Audience:
From looking straight at the front cover of this magazine
the target audience conveyed are teenagers, young adults and adults. It is also
aimed at people who prefer a variety of bands and variety of different music as
it features different contemporary bands that different people will enjoy. You
can tell that it is aimed at people who enjoy a variety of different music as
in the text presented on the front page it mentions different types of bands
including (the main story) of the Arctic Monkeys, Rizzle Kicks, Greenday and
many more. The target audience is also presented through the amount of text and
lack of many pictures on the front page. The lack of pictures with lots of text
reveals its target audience as adults are more likely to read more text on the
front cover of a magazine rather than children. The use of darker colours with
only the brand in the bright colours reveals an older target audience as they
don’t need to attract younger children by using dark colours. The dark colours
on the main image and background add mystery and a question of trust.
Main image:
The main image is of the band of Arctic Monkeys. This tells
the reader that the main article in the magazine will be based around the
Arctic Monkeys and the text representing their story is in capital, white
letters standing out from the background and revealing to the reader that they
feature in the main part of the magazine. The picture of the band are of them
looking into different directions and the one placed at the front looking
straight at the reader giving a direct mode of address. The other three members
of the band are looking at each other suggesting to the reader that they may be
questioning each others trust. The dark colours used in the background give a
sense of mystery about the band and the way that they look at each other makes
the reader wonder whether they trust each other with their facial expressions.
The effective use of image and mode of address of each person in the band makes
the reader want to continue to look through the magazine and they are intrigued
at why they are looking at each other in the way that they are. The use of
direct mode of address in the music artist placed at the front gives a sense
that he was placed there to question what the reader thinks about the band. He
is placed there to emphasise the mystery and question the reader on what they
think is going on. It is effective as it gets the reader drawn in immediately
and engages with the reader, specifically aiming his question at them.
Text:
The text presented on ‘Q’ magazine is mainly on the right
hand side of the magazine placed at the bottom of the page. It is presented in
bold, white writing for the main headlines and thinner, white writing for the
extra information underneath the main headline. Some pieces of text are
featured in silver writing. The text being in white writing sticks to the house
style of the text as all of the text is in white bold writing apart from the
smaller parts of writing which are in silver. The white writing stands out
against the black, mysterious background and is easily readable by the
audience. The white writing also links in with the house theme of the magazine
as the masthead is written in white writing. This connects the writing with the
magazine itself. The use of the bolder headlines above the usual text, seems to
be a norm of these types of magazines, and by ‘Q’ magazine using this feature
as well, it sticks to the norms of a music magazine.
Although the target
audience for the magazine is based for adults/ teenagers, the magazine doesn’t
have much text on the front page and it is very basic. For the norms of
magazines that have a target audience of adults/ teenagers, they seem to have
lots of writing with longer sentences. However on this magazine there is only
one sentence for information about the main headline, but the other headlines
only have short, few word sentences for their descriptions. For this magazine
they defy the norms.
Masthead:
The masthead for this magazine is very recognisable and
stands out clearly with the letter ‘Q’ in white, bold, capital writing inside
of a red box. It is placed in the top left hand corner of the page. On this
particular issue of the magazine, the masthead stands out completely as the
rest of the colour schemes on the magazine are very dull and are dark colours.
The use of the bright red colour with the white ‘Q’ makes the masthead stand
out immediately to anyone looking at the magazine and is easily recognisable to
others around.
I feel that the
masthead of ‘Q’ magazine is very effective as it stands out immediately
attracting readers and the designer has been very clever in making a brand at
the same time as the masthead. This is why it is so recognisable because the
masthead has created a brand in itself pushing it out to the audience and
attracting their eyes immediately. It sort of defies convention and goes
against the norms as it is placed in the top left hand corner whereas most
mastheads ban across the top of the magazine and fill the width. I think that
being a shorter word this is harder to do, but it is effective as it creates
originality for the magazine but still attracts readers as it is easily visible.
Strapline:
Sticking to the norms of a typical music magazine, ‘Q’
magazine also has a distinctive strapline placed above the mast head. It is
filled with a bright blue colour and the writing included inside the strapline
is written in black and white writing. The strapline advertises another
magazine that is selling at the moment. The effectiveness of the strapline is
that it links with the target audience in loving a variety of different bands
and groups as the strapline advertises another group which sell a magazine
about them. Next to the strapline is a smaller picture presenting what the
magazine looks like that they are advertising. This is effective as readers
will know what they are buying, rather than just being told the title of the
magazine and them going to have to find the magazine themselves. This ensures
that readers will buy the correct magazine. The small circles flasher placed at
the beginning of the strapline is also effective as it is filled with the
colour silver. This sticks to the house style as some of the writing on the
page is in silver writing. It stands out to the reader as it is in the top left
hand corner and draws them in telling them about the ’17-page special*’.
Barcode:
The barcode on this magazine is placed at the bottom of the
page in the right hand corner. It is very small and out of the way of the text,
main image and masthead on the page. Within the barcode there is the date of
publishing the magazine (November 2013) and also the price of the magazine
(being £3.99). In small print there is also a website that you can visit for
the magazine itself. I feel that the website should be in bigger writing
somewhere else on the magazine front page as this is useful information for
regular readers of ‘Q’ magazine.
Branding:
The use of branding on this magazine is through the
masthead. The mashead itself creates a brand recognisable for readers and
stands out well. The use of the red square as a background to the white, bold
lettered ‘Q’ is effective as the red is a bright colour which catches the eye.
The colour red also adds dramatic effect. Like the Coca Cola brand, the ‘Q’
magazine has the same sort of aspects with the red background and white
writing. As this is so effective, recognisable and famous in the industry of
branding, ‘Q’ magazine may have chosen their colours due to research about Coca
Cola and how well known they are. They would want a brand that stands out and
appeals to everyone and as soon as someone notices it, they will immediately
know which magazine it comes from. This could be why they chose these colours
as if remembering the Coca Cola brand is easy then so will the ‘Q’ magazine.
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