Magazine Front Cover analysis

Q-October 2009 Front cover.

This issue of Q has gone for a quite simple and dynamic design, Q generally has simple designs as it’s target audience is more mature than the target audience of for example NME having a much less crowded front cover as readers kow the quality of the magazine and do not have to be pulled in as much. The publisher describes the audience profile as “Open minded experience seekers, the Q audience don’t define themselves by the music they listen to. Music is an important passion, but their love of music will never be to the detriment of their other passions, such as film, sport and comedy.”

The front cover only has 5 main features mentioned in quite a large font and a few small names of other featured artists on the side. The Colours used for the text are simple being simple white and black, or red to match the Magazine Logo, or silver to match the colour pallet of the Image, these colours are used in various different ways for example reversed-out to keep the text . The text is arranged neatly so as to not over crowd the cover this is as the Target Audience as “open minded” do not need to be force fed a lot of articles from the front cover. The Pull quote is linked to the main article and has been chosen to hint at Bellamy being “out of control” to re-enforce this idea to create curiosity in the audience to try and sell more copies.

The Main image is quite striking showing Matt Bellamy smashing the logo with his guitar- this dramatic image is Anchored to the line “Matt Belamy is out of control” the image tries to exaggerate this making it appear as though he is on a rampage, to firstly make the article seem more interesting, secondly to appeal to those of the audience that like the genre of Rock music as it is quite an aggressive powerful image that would appeal to them. The clothes he wears fit in with the genre of music he plays for example his jacket has some military references (the flaps on the shoulders and strips on the arm) These not only represent the genre of music, Progressive Rock, connoting strong Rock imagery of fighting, his clothing also keeps to the colour pallet of the cover and his expression is quite angry connoting again Rock values of aggression to some extent but more link the image to the text to again to insight curiosity to encourage people to buy the magazine. The background on the image is a simple Silver, however it does have shading and you can see the wall this is so that the picture would work showing Belamy’s feet to show his posture, the silver connotes a futuristic style which again links to Belamy to his Music style of Progressive Rock.

The image in the corner of the Beatles has been made to look slightly like an old photograph to represent them as they were and give nostalgia to the older members of the target audience who remember the Beatles, this also works as a representation of the 70’s for younger members of the readership.

The skyline is quite large and simple proclaiming itself as “The UK’s Biggest music magazine” this is to appeal to the audience trying to represent Q Magazine as better and more popular than it’s competitors.

NME Front cover 10th February 2007(due to large size had to scan twice to fit all features mentioned in analysis)

NME has quite a dynamic colour pallet of red, white and black, which mirrors the Masthead in keeping with the magazine’s style, this a quite a simple Masthead, in a bold block font, appearing boxed into a rectangle to resemble a banner connoting a rebellious ideology which would appeal to the target audience of predominantly teenagers into Independent music. The blue on the left third of the magazine stands out in contrast to the rest of the magazine highlighting the other feature stories also to make the pictures more visible as they are dark and would blend into the other image on the cover without a border.

The magazine has both a skyline and cover line at the bottom with stories all down the left third and a competition on the right, overall this makes the cover quite crowded and thus it appears to have a lot of content, this impression is vital to give off as a cheap weekly magazine trying to sell as many copies as it can against much more professional magazines, made to a higher quality.

The main image of shows the Kaiser Chiefs dressed in dark colours in keeping with the colour pallet, looking serious, almost hostile, with most members giving a direct mode of address however one is looking up and off to the right- this gives the impression (combined with the fact the lead singer is holding a flag, which connotes war scenes when portrayed in this manner (aggressively coming towards the camera like he is holding a sword) that they are standing to fight a massive enemy. The pull quote over this has been chosen to be quite a strong catchy statement because it uses repetition and addresses an issue that is quite important to Independent music musicians and fans.

The competition highlighted in yellow (edited to look as if it has been painted on with a roller) appeals to the audience as the prize is music relevant), the font and style gives a look of graffiti which again appeals to the rebellious nature of the target audience.

The Jazz Rag Front CoverSummer/Autumn2009

The Jazz Rag as a low budget magazine keeps to a very simple design and house style. With a very simple straight to the point font in white. There is only one story on the front cover, this magazine is independent and based at a niche market, not attempting to sell itself as it’s target audience know what they want and it rarely is competing against other magazines in a shop and subverts conventions such as the left third. The image shows a lesser known musician who is featured in the magazine as a “rising star” he is shown playing his instrument, smiling and smoking. This shows that the magazine is serious, realistic attitude to the music, Rosenberg is playing music and enjoying it as opposed to not playing an instrument and looking moody (as are the artists on the other front covers I have looked at). This shows the target audience appreciate honesty, and want a magazine strictly about music unlike a major magazine that is much more expensive and filled with other articles that are mostly unrelated to the music. The colour used behind the Masthead is pale representing a relaxed approach to the music. I believe the target audience is older people predominantly males aged 30 and over.