Magazine Analysis - The Cover

 The title: why is it called that? What does the title connote?

•  Q magazine was originally meant to be named 'cue', as in cueing a record, meaning it was ready to play. But the company thought that people may confuse it for a snooker magazine, thus the name was changed to Q. The also thought that the simplicity of the single letter 'Q' would differ from other music magazines at the time and make it stand out more

 The masthead/title logo - analyse it.

•  The actual title, or Masthead: 'Q' is recognizable as it is just the single letter and the size stands out from the rest of the front page. It also differs from other music magazines as it is a unique name and no other magazines have a name anything like it. The name may also persuade readers to enquire as to the history and meaning of the name, as it is a unique and strange title for a magazine

 Is there a strapline? Analyse it.

•  The strapline for Q is 'Discover great music', which is the magazine telling us that there is great music that can be discovered by reading the magazine, thus subtly telling the potential customer that they should buy the magazine if they want to 'Discover great music'. The font used for this slogan is sans-serif, which gives the phrase a sense of understatement, however the phrase is actually a very meaningful one, therefore irony is presented here

 What is the main image?

•  The main image is a close-up camera angle of the artist 'Tinie Tempah', a well renowned rap artist whom many people will be a fan of, and they will be able to get an insight into what "music changed his life' as is the headline associated with the main picture. The angle is an eye-line match and is looking at the reader, thus giving the reader a sense of importance due to the artist's attention being focused on the reader. The picture could suggest Tinie Tempah's formality and sleekness due to him doing his top button up, this could also be representative of Tinie Tempah being suave and could be seen as him being an attractive idol from the detail of this picture

 What content is promoted by the cover lines?

•  The cover lines are promoting the 14 artists and Tinie Tempah as they are featured in the magazine. This is a good advertising scheme as potential customers can look at the artist as the main image and the ones featured, and if they like them, then they will be persuaded to buy the magazine, so as to find out about the '"THE MUSIC THAT CHANGED (the artist's) LIFE"'

 Explain the connotations of of typefaces (fonts), graphics, colours etc.

•  The typeface consists of 3 fonts on the cover: '"THE MUSIC THAT CHANGED MY LIFE"' (image bottom right), the list of 25 artists (image left) and 'Tinie Tempah' (image top right). Both 'Tinie Tempah' and the list of artists have very similar fonts, used to create a sense of formality that suits the artists in the list as well as Tinie Tempah. '"THE MUSIC THAT CHANGED MY LIFE"' has a much more formal serif font, perhaps taking the matter more seriously, for this is the music that made who the artists are today, and the magazine has felt it to be more appropriate if they address the subject with a more formal fashion as due to them being a music magazine, they need to have more importance surrounding music articles and features in their magazine. The colours (pink and light blue) presented with Tinie Tempah illustrate his sensitivity and chivalry, whilst his glasses give him a sense of mystery and a life separate from that shown in the media. The other colours included in the layout compliment those that Tinie Tempah is wearing: his pink and light blue shirt go with the background of '"THE MUSIC THAT CHANGED MY LIFE"' and '#01 of 25 covers' are also pink and light blue; this colour schertrerwdsrw aqn eme defines the house style which is coherent with the inside of the magazine

 What sort of language/language features/language devices can you identify? How does the cover "talk" to its reader?

•  The font for the words 'Tinie Tempah' are in informal text, and through their use of mode of address, a reader could relate to and feel like the magazine understands them. The magazine also makes use of the words: 'The music that changed my life', the background of which jumps out at the reader, indicating that the text inside the background is important. The reader could also relate to this text as they could compare the music that changed their lives to the music that changed the artists lives featured in the magazine

 Does the cover look similar to other magazines? If so why? What does this magazine offer which rivals don't?

•  The cover distinguishes itself from other music magazines as the layout differs strongly from other music magazines: it has a white background with bright colours and not much else is on the cover, whereas NME has a background made up of more darker colours, and a magazine like Kerrang has lots of things on the front cover. It also offers a 'collector's edition', which a potential customer could view as a special edition and may be better than other music magazines at the current time because of this 'edition'

 Is there anything else distinctive about the cover/format?

•  The words "The Music that changed my life" and "01# of 25 covers" have graphics that all jump out to the reader, making them highly noticeable, thus advertising to potential customers. It also has the words 'Tinie Tempah' written across the main image, informing the readers who the person on the front page is in case they do not know