Q Front cover analysis

Feature Article Analysis

The feature article here is of the stunning singer Cheryl Cole. She has enjoyed success with british-based girl band, girls aloud and has enjoyed a so far successful solo career. The image of her looking rather rather hardcore and independant here suggests that the targeted audience are young girls, particularly aged around 12-17.

The magazine overall uses formal language due to the quality of artists they use, to maintain a standard of high quality. Troughout the article, there are several references. Mostly to artist such as Jay-Z, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and even refers to another magazine in FHM. The article generally has a laid back approach. There are several comments regarding her solo album and comparisons are made toward how her music style is different to when she is with Girls Aloud.

Magazine layout

Front Cover:Contents Page:

Tilte Blocks

Title block One:

Title Block Two:

Title Block Three:

Title Block Four:

Title Block Analysis

Target audience for this magazine are people in the 15-24 age range although the official readership is 15-44, there are faint chances of getting people from over the age of 30 to read it. As the target audience is rather young, the title has to be able to appeal successfully to them. The worn out style text relates to the genre which is rock, highlighting the hardcore, vintage nature of it. There is a style of shattered glass again relating to the raw, hardcore nature of Rock. The text is done rather formal but due to the style in which it is edited in, breaks down the formality into this rather hardcore influence.

Big bright yellow colours add to the vibrant feel created by hip-hop music.

The name implies that it is the main source of all the latest Hip-Hop news and gossip.

The bold text helps it stand out and again emphasizes its content and how much information you could expect from the magazine. The bright yellow used here makes the text stand out from the black background.

The NME logo is big, bright and bold and as the colour used for the text is rather bright, and standsout from the black background. It is done in this way so it is easily remembered. NME stands for "NewMusical Express" as though it takes it's readers on a journey.

Contents Page Analysis

The contents page here, generally focuses on Corinne Bailey Rae. It emphasizes the importance of her interview within the magazine as her image also follows the colour theme used in the background here. A Close-up shot is used here which highlights many things. For instance, it shows that the magazine cares more for her as an artist rather than the glamour which tends to surround young female artists nowadays. The dark use of colour here also helps contribute to this as she wears no make up in this image. The shot also prevents her from advertising any designer labels as all we catch a glimpse of is a black jacket and white shirt from her shoulders. It is also clear to see that the colour theme was used as a way to capture her emotions regarding the interview as it displays that she speaks about the "grief of her husband's death" which is highlighted in red writing to emphasize its important. There are no other images used here to distract the audience from what is clear to see the main feature article.

The contents page is overall plain and simple and is easy to follow. There are no complications and we can see that the page displays it's more major stories clearly showing that the magazine wants to serve its purpose and make the readers happy, rather than displaying everything that would be shown in it, which could easily bore the target audience. The text is rather formal than playful which shows that the magazine is aimed more toward adults than teens. There are also no advertisements or competitions displayed here noting that the magazine is solely to give readers information regarding the contents.