L.I.I.A.R analysis of Q magazine

By Emily Lawson

Language: The first thing I notice when looking at this magazine is the large main image of Cheryl Cole that has been taken at a medium close up. The image immediately informs us of the music genre of the magazine. Cheryl covers the majority of the page showing her importance and power. This is reinforced by the way the features are all placed around her head as it suggests that the magazine is working around her. She seems to be wearing some sort of leather jacket which represents her sex appeal and infers that the magazine may not appeal to a higher class audience. She also appears to be wearing dark make up around her eyes and bright red lipstick which doesn’t match her usual pop style and instead associates her with rock and indie music. The red lipstick again represents her sex appeal. Her skin appears flawless on the cover which makes viewers want to be just like her and therefore people will buy the magazine. In addition to this she appears strong and demanding by the way that she has her hand balled into a fist and is looking straight into the camera. This makes it look like she is personally connecting with each reader and demanding them to buy the magazine. The last thing that I notice about the image is that she’s stood in the rain and so is soaking wet which again signifies her se appeal. The masthead of the magazine covers Cheryl’s head slightly showing that it is the most important thing on the page as this is how viewers recognise the brand. The masthead is very large and uses bright colours to draw viewers to it immediately so they know that it’s ‘Q’ magazine. This is used on every magazine so that the magazine is easily recognised. On some magazines the masthead changes colour to work around the colour scheme however on ‘Q’ magazine they use the same colours and work the colour scheme around the masthead. This again highlights its importance. On this edition the colour scheme is black, white and red. The colour scheme has been influenced by the image as well. The image mainly uses the colours red and black and so they have then used the white to make the magazine less dark and to bring it to life. I also think that the use of red links back to the images connotation of sex appeal as this is the colour you would mainly associate with sexiness. The colours don’t particularly attract a gender specific audience and so this suggests its for both males and females. The plug on this magazine breaks the colour scheme as it uses the colour grey, however this makes it stand out more and this may have been done because they think this is something that the viewers should be drawn to and may influence their decision to buy the magazine. The anchorage on the magazine is printed in a much larger text than the other features and it uses a strong font which again connotates power. The other features are printed in different sizes and fonts, the more important ones seem to be printed larger making me think that these are the ones they want you to be drawn to. A lot of the features state different bands which are probably featured in the magazine, therefore giving us an idea of the genre of the magazine. The last thing that I notice is the slogan at the top of the magazine which has been printed in a large and sophisticated font making the overall appearance of the magazine more professional. The slogan promotes the magazine suggesting that a lot of people buy and therefore it must good which then makes more people buy it.

Institution: ‘Q’ magazine is a popular music magazine that is published monthly in the united kingdom. It is published in 15 countries and there are over 300 editions which can be purchased in store or online. It was founded by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth and the first edition was published in1986 by the EMAP media group. In 2006 the magazine was sold to the Bauer media group. The magazine was originally called ‘cue’ however they changed it later on as they believed that a singled letter title would be more prominent on news stands. The magazine was initially created as the founders believed that magazines were ignoring an older generation of music buyers. Over the years the magazine’s popularity has grown and it is now ‘The UK’s biggest music magazine’. The magazine has very high standards of photography and printing which makes it stand out compared to other magazines, making it a big success. We can see how successful the magazine is by looking at the many famous people they have featured on the cover. The models tend to be very famous artists of the time that are role models for many people, therefore if the magazine wasn’t as successful as it is these famous artists wouldn’t want to promote it. The price of the magazine also implies that it is unique as it costs £4.50. This suggests that it is a big company with a high end market as a low end market may not be able to afford the product. The magazines success keeps growing as they have expanded to TV, radio and online, this had increased there profits majorly. You can also now subscribe to ‘Q’ magazine so that you can receive every issue released.

Ideology: There are many beliefs and values that this magazine communicates to the viewer. Firstly we can see that they want to be portrayed as an up market magazine by the £4.50 cost to purchase it. This is quite a high cost for a magazine and would only appeal to a specific audience. They also have a very famous artist on the front which again suggests they want to be seen the top music magazine. The artists mentioned in the features also are very famous and so suggest the magazine is very popular as these artists wouldn’t want to promote the magazine. Further more the magazine is trying to portray professionalism by using conventional well thought out layouts which always stick to a colour scheme and never look overwhelming. They also use a very thick and glossy paper to print there magazine onto which again shows they are professional as it high quality. The magazine is also thought of as trustworthy as it is associated with Cheryl Cole and other big artists who we trust and use as role models. These artists are all linked to the genre of music the same as the magazine and so the trustworthy image is again portrayed as we understand that they have a good knowledge of music. In addition to this famous artists often talk with the magazine about personal issues which shows that they trust the magazine to tell their story correctly and therefore we trust the magazine too. This not only portrays the magazine as trustworthy but also reliable. If the magazine wasn’t as big and upmarket then famous artists wouldn’t want to tell them personal information.

Audience: The magazines main audience is people who are interested

in music, particularly the ‘indie’ genre. We know this because it is a music magazine with the genre being mainly ‘indie’, so this will be the general audience. The estimated age range of the target audience would be people in their 20’s- 40’s due to the high cost. The cost of the magazine is £4.50 which means the younger teen audience can’t generally afford it, whereas the older generation often have paid jobs and therefore can afford to buy the magazine. In addition to this a lot of the models featured on the cover are of this age and so it will be more appealing to this age group. People may also buy the magazine if an artist they like is on the front of it and they want to purchase it to find out more about them. Occasionally free things are given away in the magazine and this may also attract people to buy the magazine so they can get the free accompaniment. The magazine isn’t aimed at a specific gender which we can see through the gender neutral colour scheme, this tells us that the magazine is open to all individuals and isn’t isolating a specific gender like if the magazine used the colour ‘pink’ throughout.

