Q Magazine
Q Magazine, February 2012 issue
Created and published monthly
£3.99
www.qthemusic.com
Q Magazine is a popular magazine, targeting their magazine at various different audiences who have different tastes in music, which is published monthly in the United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in October 1986 when they released their very first issue, very different from the other current music press at that time, as they were willing to publish a new magazine monthly holding new and relevant information to keep its viewers up to date with music of their time ('the modern guide to music and more" which was the subtitle the magazine was given in its early years. The magazine was first named Cue which they later changed to the letter 'Q' encouraging their magazine to not get mistaken as a snooker magazine and they believed that 'Q' would be more eye catching amongst other magazines on the new stands.
Created and published monthly
£3.99
www.qthemusic.com
Q Magazine is a popular magazine, targeting their magazine at various different audiences who have different tastes in music, which is published monthly in the United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in October 1986 when they released their very first issue, very different from the other current music press at that time, as they were willing to publish a new magazine monthly holding new and relevant information to keep its viewers up to date with music of their time ('the modern guide to music and more" which was the subtitle the magazine was given in its early years. The magazine was first named Cue which they later changed to the letter 'Q' encouraging their magazine to not get mistaken as a snooker magazine and they believed that 'Q' would be more eye catching amongst other magazines on the new stands.
Front Cover
The masthead for the magazine is a large bold 'Q' which stands out from the white background of the magazine. From researching the magazine I was able to find out that the name of the magazine was chosen for a certain reason to suggest the idea of 'cueing the music'. By having a large 'Q' as the name of the magazine makes the title clear to see due to the fact that its short but powerful, helping the magazine to stand out from its competitors whilst on the newsstand. The meaning of the name of the magazine helps to link the genre of the magazine with the masthead cleverly relating the contents of the magazine. The publisher of the magazine is Bauer Media Group which is a multinational media company based in Hamburg, Germany which functions in 15 different countries globally. Bauer also publishes well known British magazines 'Bella' and 'Take A Break' as well as a number of puzzle magazines. The choice of colours and imagery suggests that the target audience for the magazine is targeted at teenagers and young adults due to the simple and maturity look of the magazine. The magazine includes various different artists and bands of both generations of today and in the past gaining a wide target audience. The images on the front cover includes artists of both old and new, all expressing serious and hard facial expressions relevant and suitable for the genre of the magazine. The cover also includes various different artists and bands album covers of various different classic decades mixed with the music of today. The magazine has been created looking very busy and full packed with images of the various different artists and music genres the magazine is interested in. Due to this, the magazine is full of colour encouraging it to stand out from its competitors. The wording inserted on the front cover is relevant and gives you an insight of what to expect of the magazine. The writing included on the front, has been divided with different fonts and colours to highlight the important and popular information including the well known artists. This has been done to allow potential readers to judge the content of the magazine just by the layout, colours, information and imagery allowing them to choose depending on their interests and wants.
Contents Page
The contents page has been divided into various paragraphs which each begin with a page number and a subheading which then leads on to what that page includes. These then link to the page inside the magazine allowing the readers to go straight to a certain page if they wish to. The contents page also tells the reader everything the magazine includes, combining inserts of information from throughout the magazine making its audience aware of the content for this months issue. Included also is small images of what the pages inside the magazine show, encouraging the reader to want to read on and to find out more meaning them to have to purchase the magazine. The contents page is very clear and easy to navigate, allowing the reader to be able to clearly read and find out about the content of the magazine and to then move on particular pages if needed. The equal combination of both text and imagery, is again relevant to the theme and genre of the magazine as well as suitable for its target audience just like for the cover of the magazine. The choice of images of the different artists and bands included highlights the sort of music/genre that the magazine is based on and includes which straight away tells the readers a lot about the magazine. Similar to the front cover, the contents page also has font written in various different fonts and colours to separate the important information from the other text to encourage it to stand out and become more eye catching.
Double Page Spread
For the double page spread from Q magazine I have selected a page which included an interview with a music band called 'The Stones'. The interview begins with a large 'W' which has been sectioned in a red box similar to how the masthead of the magazine has been created, for the first word 'who' starting off the interview. This allows the inside of the magazine to allow a link to the title of the magazine and has been repeated several times throughout the magazine. What stands out the most on this page is the large image of the band 'The Stones' at one of their concerts which takes up most of the double page. The image has been annotated with a small paragraph in the left hand corner of the image to tell the readers who is in the image and what the image is of. In a larger font there is also a short snappy sentence which catches the readers eye due to the size of the font encouraging the readers to listen to 'The Stones' music. The text which tells the readers more about the band, their concerts and music for those who may be interested to read on, has been placed around the main image allowing the readers to refer back to the image when needed. Smaller inserts of images have been placed on the right hand side of the double page which have been placed there to back up some of the text with imagery, allowing the readers to imagine more. Due to the fact that 'The Stones' are a big and well known band, popular with the target audience of 'Q Magazine' it is one of the first double pages inside the magazine which suggests that this interview is more popular and interesting as some of the other double pages in the magazine. In the top hand corner of the double page is another red box which says 'Q NOW' which has also been repeated on several pages throughout the magazine. In the bottom right hand corner is a small section which has been divided from the rest of the text telling the readers some of 'The Stones' fans responses to one of their concerts, telling the readers of the magazine other peoples opinions on the band encouraging the readers to want to hear them. By having a photograph of Neil Fox a Radio DJ at the concert holding up a t-shirt supporting the band could also help to encourage readers to read into the band. Finally at the bottom of the page includes the month issue, page number and the well known red 'Q' which is repeated on every single page allowing the readers to easily navigate around the magazine following the information on the contents page. I believe that this double page spread is very eye catching when flicking through the magazine which has encouraged me to analysis it due to its details of colour, large eye catching fonts and the large image which encourages the reader to stop and have a look.
