Analysis of music magazine front cover 3: Q

 

Masthead: I particularly like Q magazine's masthead. Q stands for Quinten, the maker of the magazine. Due to the magazine only being the letter Q and still being 'The UK's biggest music magazine' it is evident that the magazine is powerful. The title block's red background with the large white letter Q co-ordinates well with the overall colour theme of the black, white, red and grey.

Splash: The main 'world exclusive' story on Lady Gaga appeals to the reader due to it saying 'Move Over Madonna, Lady Gaga Has RISEN!'. Madonna is an american singer-songwriter, actress, author, director, entrepreneur and philanthropist, extremely similar to Lady Gaga. This suggests to the reader that the inside story will be interesting and worth purchasing Q magazine for.

Main Image: The main image is layered over the masthead to show she is the most dominant. The main image is placed in the centre of the magazine as it is the image which attracts the reader to the magazine, especially if it is an artist/ band they like. The image is a medium long shot showing her arms, head, waist and top of her legs. The background of the image is grey and covers the whole of the magazine. Gaga's costume, only consisting of undone, spiked trousers gloves portrays her eccentric persona to the reader. Her body language, facial expression and pose are seductive.  Additionally, her hands covering her bare breasts and her covering her crotch is provocative and therefore appeals to the stereotype of the magazines male audience. 

Sell Line: The subheadings which tell the reader the stories included inside are in a simple, neat font which fits in well with the whole theme of Q magazine's image. The artists mentioned are to appeal to a larger target audience rather than the articles only being on POP singer Lady Gaga. These include Madonna, Gorillaz, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Julian Casabancas, John Lydon and Jedward.

Pull Quote: The pull quote located on the right side of the page saying "never trust a fart!" is humorous to the reader. It appeals to people with a sense of humour which Q magazine appeals to.

In conclusion, the target audience for Q magazine could be both male and female aged 18-50, the artist used on the front, Lady Gaga attracts a wide variety of fans including both male and female however her costume could attract more males. The genre of the music included in the magazine, in my opinion would most likely appeal to men more, but on the other hand due the magazine including many different genres it could attract a wide variety of readers.