Analysis of Q magazine article

Although this article is not the kind of music genre I am aiming at I think it is a good representation of a different style of article, a simplistic approach with a bold outcome.

The article is a double page spread, with one whole side of the page dedicated to the close up image of the Rapper, Jay Z. The image itself is interesting as the lighting has meant one side of his face is illuminated by a red light and the other a softer light blue. This could be symbolism for his personality and can tell us that he has a darker side that is maybe shown through his rapping and the other side through him and his life away from song writing. With a section of the page cover by a quote from Jay Z and the section in which the Article is in. "RapRadar".

The other side of the page contains the article, laid out in two columns, with very small font. All these indicators, the large image, the small font and the amount of information tell the reader that this is an Exclusive article, and so should be high on the readers to read list. 

Finally the article also has a large J overlapping the text in red. This along gives the page a dominance to its neighbouring pages, the large red J draws the reader in and is the letter starting the article. which traditionally is larger than the others but contained within the the beginning of the article but this takes up a whole page.

I personally like this style of page, i think it looks unique, setting it aside from the others, sticking to the clean and crisp colour scheme of the magazine but stretching the fonts and colours to their limits. 

Analysis of Contents page NME

- Like any other contents page it has the magazines masthead which in this case is that of NME magazine.
- The page revolves around the main image which is of the band Arctic Monkeys and takes up a large amount of the page, suggesting to us that it is a main focus of this weeks issue and that it should interest readers.
- Underneath the main image is a section specifically about the band itself, again highlighting that it is a main article of the magazine and that readers should take the time to look at.
- Also surprisingly a section of the page is dedicated to advertisements of the magazine itself, reminding the reader of the value of the magazine only £1.49 an issue.
- Then down the right hand side is the contents, including 5 sections, News, Radar, Reviews, Live, and Features. with the relevant page numbers next to the texts.
- Finally a small section below talking about the Uks number 1 gig guide on page 59 in red to stand out.

The layout of the page follows a grid structure and so is easy to navigate around, The colour scheme to me seems quite bland and boring compared to other magazines which is not helped by the dark main image in the centre of the page. Maybe if they had changed the white background maybe to a more interesting colour the page would have had more of an impact.
Also I would include more subsidiary images, of popular bands with page numbers so that people can easily see bands that they like find the page number and read on instead of hoping it is in the contents margin or resorting to flicking through to try and find them.

Audience Research - Image Board

Thought I would create a quick image board to show the target audience I am aiming for, it includes images of bands, and a few interests that would mostly be associated with my target audience.

Audience research of Q Magazine Statistics

As part of my audience research I have decided to focus on a magazine brand that I think will closely relate to my future music magazine.  Q Magazines Audience gender ratio.

31.7% Female to 68.3% Male.

15-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+
35.5%	26.3%	19.8%	13.9%	3.1%	1.4%

With an age range of 15 to 65 it covers a huge range of people. 

 The majority of people being aged 15 to 24 followed closely by 25 to 34 and then as age increases the less amount of people in that age range buy the magazine. Q has a very high brand influence of 73%, greater than GQ and Esquire.

 Meaning that Q influences the people that have strongest influence in their social groups – a real multiplier effect for advertisers to cash in on. Q has no less than 10 brand extensions for advertisers to engage with q magazines many audiences.



Analysis of NME magazine front cover

This issue of "NME" shows a definite difference in colour scheme to other magazines like "Q" and "Kerrang". where as they tend to stick to around 3, this stretches it to 5, using Blue, Black, Yellow, White and Red. But these colours are used to split the page up in to different sections, the blue and white tending to be the pull quotes and subsidiary articles, while the Yellow is the Splash and the header bar, and then the Masthead of NME being the only text with red white and black used together, setting it apart from the other texts.

The Main Image is of the band, the Wombats who in the picture are set in different poses to help express their personalities to the readers, it gives of a playful attitude and very non serious. The band don't take themselves seriously and have playful and energetic personalities, which reflects onto their music.

The Header Bar contains information on the upcoming Glastonbury Festival, and acts that will be showcased at the event, including Kings Of Leon. Being quite big news for the music scene, the information is encased in black and yellow which draws the eyes every well.

Subsidiary images include that of Blur and The Cribs, both shown on the left hand side of the page as the cover again like many follows the grid format surrounding the main image.

The Masthead for the bran of magazine is "NME" and like that of "Q magazine" is places in the top left hand corner of the cover just under the header bar. And to set it aside from the other text it is shown in Red, making it instantly stand out and is one of the first things that we see. Telling the reader immediately the make of the magazine and so what to expect in the content.

Analysis of Q magazine article MCR

This article focuses on the well known rock band My Chemical Romance, starting at the top of the page we see the title of this section of the magazine, "QNOW" which would suggest is articles covering the most recent and biggest events in the music world. This sets the colour scheme for the page with the white and red dominating the page.

The next down is the main and only image of the page of the band in question in their costumes for the video of their new song "Na Na Na" from the new album. The picture takes up more than half the page but makes the page look more appealing as there is not an overload of information. And over the top of the image is the title of the article in red and white "In the studio, My Chemical Romance". Suggested by the image the article focuses on the new album and how it was created, also mentioning recent losses in the band like their drummer.

The article itself is set in a column form usually found in newspapers, with a black on white layout, and at the bottom it even includes some band to band member banter, "Some of the guys look like they sleep with men for money"- Gerard Way. Which is separated from the article with a red line, also see in the Q magazine contents pages.

