Research & Planning: Q Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Music Magazine Cover © Q 2012

This is the second music magazine cover that I will analyse for it's use of audience representation, layout, typography, it's genre and shot type.

In this edition of 'Q', they have chosen to use mid-close up of Florence (from Florence & the machine). They have cleverly positioned the hair so that it fills the remainder of the page, which causes the cover lines to stand out better. The image is clearly airbrushed, and the make up seems to have been edited. The colours are soft and inviting, yet bold and noticeable.

Q's representation of it's audience is very clear by their use of cover lines. They have focused on content that would appeal to their target demographic, which I can presume to be people aged between 16 and 30. For example, one of the cover lines reads "Heroin, hookers & hair metal" - this is clearly targeted at a younger audience. Stereotypically, a younger age group, young adult's, are interested in such articles.

The layout of this magazine is very typical of a music magazine in todays industry. The cover includes all the main elements that you would expect to see. A masthead, cover lines, main mid/close up image and a publishing line as well as a barcode. This edition has 5 cover lines, which is about average for this particular magazine. The masthead is in the top left corner, as is the publishing line - which is usual for magazines in general, as we read from left to right and start from the top, this is also why the most important cover lines are located further up the page. From the artist that they have chosen to feature on the cover, I would say that this magazine's genre is probably indie-pop.

The use of typography on this cover is very clean and bold. The masthead stands out very clearly, the red background assures that you will see it. The white text on the dark background makes it very easy to read and allows it to stand out on the shelf. They have managed to fit a lot of information in a small space, but been able to do so without over cluttering the front page. Because they have followed the three-colour-rule, the cover isn't overly busy and confusing. In this case, their colour scheme would be red, blue and white.