The masthead: The masthead of this magazine is ‘Blender’. The font is a bold sans serif font all in black which makes it stand out against the white background. The main image of the cover star of this magazine who is Katy Perry slightly covers the masthead which is unusual for a music magazine so this indicates that the audience for this magazine is quite mainstream as they would be able to recognise it even with part of the magazine name not showing. The masthead of this magazine is very effective as by it being bold and black against a white background it would easily attract readers as they would see it straight away and wonder what it was.

The target audience: The target audience for this magazine is quite a varied as the cover lines on the front page of this magazine include different music genres. Although containing different music genres I believe this magazine is targeted at teenagers mostly due to having an artist such as Katy Perry as a cover star as she’s quite a mainstream artist at the moment among teenagers therefore they would be attracted to a magazine she’s on the cover of. I believe this issue of Blender is aimed at both males and females although leaning more towards males due to the image of Katy Perry being quite seductive. Within the Social economic scale I believe the target audience of this

magazine is C1-E as it’s quite a cheap magazine therefore students would be able to afford it.

The images: Although there is only one main image on this issue of Blender it uses the rule of thirds very effectively as they have positioned the image directly in the centre. This draws the eye straight to Katy as she is also wearing different coloured clothes which make the image of her stand out from the plain white background. With Katy Perry being stood in a slightly provocative position it entices the reader to the magazine. The cover lines are positioned neatly around the image which makes the magazine seem simple and uncluttered which would also appeal to the younger audience as they wouldn’t want to read something which was complicated. The use of this image is effective as it helps to make the magazine stand out and would make the reader wonder why Katy is on the magazine and what is said about her inside.

The house style: The house style in this magazine is black, white and pink. The black and white add a traditional aspect to the magazine and the pink makes it seem vibrant and fun. By deciding to have a white background on the front cover it works effectively as it makes the magazine seem easy to read and uncluttered which would appeal to teenagers as they wouldn’t want to spend time reading something that was hard to understand. The hints of pink within the cover stories make the magazine a bit more girly and vibrant and ties in with colours within Katy Perry’s clothing therefore bringing the colour scheme on the whole of the front cover together. The fonts used within the front cover are all plain sans serif fonts which tie in with the easy to read, uncluttered image the white background portrayed. I believe the house style used is very effective as it makes the magazine seem slightly formal but still fun.

The Guttenberg Design Principle: The Guttenberg Design Principle is used within this issue of Blender magazine as with the mast head being in the primary optical area of focus, the focus of the audience is then shifted to the terminal area which is usually where a cover line is placed whereas within this front cover it’s an image of the cover star who is Katy Perry which ties in with the target audience as she is an icon within teenagers, by placing the image of Katy in the centre of the magazine not only does it reinforce the rule of thirds it also draws the audience into the main cover line which is a story of Katy Perry’s sexuality. The weak fallow area is left empty as this is the part of an image people usually dismiss and don’t bother to look at so the magazine hasn’t placed any cover lines there as they want their audience to read the cover lines. Therefore Guttenberg Design Principle is used effectively on this magazine front cover as they have placed their cover lines effectively in places they know will be looked at by their target audience.

Masthead

Cover lines

Cover starIncentive

Splash

The masthead: The masthead of this magazine is ‘Q’. The font used is a bold serif font in white. With the ‘Q’ having a large red square background it makes it stand out from the dark background image of the cover star. By using a serif font on the ‘Q’ it illustrates the target audience of the magazine to be slightly older and people who take music more seriously. I believe the mast head of this magazine is very effective as with the house style of the magazine being red black and white it ties in with the rock genre of Q magazine and due to the red background it would catch reader’s attention and make them pick up the magazine.

The target audience: The target audience for this issue of Q magazine is which mainstream and aimed at a younger age group of 16+ as they have Cheryl Cole as the cover star and she is very popular among teenagers at the moment. I believe this issue of Q is aimed at both males and females but leaning more towards males with the image of Cheryl Cole being quite sexual. Q as a magazine however is usually aimed at indie/alternative target audience of an older age range. Within the social economic scale I believe the target audience of this magazine are of the C1-E category as it’s a monthly magazine which is roughly £3.99 so people who have full time jobs would be more likely to buy this magazine monthly due to not only the price but it usually talks

about older music that they would be into.

The images: With the only image on the front cover being the main image of the cover star Cheryl Cole in this issue of Q it uses the rule of thirds effectively as the image is in the centre with the cover stories and the masthead around the cover star. With Cheryl Cole wearing red lipstick within the main image it ties in with the house style of black, red and white and with it raining within the image it also ties in with the provocative pose that Cheryl is doing. The cover lines are positioned neatly around the image of Cheryl which helps make the rule of thirds within the image stand out more and with the splash being large along the bottom of the image it would attract the audience to read the magazine. This image is very effective as it would attract male audience’s attention with the image and the female audience’s attention with the cover lines and the house style.

The house style: The house style in this issue of Q is black, white and red. The use of black and white tie in with the serif font of the ‘Q’ and give the magazine a very traditional aspect and the use of red ties the whole house style in with the rock genre and helps to attract rock fans attention. The connotations of red are danger and love which would also entice again males and females as males are usually attracted to danger and women, love. The fonts used on the cover lines are sans serif fonts opposing the mast head as that’s a serif font. The use of sans serif fonts on the cover lines and by them being neatly positioned around the cover star make the magazine seem uncluttered and simple to read which would tie in with the target audience are teenagers aren’t likely to read something if it’s complicated. By Cheryl wearing red lipstick I believe it ties the whole colour scheme of the front cover together and makes it work really well as its a traditional rock magazine brought forward with a modern cover star and with a hint of fun brought out through the red.

The Guttenberg Design Principle: The Guttenberg Design Principle is used well in this issue of Q magazine as the mast head is in the primary optical area of focus. The focus of the audience then shifts to the terminal area which is where the image of the cover star is placed which ties in with the target audience of this issue which is teenagers. By the image of Cheryl Cole being in the centre of the front cover it reinforces the rule of thirds and ties in with the splash of how she ‘rocks’. The main cover line is placed in the strong fallow area as the Q writers know this is where audience are most likely to look. I believe Guttenberg’s Design Principle is used effectively within this issue of Q magazine as the cover lines and cover star are placed effectively in parts of the front cover they know will be seen.

Cover star

Cover lines

Splash

Masthead

Within both issues of ‘Blender’ and ‘Q’ there is many similarities and differences. Both front covers use a female pop star that have a large mainstream audience, they both also use the rule of thirds very affectively and have similar layouts with the cover lines going down either side of the cover star and the splash being about the cover star. I believe that Blender have a younger target audience to Q which is portrayed with the types of fonts and images used within both front covers as Q use serif fonts which give it a very traditional look whereas Blender use sans serif fonts which make it seem simple and clean looking. Blender also has an incentive which would appeal to a younger audience. The images used in both magazines are also very different in their own ways with the image of Cheryl Cole looking very cinematic and as if she’s a character in a film therefore tying in with the traditional look and the one of Katy Perry looking as though she’s on a beach having fun which would appeal to a younger audience as they just want to have fun.