Analysis of front cover
The magazine I have analysed for my case study in AS Media Studies was; “Q Magazine”. “Q Magazine” is a music magazine which is published monthly in the United Kingdom.
On the front cover of the magazine there is a full body picture of; Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Dave Grohl. The picture is positioned on the right hand side of the magazine cover. The picture is a long shot picture and is the dominant feature on the front cover. The picture on the cover of a magazine plays a big part in grabbing the audience’s attention. The picture on the cover is probably the most important image in the magazine because the image on the cover promotes the magazine and gets the reader’s attention. Any picture on the cover of a magazine must be affective in grabbing the public’s attention. This magazine cover attracts readers in various ways, these include; direct eye contact with the camera, from all of the people featured in the image. This is an effective way of attracting people’s attention because it makes the reader feel more engaged in the image and makes them feel as though the people in the picture are directly looking at them, which makes it more personal and lures them in. Moreover, body language is also key in engaging an audience; all of the people in the image on the magazine are standing confidently and give off a positive body language. This is a sufficient way of catching an audience’s attention because confidence is always approachable.
Moreover, the reader can identify what will be featured in the magazine by seeing the people on the front cover and distinguishing them to their genres of music, which links into what will be presented in the magazine.
The information is presented by three mains cover lines and various other cover lines and a text box on right hand side the cover. The masthead is given on the top left hand corner and there is a banner on the top of the cover which is broken in the middle by a semi circle text box. On the bottom left corner there is a barcode .All the information regarding what will be inside the magazine has been mainly presented on the left hand side of the magazine cover. This is because when magazines are stacked in stores the information can be seen easily and efficiently and there is a straight forward layout which makes it look more professional and more understandable to read.
“Q Magazine” has cleverly selected three iconic musicians on their cover of this magazine. All three musicians are from various different genres of music and are iconic famous people, which mean they can appeal to a range of different audiences. Jay-Z is an icon, who represents urban rap and hip hop. Lady Gaga represents pop and dance music and Dave Grohl represents rock.
Moving on, there are various different presentational devices used on the cover to attract audiences, for example; the use of colour. There are four colours used on the cover of this magazine, these include; red, orange, black and white. The banner on the top on the magazine has a black background with white text written on it and the semi circle text box which breaks into the banner is neon orange. This is done because the colour contrast is so immense that it makes the writing stand out more and attracts people’s eyes towards it. Likewise, all the main cover lines presented are too a neon orange, which contrasts to the white background. This effectively grabs the audience’s attention because of the use of bright, bold colours, which means it is in your face and immediately draws your focus. The two dominant colours on the cover are red and orange. Orange is dominant colour which is used because it is very eye catching and alert and red is an iconic colour which represents the masthead or the symbol of the publication (“Q”). . The masthead has a red background and the letter “Q” written in white. This is significant because is in the iconic colour which represents their company and is the dominant colour used throughout the magazine. The font used in the cover of this magazine is hard and harsh font. This is done in reference to the music and culture which is presented; it is bold and cut edge to match the edgy music that is featured in the magazine. The colour scheme used in a magazine cover has a big impact on the sales pf the magazine; this is because it has to be successful in engaging an audience. Consequently, “Q Magazine” uses a unique range of colours which stand out from other magazines.
The front cover shows various different symbolic signs shown by the people featured on the cover of the magazine which relate to the music culture and fashion that is accompanied by the music they produce. Jay-Z is wearing a long silver chain on top of the black top he is wearing in his picture. This is symbolic because it represents the hip hop culture which is associated with the music he produces. The jewellery he wears is representative of the bold, edgy music and his wealthy life style. Dave Grohl appearance is symbolic as it represents the stereotypical rock image. He has long shoulder length hair, a beard and his holding a guitar. They all link to the rock culture, of their free living life style and courageous music. Lady Gaga is wearing tight leather shorts and a sleeveless crop top that reveals a lot of her bare skin. Furthermore, Lady Gaga’s dress sense also is symbolic towards her unique, boisterous image.
Lady Gaga dress sense suggests that she is the stereotypical “sex symbol” that women in the music industry are usually labelled as. Additionally, in the full body images of all three musicians, Jay-Z is in front of Lady Gaga, which can suggest the patriarchy in society and male dominance in the music industry. The way the people are represented through mediation effects the way the audience sees them and the image created of them has to be successful in relating to a vast audience.
In addition, an indexical sign shown on the cover of the magazine can be seen by observing Jay-Z’s facial expression and body language. He tilts his head up from the camera which almost looks as though he is looking down on the readers to show his confidence and give across his rude malely attitude. This is stereotypical body language given off my male musicians in the music industry and fits into this “arrogant rule” that all male rap/ hip hop singers have to be aggressive and masculine.
These all appeal to the identified audience because the people on the cover are all very iconic musicians, who are very influential to the younger generation. All the musicians appeal to a range of different people.
Bauer media group advocated on their website that their target audience were; “Open minded experience seekers, the Q audience don’t define themselves by the music they listen to. Music is an important passion, but their love of music will never be to the detriment of their other passions, such as film, sport and comedy.” (http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands/Q/). This highlights that “Q” magazine does not have a specific audience that they focus on targeting. It is evident from the price of the magazine, language and the range of musicians featured that it is targeting age range between 16 to 24. The audience aren’t particularly just interested in the music produced but the culture and gossip as well.
Additionally, the language on the front cover is fairly formal but some phrases are used which are quiet informal. For example; “Jackass” is used which suggests the target audience is towards the younger generation, but overly the language used implies that the magazine is suitable for a range of different readers.
Another feature that I analysed on the cover was the use of, cross media promotion. “Q Magazine” refers to their website; www.qthemusic.com. This is done to further promote their magazine company and introduce more people to other ways of receiving “Q Magazine”, and show them other elements that the music magazine can offer. Bauer Media group are the publishers. The magazine costs: £3.99.The cost of the magazine is written on the bottom left corner of the front cover inside the text box where the bar code is. The price of the magazine relates to the amount of advertisement that is promoted within the magazine. Advertisements that are featured in the magazine help to contribute to the cost of the magazine. This affects the productionary values, such as; the quality of the paper and reproduction.