Q the music magazine analysis

This magazine is called 'Q' and its target audience would be most people both women and men that like indie music. The magazine offers information about bands and groups that are big in the market; this will attract people to the magazine as they would want to get to know a lot more about the band or group.
The colours of the magazine are very basic but are bright and stand out on the magazine, this might be because the magazine has a white background and any bright colours stand out. The colours that are used are red, black, white and yellow. There aren’t many colours which makes the magazine look better as it makes it look professional. The big splash (the bands name) on the image is yellow and this makes the splash stand out as the band are all wearing black, this is good so it makes it very easy for the customer to spot and also it is catching for the customers eye. It is good that the splash is in this bright colour and stands out because it is the main headline and people need to see it so they want to read more about their favourite band. The red ties in with the masthead/logo of the magazine.

The image on the front cover is very big and takes up most of the page; this has the effect of making it easier for the customer to see what the main story is of the magazine. Also the image is of ‘Coldplay’ who are a very well known band and are very good song writers and singers. The image is a full body shot, so if the reader is a girl or a boy they can see the whole body image they are wearing. The facial expressions on ‘Coldplay’ are very serious and look like that they are in fear, this is linked together with the splash that is on the their bodies. This is a good thing to do as it will give the reader an idea of what the story is about. The head of the band member on the back row (Jonathan Buckland) is above the masthead, this is a technique called layering and it is very effective as it shows the reader that the band Is the most important thing on the cover. The shot that is taken is a model shot as it is posed for and they have taken their time to get the picture right to get the best picture to work on the front cover.

The layout of the magazine is similar to every other music magazine that is on the market, this is because most of the magazines want the main story to be in capital letters so that it is easy for the customer to read it and they won’t need to get up close. The second thing that is similar on most of the magazines is how the magazine creates a border or frame for the magazine so it draws the customer’s eyes into the picture in the middle. The one thing that is different on this magazine to any other is that the splash is across the image on the front cover, most magazines like to keep this clear so the reader can see all of the body on the model. But this is what is so effective because the reader will then know if they have never heard of Coldplay or seen the band members they would know that this splash is about the band on the front.

Finally, the language is informal; you can tell this by the language that is used and also the font that is used as well. The language that has been used is stuff like ‘bloc’, ‘hell’ and ‘craziest’. The words show the customer that the magazine is informal and that it is more targeted and young people because they would understand words like ‘bloc’ a lot easier. You can tell from the font because it is a basic bold font and it stands out, if they had a formal font it would be fancy and not bold, so the magazine has gone for a font that would catch the eye of the customer so they will have more sales.