that this page is the contents page as it clearly says contents in bold, black text.

The logo clearly shows that it is Q magazine.

The theme of red and black continues on the contents page of Q magazine. The reader would recognise that the magazine is Q magazine if they picked it up and opened it without looking at the front cover.

This page is clearly set out and easy to read. Therefore the reader will be able to find the articles that they are looking for.

The theme of Q magazine being a serious magazine continues on the contents page as James Blunt has a serious facial expression. Also, the shot of James Blunt is a medium close-up shot which allows the reader to clearly see his facial expression. The red and black numbers and text also follow the serious theme, as well as James Blunt’s black clothing. James Blunt’s serious facial expression and the black and red colours on the page also create a sense of mystery which may make the reader want to read on and find out what the rest of the magazine contains.

The different sections of the contents page are clearly separated and headings appear above each section.

The NME logo makes it clear that it is NME magazine. The reader may recognise the magazine anyway as the theme of red, white and black continues on this page. The reader may also notice the font used throughout the magazine.

The red arrow informs the reader what is on page 58.

The different sections of the contents page are clearly separated and headings appear above each section.

It is clear to the reader that this is the contents page as it says this week in large, bold letters.

The yellow text used in the subscription text box makes it clear that it is not part of the rest of the contents page as it does not follow the colour scheme of red, black and white. It also makes it stand out so that the reader will notice it and consider subscribing to the magazine.

The right hand side of the page breaks down the different pages into different sections, this would make it easier for the reader to quickly find the page they are looking for.The main stories that appear on the cover are pointed out to the reader so that the reader can read those stories first if they want to, they will know what page the cover stories on on without having to look to hard for them.

The main headline is in a large, bold font. The headline is a quote from the interview, this gives the reader an idea of what the interview will be like. The headline is also in the same style as a newspaper headline, this links to the fact that Lily Allen is on the front page of newspapers frequently.

The background is white and the text is black, this shows that the interview is straight to the point, this is reflected in Lily Allen’s personality in the interview.

A medium shot of Lily Allen is used, this enables the reader to see her body language. She’s standing up with her hands on her waist which shows that she is in control. The reader can also see her facial expression, she’s looking straight at the reader and not smiling or frowning, this gives her a sense of mystery and the reader will want to read the interview to find out more about her and her personality as she doesn’t give much away in the picture. The picture of Lily Allen takes up almost half of the page, this also shows that she is in control and important as she appears much larger than the interview.

The theme of simple continues with Lily Allen’s clothing. She is wearing a shirt which shows that she has a laid-back attitude. Most female celebrities would be wearing an expensive dress for their picture in a magazine interview.