Detailed Class Analysis of My Own Music Magazine (Q)

By James Borland

The main image features the band looking straight at the reader creating some direct address. The frontman of the group is featured in the middle of the magazine cover to show that he is the frontman and the leader of the group. The main image features the band in more neutral colours a feature of modern rock music. Q is for fans of rock music but not too heavy rock music, hence they do not fit the stereotype of wearing all black with piercings and tattoos.

The masthead is featured in large to make it clear what magazine this is and is featured in the usual colours of red and white. Q is a well known rock music magazine so they do not need to make the masthead too large and one letter clearly represents the brand. The target audience of Q is men aged 16-24 that enjoy listening to softer rock music. This is for slightly older trendier people as there are not bright colours used but also blacks are not used dominantly.

Different artist and band names are featured on the cover to show what will be in the issue of the magazine. Many big names are featured on the cover from Metallica to Jamie T. Below the edition and price are also featured. This makes it clear to the buyer how much the issue will cost and what will be included. Each artist name features a small tagline underneath to show what their article will be about. Beck is the only other image on the cover and his pose is less masculine as he fits more general of a pop genre hence “The wonky pop genius returns!”.

The overall colour scheme is black white and red, similar to the NME this is because it makes the words stand out on the cover, this also fits the rock genre as rock tends to be less colourful and bright hence the neutral colours that the band are wearing.

There are quotes from the band to show that this is their comeback and to try and show they have fought hard to comeback, the connotation is they have come a long way from this quote and the background of the image which features the sky and the desert. All of this main cover line is in capital letters as they are the most important part of the issue.

There are also two puffs on the cover showing what review is in the magazine and what the Kings Of Leon article will feature. They are used to again show what will be in the issue of the magazine without having to look at the contents page. This allows the potential buyer to see what is in the magazine and help them decide if they want to get it.

The cover features overall more masculine colours and images, fitting with the male stereotype of rock music. This is shown in the mise en scene as the man are wearing bigger and leather watches. The smaller secondary image of Beck also features duller colours fitting with the trendy rock genre.There are more band names listed along the bottom of the cover to again show who is in the issue.

Beck is featured in large to show the other biggest artist in the magazine. He is again wearing more neutral colours fitting with the genre and style of the magazine. The colour scheme is also the same between the cover and the contents.

The left page features all of the more important bands and articles in chronological order. This is done to allow a reader to see the most important articles of the magazine first and make it clear where the articles featured on the cover will be. The title for this side is “Comebacks of the year!” this lists all of these artists as bands coming back.

The right page features all of the other articles in chronological order under the title “also in this issue”. The word also implies and gives the conation that these articles are less important. The contents feature all men on the cover and the contents is all men and just one women. The images on these pages feature some anchorage, to tell the reader what article this will be in and also show at a glance who the person in the image is. Here some of the images used are slightly more aggressive looking fitting the rock music stereotype.

The images used here show bands of much different popularity, some are more recognisable than others this is to help support smaller artists and help them make a name for themselves. This gives them some promotion but ultimately the magazine makes the more famous artists bigger as they want to sell issues. There is also information showing how the magazine is split between general articles and reviews. This fits the genre as rock fans are generally more interested in albums and whether they are good or not. The contents page features a lot of information so that somebody flicking through the magazine knows whether they should buy this issue or not.

The masthead is again featured on the left hand side next to the title of contents. The edition is again featured above the title of the contents. The colour scheme is the same here as it is on the cover of the issue.

This headline is used as a sort of joke as most bands don’t even get to their seventh album but this is showing that it gets more difficult for bands as they try to find new ground to step. The introduction to the article below speaks about the bands successes and how they have grown and grown. This paragraph is used to create synergy with the title as it talks about their successes to show how they could now fail, this is to create more interest for the article to get the reader to carry on.

This main image is quite an iconic image in rock music, with a four piece band split between them. This has been used by band from The Beatles to Blur. This would appeal to the reader of Q magazine as it is for the fan of lighter more British style of rock music. This image is used stereotypically to try and make the four band members equal show each their style and charisma. This main image takes up the whole right page showing the band as a whole. This allows for the reader to see how the whole band looks after they have been and represents them as important. The connotation of this image is to represent the band as iconic. Like the bands that have had their picture like this before. Later in this article more images of the band are used but to show them in more of a live situation.

The headline is the main feature of the whole left page, showing its importance and allowing the reader to quickly know what the article is about. The bold white font on a black background fits with the overall colour scheme and shows that is stereotypically aimed at male readers. The conation of these colours is that the article may be more serious and mature. With the main colour used being yellow just to highlight the names.

To this audience Kings of Leon are very famous so this image is well used.

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