Q Magazine Analysis

Q Magazine Analysis: Front Cover

The main colours used on the front cover are black, white and red. With the iconic and easily recognisable Q masthead/logo being red and white, the colour scheme revolves around this with black text to stand out clearly on the background. The Q logo is so well known and is also positioned the same on the front cover maintaining the red and white colours throughout every issue. These are relatively masculine colours and this reflects the target market as that tends to be males also.

The main image on this front cover is Beyonce who admired by both males and females which broadens the target audience for this particular issue of Q magazine as both genders may be interested in her as a person. The image could be seen through the male gaze as the artist is wearing a low cut top with a short skirt revealing a lot of leg. This could portray Beyonce as a sexual object through the male gaze as she is an attractive woman. This relates back to the predominantly male target audience shown through the colour scheme also. The fact that the artist is the only image on the front cover emphasises their importance throughout the magazine as out of the 20 “exclusive” interviews, Beyonces it’s the most important.

This particular issue of Q magazine is branded as “20th Anniversary Special” which is another method of drawing more people into looking at and potentially buying the magazine and could be seen as a Puff. This is highlighted through the use of a gold border around the edge of the magazine (excluding the masthead) which catches the audiences eye and this intrigues them as they want to find out what makes this issue special compared to other issues as the colour gold is seen as a connotation of royalty, importance and wealth.

A direct address is used that ‘talks’ directly to the reader as it states that this magazine is 1 of 20 “special” covers to collect. This makes the audience think this magazine must be of more importance of other issues of the same magazine as may persuade people to buy the magazine and attempt to ‘collect’ the other 19.

Q Magazine Analysis: Contents Page

This Q contents page uses the traditional Q magazine colour scheme of white, black and red which is very simplistic but effective. As a whole, this contents page is very basic with two thirds of the page being dominated by one picture which relates to the main article within the magazine. The other third is consumed by text explaining other articles in the magazine in a simplistic fashion with the page number, title of the article and small description. This works well and although this contents page may not be as aesthetically pleasing as others, it is very functional and ensures easy navigation through the magazine.

The colour scheme is held throughout the contents page with the rectangles that are used to separate and distinguish different sets of information are either red or black whilst the background is white. With the background being white and the text being black, this makes the text incredibly easy to read compared to other colour palettes and also looks professional.

The gold font used for the Oasis Special section does not fit the colour palette used for the rest of the page so this article stands out the audience. The colour gold connotes royalty so could be implying that Oasis are ‘rock royalty’ and that the article about them is very important.

The Review section in the bottom right hand corner is placed on a grey background which is different from the rest of the contents page which could indicate that this section is of importance to the magazine. Also, the grey in this section matches the background of the image above giving a sense of continuity on the two right hand thirds.

Q Magazine Analysis: Double Page Spread

This double page spread consists of one page being taken up fully by and image and the following page being fully text. This works well in this double page spread as this link is instantly made by the audience that the two pages are connected as the large translucent red “J” is matched with Jay Z on the opposing page.

The reader will also notice the quote in bold red font on the page which is dominated by the image. This quote gives an insight into what the article will consist of and entices the reader into reader further into the whole article.

An extremely large drop capital is used covering the majority of the page in a translucent red colour. This gives the article an quirky edge on other articles and makes the whole article more interest to look at. Without it, the page would be dull and boring and would resemble a newspaper.

The image itself shows Jay Z in sunglasses which could be because he wants to hide his emotions. It is implied he could be in two mind sets as one side the artist is dimly lit with a red tint whilst the other half is well lit which could resemble his undecided mind set.