Jenny Gregory

Front Cover Analysis

Q

Magazine is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. The title masthead noun ‘Q’ is a play on words linking to lexical field within the music industry. We know this as you can ‘queue’ for a concert and also have a ‘cue’ to the beginning of a song. The letter ‘Q’ is quite formal with a serif font suggesting the target audience to be of an older generation. Q features many genres of music so it is suited to all music lovers. The target audience for Q is music buyers over 25 years old, of both genders. The magazine has a mass audience as it so popular, but could also be referred to as having a niche audience, as it is purposely aimed at only music fans. With the target audience being slightly older means that the magazine is able to be a bit more expensive than if it was aimed at younger audience as the majority of the buyers have paid jobs. Also with an older audience the magazine can contain more information about old ‘classic’ albums and music from past decades as it would suit the audience. However, NME magazine is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers, which is target audience of males ages 17-30 averaging out at 25, the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music.

Both magazines have a consistent house style with each magazine they produce. ‘Q’ goes for a plainer, simple yet effective cover while NME goes for a more busy cover. Equally, both magazines use the Guttenberg Design Principle. On each magazine cover, the masthead appears in the top left hand corner which is also known as the primary optical area. The masthead is placed there as Guttenberg believed this is where ones eye is first

Jenny Gregory

attracted to. As you can see, on both mastheads there is something over lapping. Q and NME can afford to do this as they are well known, popular magazines. The bottom left and right hand corner is also known as the weak fallow area. Usually, this is where the barcode, price, etc are placed and often free CD’s. On the other hand, the top right hand corner, this is also known as the strong fallow area which is where the main cover lines are.

The main image on the ‘Q’ front cover is of Take That, a popular pop music group. The way each member is positioned is very effective. This particular magazine article was issued June 2010, which was when Robbie Williams rejoined the band. Q have purposely placed an image with the band smiling and laughing to portray how happy each member is to be back together as a band after 10 years. Through placing Robbie Williams on the bottom of the pile allows the audience to see him as the under dog, as he has just rejoined.The mise-en-scene of the front cover on a whole enhances people to look at it. The contrast of the white back ground with the black clothing helps the magazine stand out and grab the reader’s attention. The main image on the NME front cover is an image of The Manic Street Preachers, who are an old, Welsh alternative rock band.

Cover lines are the list of articles which are promoted on the front cover. On the Q magazine, we can see that this particular article is based on one main subject; ‘TAKE THAT back for good?’ which is placed in the strong fallow area. By asking a rhetorical question, it will make the target audience want to buy the magazine to find out all the latest information on the band rejoining. Also, ‘back for good’ is a well known song by Take That.However, NME’s front cover displays various cover lines, one in each section of Guttenberg’s Design Principle allowing readers straight away to acknowledge that there is various articles within the magazine.