NME Magazine
NME January 2013 issue
Created and published weekly
£2.40
www.nme.com
NME magazine was founded in March 1952, and has been a well known and popular music magazine ever since. It was first created as a music newspaper and was then later transferred into a music magazine in 1998 however kept its newspaper layout design. During the 70's the magazine was associated with gonzo journalism but then was later closely targeted on Punk Rock. The target audience for the magazine is teenagers and young adults which is clearly shown by the choice of genre and artists the magazine holds. The music included in the magazine is very modern also encouraging new generations to be interested into the magazine.
Created and published weekly
£2.40
www.nme.com
NME magazine was founded in March 1952, and has been a well known and popular music magazine ever since. It was first created as a music newspaper and was then later transferred into a music magazine in 1998 however kept its newspaper layout design. During the 70's the magazine was associated with gonzo journalism but then was later closely targeted on Punk Rock. The target audience for the magazine is teenagers and young adults which is clearly shown by the choice of genre and artists the magazine holds. The music included in the magazine is very modern also encouraging new generations to be interested into the magazine.
Front Cover
The masthead of the magazine has been written boldly in capital letters 'NME' in a bright red colour which stands out well from the other bland colours chosen for the cover of the magazine. I believe that this is what stands out from the magazine the most, a long with the large image of the band 'The Foals' who are taking up a large majority of the cover. The photograph on the cover has been taken originally by a photographer personally for the magazine making the image its own, exclusive to the magazine and it's readers. The band featured on the cover are all expressing straight facial expressions suggesting that they're serious about their music creating a hard and rigged look which is extremely suitable and relevant for this genre of music. One of the members of the band is shown holding a pile of bones to emphasis their hard and rock image. The text inserted to the side of the image reads "To make this record, things had to be killed..." which has been written showing the relevance of the image and the text and to again highlight the bands fierceness. Also included are inserts of smaller images of other current bands such as 'YEAH YEAH YEAH' and 'The Strokes' who also fits in well with the genre of this magazine. To help emphasis the theme and genre of punk rock, other popular and well known names such as; 'Mick Jagger', 'Thom Yorke', 'Wild Beasts', 'Babyshambles', 'Primal Scream' and 'Hurts', have been placed on the cover to highlight the fact that the magazine is current and following all the latest trends and gossip. The big names have all been highlighted in yellow leaving the other font on the cover in a white, allowing the names to stand out from the rest of the magazine. All of the text on the cover has been written in a clear and readable font, with a suitable size, allowing the text to be clearly read. The barcode for the magazine is left clear to see in the right hand bottom corner of the magazine, with the price for the magazine (£2.40) repeated twice, one above the barcode and one underneath the masthead, notifying both the retailers and customers of the price.
Contents Page
For the contents page for NME magazine, it carries on following the newspaper layout which is then followed on throughout the magazine. The contents page is spread across two single pages instead of one double spread due to having a large advertisement on the page reverse from the front cover. The advert has nothing to do with music however links to the magazine as it being a shampoo targeted at both female and males even though their is a footballer in the advertisement, used on an everyday basis. The contents page has 'INSIDE THIS WEEK' as its title which has been typed in a large and clear font, standing out from the page whilst still being able to clearly read. The title suggests that it is updating it's readers of all the latest information and gossip of the week. The contents page also includes small inserts of images which are snippets of the images shown inside the magazine. The images are allocated with a number directing the readers to the page of the article allowing them to skip to a certain page if they wish. The numbers are written in a large bright red font highlighting the number of the page, encouraging it to stand out from the rest of the page's background and content. The contents page has been slip up into different sections, each section holding a relevant image, a page number and a short piece of text to annotate the image and the content of the page. This allows the page to be easily read and clear to navigate around due to the highlighted divisions. Also included on the contents page, in the bottom hand right corner of the second page, holds a small but eye catching advertisement encouraging readers to subscribe to the magazine at a discounted price of 42% off each magazine. Even though the advertisement is small, it still clearly stands out form the white background of the magazine due to it has been highlighted in a bright red box. It has also been located in this corner as this is where the reader all go to turn the page encouraging them to read into this corner.
Double Page Spread
For my double page spread for NME Magazine I have chosen to analysis the first double page spread which is presented in the magazine. I have also chosen to do this double page spread as it links well to the front cover of the magazine as the image on this page is also featured on the front cover making the readers aware of what the magazine involves. 'YEAH YEAH YEAH' is the band featured on this page, telling the readers and making them aware of their new album release with the title 'BACK BACK BACK' suggesting that their back into the business of producing new music. This is shown to be one of the main interviews in the magazine due to the fact it has been highlighted on the front cover and contents page. The title of the page is very catchy and stands out from the page due to it's large bold font. The page is mostly taken up by the image of the band with a small amount of text sectioned around it. The image stands out from the page, making it eye catching due to its bright and bold colours used within it. The image features the members of the band, putting a picture with the text allowing the readers to know what the text is on. The layout for this page is very simple however suits well with the the rest of the magazine's mature layout, fitting well with the magazine's target audience. The colour scheme is also very plain, with a white background with snippets of important text highlighted in a light blue box ensuring that it stands out from the rest. At the top of the magazine, in the right hand corner, is the text 'NME magazine' written ensuring that the pages of the magazine all links well together and is obvious that it is part of the same magazine.