Analysing Q magazine

Q magazine collage from Bethany Quigley

Front cover 

Q magazine was founded by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, the first magazine was published in October 1986 by EMAP media group – after much research I have found that Q magazine, along with other magazine titles, was passed from the EMAP media group to the Bauer media group. Q magazine, at the time of its first release, bought a high-standard of music and arts that many magazines didn’t have – this enabled Q magazine to rise to instant popularity. As of its first few releases; Q magazine was named ‘Cue’ as to emphasis the word ‘cue’ in the music industry. The name was changed to avoid confused with the popular sport; snooker, which also had connotations to the word ‘cue’.

Q magazine is published monthly at the price of £4.99 which is a very low price for the informational content provided for the readers.

The house style of Q magazine is instantly recognised as a house-hold name in the music and media industry – the white, red and black colour scheme identifies the magazine as Q magazine and so the reader are welcomed by the colour contrast. The use of the large capital Q is quick and short for the reader to recognise and so their attention is quickly brought elsewhere in the magazine.  The coverlines displayed on the front cover have been included in the house style of Q magazine – they show all colours of white, red and black which goes in contrast with the largely white and dark background.

One coverline is larger than the others showing that this coverline needs more attention from the audience that the others – a better storyline or an attracting article in which is more interesting. The use of the + symbol introducing the coverlines implies a sense of informality for the audience as it is not English words yet a slang sign for ‘also’ or ‘plus’.

The slogan which can be seen along the top of the masthead reads; ‘the world’s greatest music magazine’, helping the reader determine that indeed it is and so is confident in buying the magazine due to the statement/ fact that they produce the best articles surrounding the music and art industry. The use of this slogan gives the magazine a USP whereby the reader can only assume that this is a fact – they may have been awarded this title.

A big feature which is displayed on the front cover is the use of a quote from Dave Grohl, featured on the front cover. This quote has been pulled from an article within the magazine and shown on the front cover alongside the main image to tease the reader into what is being said in the article. This intrigues the reader and so they are more likely to buy the magazine.

The main image on the front cover of Q magazine has been incorporated into the background and foreground of the other features on the cover. In doing this, the image appears to be a part of the magazines house-style; however we know that it is only this month’s main feature. The main image features rock-cultures most known – the Foo Fighters. The positioning of the band mates is carefully placed to attract the reader to the most famous face of the band – Dave Grohl. The other band members are seen in the background of the high angle shot however the main focus is on Grohl who is showing a relaxed down-to-earth body language; welcoming the audience to read the magazine. concerning the mise en scene within this main image – all member of the Foo Fighters are wearing old-style, casual outfits which present them in a non-media way whereby they are not obsessed with the characteristics of other pop-stars such as Nicki Minaj or Lady Gaga; rather the laid back, music writer look. This helps the band create an image that only music and fans matter – relating back to Q magazine whereby the look to be the best ‘MUSIC’ magazine out there. To further help the reader feel welcomed – all band members are making eye contact with the camera and so there is an element of direct address promoting the reader to buy the magazine. The main image on this Q magazine takes up around 80% of the page and so the audience are directly forced to look at it.

Another image which has been included on the front cover is Prince – alongside a coverline of a featured article about him inside the magazine. This image is very small compared to the main image of the Foo Fighters – so therefore we, the audience, presume that his article is not as detailed as that of the Foo Fighters. However, the use of a skyline beside the image reading; ’20 page special’ helps gain more readers with the trusting hope that indeed the magazine features Prince in great detail. The skyline which has been used to promote this is not the usual skyline for a magazine – in fact the skyline only relates to one article and is displayed lower off the top of the page.

Contents page

There are a number of perfume advertisements that come before Q’s contents page - these adverts include; Chanel, Hugo Boss, Q Presents and a new film release, Black Sea. In doing this, Q magazine are enabling their brand deals to make a very good first impression on the readers.

The contents page continues with the house style of Q magazine – the white background makes the black font stand out to appeal to the audience more. The masthead on the contents page reads; ‘December 2014 Q contents’ in block capital letters – this presents the magazine in a formal way. The font used can be described as New Times Roman – the font is formal and readable for the audience which is the best concept for the text. The masthead is displayed within a black box which adds to the design of the contents page.

The layout of the articles which are included in the magazine is quite different from the usual layout of a contents page. The use of black lines separating each article aids the design of the page – the page is presented in a youthful, fun way which is appealing to the reader as musicians and music fans would be liberal in their thoughts and designs and so this page represents this well. Each article has a small blurb on what the article is about, what is included. The use of this blurb is surprising as usually a magazine would include a small piece of the article under the title of the article, however, Q magazine has decided to describe and introduce the musician featured in the magazine. By doing this, the audience can make the decision whether or not to read the article – whether it interests them or not.

The use of the coloured speech bubbles which contain the page numbers of each article adds different colours to the house style of Q magazine. Colours include; blue, red, grey, pink, yellow, orange, and teal. These colours make the page numbers more recognisable for the reader and so they are more attracted to reader the article blurbs. Surprisingly, the Foo Fighters, who featured on the main image on the front cover, do not have the biggest image/ attention on the contents page – instead more attention is given to an image of Noel Gallagher implying his article may interest more readers – may be due to what is happening at the moment in his life.

The font used on the contents page contrasts to the masthead on this page – most likely the font is New Times Roman which is very readable and plain. The use of this writing helps the reader glance over all article blurbs because the font is so easy to read and so they will be more inclined to read the rest of the magazine because the use of this font. Furthermore, the size of the font is small yet still large enough for comfortable reading. The use of sub-headings grab the reader’s attention to each article making sure no article is unseen by the audience. 

Double page spread

Q magazine has many double page spreads due to the length of the magazine – this double page spread is very interesting however; the contents of this page are youthful, fun and displays lots of images which help to invite the reader.  This double page spread is a promotion page as we are directed to a logo by bright colours including; red, white, black and purple. This logo is sponsored by Sony Xperia which implies to the audience that Q magazine work in close contact with the big music companies such as Sony and iTunes- this appeals to the audience more. In doing this, the reader is not only supporting Q magazine but Sony as well – we can assume they are partners.

In terms of the layout on these two pages each article has two images and a small blurb about an artist. Due to the length of the articles it shows us that Q magazine are only introducing the artists to the reader – they are not big stars or attractions to the audience so therefore these types of articles are not given in great detail. The overall layout of these pages is quite informal and laid-back – the reader is presented a fun yet orderly double page spread whereby the text and images are displayed in quite an abnormal fashion. Many of the images overlap each other and so provides this youthful feel to the pages – which aids to the narrative of the pages; new and younger generation of music.

The body text on these two pages is printed in New Times Roman which is easy for the reader to read – this helps create a laid back and easy read magazine. The use of bold red headings on each article piece helps to direct the reader to read the articles in order and ensuring the layout of the page is correct and formal. The background of these pages is white which helps the black font stand out – the background colour white continues the house style of Q magazine.

The main image is printed on the first page of the two; the purple neon lightening of the image helps to suggest an electric musical concert which does not comply with the front cover – which seems to imply a rock feel to the magazine. Purple, as a colour, combines the stability of blue and the energy of red – it symbolises ambition and creativity which helps to suggest to the read that indeed new artists are evolving and they have first glance at the future of music. This is confirmed by the masthead of the page, “The next generation”, in promoting this page as the ‘future’ of music the audience are instantly attracted to reading the articles on this double page spread as they will want to know who is the new upcoming artists – as music magazine readers we can assume they like the world of music and so will want to acknowledge new faces in the industry.