Magazine Analysis 2

Magazine Analysis 2

General

• The company that produces the magazine is Q.
• The target audience according to the publisher's website is roughly 16+ as they release a wide variety of music on their cover which could interest any age over 16.
• It costs £3.99 which is just over the average cost for most magazines.
• It has been published monthly since October 1986. 
• Q magazine suffered sales declines of almost 20% year-on-year in a tough first sixth months of 2012. Q was the worst performer in the music magazine sector, with sales down 16.7% according to the latest Audit Bureau of circulation figures released in august 2012. 

The Cover

• The title of the magazine is Q and it is called that because originally is was to be called Cue Magazine (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play) however they decided to change it to Q so that it wouldn't be confused with a snooker magazine, another reason is because Q is a much more effective name for a magazine and the company felt it would be more prominent on news stands to potential customers.
• The masthead/title logo is simple but effective as the background attracts your eye as it is a square section of red which is one of the first things you look at as a customer. It then has 'Q' in white which also stands out on top of a red background. The font of the title logo is quite formal but not too fancy in order to fit in with the house style of the magazine. 
• The strapline on the magazine says "The World's Greatest Music Magazine" which is quite a big statement as there are many other good magazines in the media market but this is a very bold and confident statement which could intrigue the customer into thinking the magazine could live up to its strapline.

• The magazine's main image is of one of the band members from 'The Killers' and he is giving a very interesting hidden look towards the camera. The fact that he is not directly looking into the camera, like most magazine covers, is very mysterious. He is almost looking upwards with his eyes looking down towards the camera. This image can easily attract a customer to the magazine just by the look he is giving. He is wearing rock style clothes and is wearing a leather jacket that he is holding onto in a striking pose which looks cool, stylish and effective for the genre the magazine is associated with.
• The other images that appear on the cover of Q Magazine is a small picture of 'Neil Young' playing his guitar and telling you about an autobiography exclusive. The other images on the cover are of small heads of people from Radiohead to promote their move from Rock Star to Radio DJ. Lastly there is a small image of a character from Breaking Bad to promote the TV Show inside the magazine to give readers an insight into what it's all about.
• The content that is promoted by the cover lines is of 'The Killers' and promoting Brandon Flowers being 'reborn'. Also Q are promoting 3 interviews in the top right hand corner of the page.
• The typefaces (fonts) used are simple but bold which is effective as they stand out but are not too strong to overpower the main focus on the cover, the main image and title. The colours of the fonts are fitted in with the colour scheme of the cover which is generally black white and red with the exception of 'The Killers' in grey. The graphics used in the bottom right hand corner of the page are of flowers and a small bird which is used to tie in with the title of 'Weediest Records Ever'.
• The language features and devices that I can identify on the cover of the magazine are simple language as there are no phrases or words that are too informal or formal. There is a general balance between the two making Q's language features simple and safe, appealing to every age group. The language devices Q use on their cover invites the reader in as they announce big exclusive events and information.
• Q does follow the same style/trend like a lot of other magazines such as NME which is very similar to Q magazine as they both have simple but bold fonts, simple backgrounds and intriguing main images on the cover. It is also a square magazine and not rectangle like most magazines, this is what is distinctive about this magazine as it is a different size to most.

Inside

• There are 146 pages inside the magazine.
• There are 14 pages of adverts.
• The adverts inside the magazine are categorised into perfume, technology, album releases, beverages and travel.
• List of features/article topics inside the magazine- Q Mail, Return of Radiohead, Rolling Stones return, Lunch with Ludacris, Fatboy Slim property pages, Charlotte Church interview, The Bluebells interview, Alice Cooper interview, Keane interview, Breaking Bad promotion, Neil Young interview, Pitbull interview, Example interview, The 50 Weediest Records Of All Time, The Killers interview, Robbie Williams interview, New Album reviews, Entertainment reviews, Live event details, Contests, Competitions and Florence Welch Q+A.
• Categorised features/articles- The Q Recommender, Q Mail, Interviews, Autobiographies, Album Releases, TV show, Contests, Band Returns. 
• There are 34 double page spreads inside the magazine. They are a mixture of interviews, band returns, event details and adverts.
• There are some pages where it isn't clear what the page is and it looks like it could be either an advert or an article.
• The magazine achieves a unified "house style" as the language is kept simple and not swaying towards either formal or informal too much. The colour schemes are kept very simple but effective as the colours and text all match throughout the magazine and the use of red white and black is both interesting and effective in the sense that it looks professional.
• The house style is appropriate to the target audience as there is a wide variety of music genres and relatable stories to read for all age groups for example for the older generation they could read about the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, and for the younger generation they could perhaps read about Example or Ludacris.