Research - Front Cover Research 2 Q Magazine April 2014

Pictured below is the second front cover I have analysed as part of my research. It is an issue of Q Magazine from April 2014.

The masthead is red and white in colour, meaning it is instantly recognisable to the reader as Q magazine, as these colours are a convention of this particular magazine. It is positioned in the top left corner of the magazine, and is situated behind the subject of the front cover, which follows conventions of music magazines. The size of the masthead  follows the conventions of this magazine, and is consistent with the house-style, as it is roughly 1/8 of the page, ensuring that it can still be seen by the reader, but is not overpowering the rest of the front cover. The font used in the masthead is a serif font, which could be reflective of the genre of music the magazine is trying to represent. The little flick on the stalk of the Q in the masthead portrays a slightly softer side to the magazine, indicating the magazine could be representing the softer genres of music such as Pop or Country, as appose to the more harsh genres like Rock or Punk.

The image used on the front cover is of R&B Pop artist Lily Allen. Her image is used as she is the focus of the main article within the magazine, which follows conventions of music magazines. It takes up the whole page with a long shot and is positioned centrally on the page, with the main article text wrapped around her. The subject is wearing black eye makeup, which compliments her black leather costume, and they both come together to stereotypically represent the genre of music that the subject performs. Also, her positioning links into this genre, as she appears to be acting violently/acting out, which is another stereotypical trait of this genre. This links in to Dyer's theory of representation, as the subject is not in a natural position, and has therefore been directed to stand a certain way in order to represent the genre appropriately. Also, the image complies with Mulvey's male gaze theory, as the subject is being portrayed as a feisty character and is wearing lots of makeup in order to appeal to men.

The feature story is positioned towards the bottom of the page, and is text wrapped around the image. This enables the reader to infer that this story is the main article within the magazine, and also enables the text to fit with the image better. The colour of the text used is the same colour used in the masthead, which helps create a brand identity for the magazine. The font used in the subheading to the article is also the same as the masthead, serif, which continues the brand identity that has been created, however, the font used in the main headline for the article is sans serif which gives the article a more edgy vibe, which is reflected in the image used. The censored profanity used in the subheading of this article suggests that while it is representing a more edgy genre, the magazine is keen to keep its softer Pop audience, hence the censorship. As well as the singular feature story, the cover displays four cover stories which all link to the genre due to the language used, which also appeals to the target audience, which I believe to be males and females around 20-30 years old.

The magazine front cover follows the conventions of this genre by featuring an artist on the front cover, and then by including a main article about them. The cover has some white space, which gives it a spaced out, but not empty feel. The cover also keeps with the house-style of the magazine, as the masthead is in the same place on the cover as every previous issue and also uses the same colour and font.

How this analysis has helped me:

• I like the fact that the masthead is very simplistic and doesn't take up much room on the cover, leaving more space for the image and cover stories.
• I also like the fact that the subject of the image is moving, rather than standing still like in my last analysis, and this is something I could include on my front cover.
• I don't like the use of blue coloured font on the cover as I feel this breaks the brand identity, so this is something I could avoid on my front cover.