Representation: Cheryl Cole is the model used for the main image on this

front cover and she ties to the magazine very well. This is mainly because she is the same age as the target market and so many readers can relate to her and her experiences but also because her music is of the pop style which the magazine occasionally uses as well as indie and rock. This makes people want to buy the magazine as they think they can be just like Cheryl Cole. She therefore acts as a trusted role model for providing tips about music, making the magazine trustworthy. Cheryl’s dark hair, clothing and make-up also link with the colour scheme of black, white and red. Cheryl is pulling a powerful and confident face while looking directly into the camera which sends the message of ‘If you want to be as talented and as beautiful as me buy the magazine.’ The use of Cheryl Cole on the cover may increase the amount of readers as people will associate the magazine with Cheryl Cole in the future and continue to buy it. This may have been why they used her on the cover initially as the magazine is generally a rock/indie magazine whereas Cheryl Cole tends to be more of a pop artist. This therefore gets more people who enjoy pop music reading the magazine, widening the magazines audience.

Language:

When looking at this magazine the thing that I notice the most is the colour scheme. The colour scheme of the contents page matches the general colour scheme of the whole magazine, using the colours black, white and red. I think this is very effective as it makes the magazine easily recognisable. On this particular edition the dominant colours are black and white but red is used in places like on the header, stopping the magazine from being dull and instead bringing it to life. The colours used aren’t gender specific therefore suggesting that the magazine is for both males and females. The use of the colour red ties with the front cover keeping the theme of sex appeal. The layout of the magazine is effective and seen as quite conventional however there are some things that break convention, such as the fact that the contents page spreads across two pages instead of just the one, I think this may have been done to stop the page looking overwhelming and crowded. The contents page uses spacing cleverly, making the most important pictures larger then the rest and placing the listings of articles around the pictures. The text and its placement is particularly effective, for example the title ‘contents’ has been placed at the top of the page surrounded by a red box. The red box draws you to it initially because it is bright and therefore the title is the first thing you read. It is also printed in a large font making this stand out even more. This is essential so the reader knows what they are reading immediately when they turn the page. The other text on the page tends to be printed in the same font, suggesting that it’s all equally important. The font of the text used is neither female orientated of male orientated which implies that the magazine is for both genders. In addition to this the images used are all very diverse meaning that it appeals to a wide audience of both males and females. There is a cover story in the bottom left corner of the magazine which is quite conventional to have on magazine contents page. It is effective to have these as it gives the reader a small insight of what they can expect from the full article making them want to read on to see what happens.

Representation:

The contents page of this magazine represents music well as everything on the page is music related. The pages use a gender neutral colour scheme and have pictures of both males and females which shows that its trying to appeal to a wide audience of both genders, these all still link to music therefore representing the style of the magazine. The magazine is also represented as diverse as the images are all of different styled people and of different age groups etc suggesting that the magazine is for a wide range of people. I think individualism is represented in this magazine as well because other magazines try to be more sophisticated and conventional, whereas this magazine tends to break conventions and is very different from other magazines. An example of this is it uses a very bright red colour as part of its colour scheme in every edition which connotates danger suggesting ‘Q’ magazine isn’t afraid to be different to other magazines.

Language:

The right page shows a medium shot of Cheryl Cole which fills the majority of the page showing her importance and dominance. The image connotates power as Cheryl is stood in a strong and demanding stance implying that she can do what she wants, which we know is true because her fame gives her a lot of power. Her clothing style links her to the rock genre which the magazine often takes along with indie. The black clothing also suggests that she's dangerous and not to be messed with. This is also implied by the way her hair is wild and free as it suggests she not held back by anyone. Her skin looks flawless on the image making the reader want to be like her and therefore they will read the article to find out more about the pop idol. Generally these pictures have a small caption to accompany them however this one doesn’t which implies that the image is self explanatory and gets its message across to the reader without a caption. Finally Cheryl is looking to the left which is where the article is, this suggests that she's directing the reader to it demanding them to read it. The colour scheme of the page follows the overall colour scheme of the magazine which is black, white and red. The colour scheme appeals to both genders as the colours don’t appeal to a specific gender. The red colour can be associated with danger which could be representing the magazines daring nature. The smaller image of Cheryl shows her doing some sort of photo shoot or music video which informs us that the text will be based on her music history. The use of an image placed in the article is very conventional and makes the article look quite professional. The image is quite large as well which shows her importance as she fills almost a quarter of the page. The text on the page has been set out in columns making it easier to read and several letters have been printed a lot larger to draw your attention to them, particularly the large red ‘C’. The large letter ‘C’ signifies the start of the article and has been printed in a very large font which covers part of the article. This makes the page look more interesting and draws the reader to the text. The opaque red colour has been used to keep with the colour scheme of the article.

Representation:

The double page spread of this magazine represents rock music very well as the style and layout all are related to this genre of music. An example of this is the choice of clothing and make up that Cheryl is wearing on the full page image of herself as it is very similar to the rock style. The fact that her hair is quite wild and untamed shows us her personality and how she’s a wild character. This then suggests that she suits the genre as these are the connotations held about this genre. Her hair and make up also matches the colour scheme of the magazine and so she represents the magazine quite well. The use of a world famous artist as the main feature in the magazine represents the magazine as trustworthy as it shows the Cheryl Cole trusts the magazine and she acts as a role model for readers, therefore making us trust the magazine. I also think that the magazine could represent danger and individualism as it not only uses the colour red (which connotates danger) but also the main image uses a powerful and dominate position, this could be trying to suggest that the magazine is daring and not afraid to challenge conventions.