Analysis of double page contents Q magazine

This contents page unlike others has decided to be put over two pages, this gives them much more room and so they can make their text and images bigger to have more of an impact on the reader. The page is structured with the information on the left and right of the page spread with relating images of bands and other contents in the middle sections of the page. Unlike Magazines like Kerrang, Q magazine as we can see offers a much wider variety of artists which gives the magazine a selling edge as they have a much wider audience to the punk rock metal pages of Kerrang.

The grid formation is again apparent and gives structure to the page allowing easy reading and navigation through the images and texts. The information on either side of the two pages is split up by Red horizontal lines, this breaks up the text and allows the reader the focus on one pull line, Which include Artists such as the Sugarbabes, Gorillaz, and Mika.

 The images on the page include that of the Gorillaz, a cartoon version of one of the band members that usually is shown in their strange but meaningful music videos like that to one of their songs "Melancholy Hill" This image dominates the page, with its size and shear strangeness, it shows a character with the barrel of a gun pointing out of his mouth with rounds coming form his ears. On the second page we see much smaller images of  other artists or pages of interest with the page numbers in the corner. The double page contents follows the usual colour scheme, with black, white and red

Analysis of Q magazine front cover

The Splash for the cover is quite simply "Muse" the name of the band well known British band which this edition of Q magazine has chosen to be on their front cover. The colour of the font is white to make it stand out against the darker faded grey background of the cover and the dark image of the band member. The font is bold and in size is the second largest on the page, making it one of the first things the reader notices.

The Masthead "Q" follows the usual set out of the magazine with it being in the top left hand corner. But in this issue they have decided to link the masthead with the main image. The masthead is broken up and smashed linking to the aggression of the image which is of the band member hitting the masthead with his guitar which tells the reader of his anger or rebellious side. 

The main image is of a band member of Muse, he is stood holding a guitar by the neck as if he had just swang it, realting to the masthead being smashed. He is stood in quite and agressive stance and this is expressed further through his facial apperance. This can be seen as that he as an artist is doing well and is at the top of his game as a musician, therefore he can afford to be reckless.

The subsidary Articles are located to the left and the right of the page with articles such as "200 things you didnt know about the beatles" and "On tour with coldplay".  Due to the dark background the font color is dominantly white and red to stand out, also using bold texts to emphasise this.

The rest of the page is composed of the header bar , which is primeraly black with a white text stretching across it, simply reading. "The UK's biggest music magazine" and a "PLUS" section telling us what else is found in the magazine and the names to look out for. A nd finally the bar code, containing the issue date number and cost to the bottom left hand corner.

Analysis of Article- Kerrang

the Article focuses on the band member, Jared Leto of 30 Seconds To Mars, the layout of the page is in a grid formation with the text down the left hand side of the page with the right side of the page being dominated by the large main image of the page which is the Artist himself which takes up the majority of the page, and draws your eye. The article is split up into smaller sub categories such as "Guilty Pleasures" and "Jared Also Loves" giving us a small insight into the band members mind. The main aim of the page though is explained in the title of the Article. "The songs that changed my life" followed by the list of songs with quotes from Jared on them, how they effected him and why they mean so much to him. The colour scheme of the page sticks to three main colours, Blue, Black and white, white being the background of the page, and the text mainly staying with the blue and black.

Analysis of Kerrang contense page

The page is split into two main sections, with what seems to be the main articles at the top half of the page, showing their page numbers and images of the pages. This could be for many reasons, one of them being for a quick read, the reader can find the main articles quickly. Or articles that are recommended by the magazine to read, hence the star over the page numbers as seen next to the guitarist of  DragonForce.

The bottom half of the page contains all the relevant information of the contents page, with all the articles and the comments of the main editor of the magazine. The contents is split into different sections, such as Feedback, News and Album reviews, making it easier for the reader to find the most relevant information to tend to what they want.

To keep the page looking interesting they have placed images of posters and bands, also information on other means of buying the magazine, like getting it delivered to your address, and a phone number. Other information on the pages includes the magazine issue number and the date of issue.

Magazine analysis of front cover - Kerrang

-The Masthead is Situated Along the top of the Magazine, stretching along the whole of the width, The font is large compared with others on the page so that even though the main images cover the bottom of the text it still stands out. This is also because of the choice of colour being bright white with a red background, which is linked to the splash or main cover line.

-The Splash is located to the centre of the cover and is enclosed in a box coloured white to stand out with the darker background of the main images and the red, The text is made up of 3 different fonts. "THE OFFICIAL" being black and the smallest of the three, also relating the the words "the official" mirrors this and looks quite formal. "ROCK" being a main theme for the magazine is red with black highlights to make it stand out on the white background.

- The Main Image is composed of 5 different images, all Lead singers of separate bands that include Blink 182, Bring Me The Horizon, Green day, Pierce the vale and  Avenged sevenfold. All bands tending to the themes of the magazine that are rock, punk metal and so on. As the majority of their images are covered, leaving just their upper torso, the shots are medium close ups.

- The subsidiary images follow a grid structure around the splash and main image, showing other bands and artists, giving the reader an idea of what else the magazine has to offer, with artists like Foo Fighters and Enter Shikari. To break these images apart from their background they have been edited into a white circular boarder.

- The Pug, placed in the top right hand corner of the page draws the reader in with a competition, "WIN METALLICA SHOES" Again following the same black white and red colour scheme of the magazine.