Textual analysis of Q magazine

Textual analysis of Q magazine

I am going to be analysing the front cover of Q magazine. I will look at the layout, the colour, the target audience, the main image, cover lines and overall style.

Firstly, I would like to talk about the layout of the front cover. For example the way the Masthead, cover lines and tag lines are all part of the pages layout. As well as the main image these can be used to try and gain the attention of the target audience, which is a key factor when competing for sales against other leading magazines.

The colours are and on the cover are simple but bold, so they are all contrasting making them stand out. However, they all complement each other and work well together making the magazine stand out in front of other magazines of the same genre and target audience.

The target audience for this magazine can be determined by the layout, cover lines and the model. For example, although the colours are bold they are not that bright meaning they are probably intended for an older audience who will appreciate the slightly duller colours. The cover lines talk about stories and artists that will appeal to a range of audiences from teenagers to middle aged men and women. The genre of the music is ‘Alternative Rock’ which is popular across most ages. The ex-band member of Oasis is the model for the main image of the cover; he would be appealing to an older more mature audience. Over all I would say that the target audience of this magazine is older men and women, however I do feel younger people may be interested in the stories as well.

The model is wearing a brown leather jacket and is holding his fist towards the camera, he has a big golden ring, and this could be to show off his wealth or to show his anger or discontent to something. This is backed up by the model quite which is, ‘I don’t like Liam’, the models face is showing a passive aggressive gesture. The leather jacket represents a ‘bad man’ or biker image once again giving the audience a little bit of background information about the model and what the main story could be about. The style of the models outfit is fitting to the stereotyped image that goes with this genre of music.

The cover lines are spread out around the outside of the page, this makes them easy to break down and read. However only three of the cover lines including the main cover line actually tell you what the story inside is about, the others are just the names of artists and bands. This is important because this means we do not learn a lot about what is actually inside the magazine itself. However, this magazine is targeted at fans of this genre of music as well as the particular bands mentioned so the sorts of people that regularly buy this magazine will not be put off by the limit knowledge the cover gives us of the rest of the magazine.

The text itself is quite simple and does not use many large words, this means a few things firstly it is easy for people of all ages and intellectual standings to read and understand. Secondly the cover lines are short and snappy which will keep the buyers attention for longer meaning they will be more likely to be interested in purchasing this magazine.

I would say the overall style of the cover is effective as the colours, image and text are all relevant to the target audience and all work well to present the style and genre of the magazine.