Evaluation of Front Cover of Q Magazine Lily Allen Edition

Magazine Front Cover Analysis 3

This is a music magazine front cover with the band Coldplay as the main image. They overlap the masthead, showing that the magazine is well known enough that it is not necessary to see the entire masthead. It is similar colour to both banners which equals out the layout of the cover. All of the font is serif, giving the page a more modern look. The yellow of the headline stands out from the rest of the page, highlighting what the name of the band is that the main story is about.
All members of the band are looking directly at the camera, connecting more to the audience, making the cover stand out more. The main singer, Chris Martin, is at the front, showing his importance to the band.
The hairstyles are all varied, however the outfits are all darker coloured, and are all jackets. These outfits, along with the two black lines the main singer has on his hand, show the genre of the band is indie rock.

They take up most the page, with 3 cover stories, and a banner at the top and the bottom of the cover. There are no obvious freebies, and the colour scheme is limited to the colours of red, black, white and yellow, with the yellow being used to highlight words and the puff in the top left corner. These colours are quite modern, showing that the target audience will be younger adults and teenagers.
The use of the word 'exclusive' in the headline shows the reader that the  magazine has information they cannot get elsewhere, making the magazine more appealing to buy for the the audience. The headline goes to use the rule of three, 'fear, tantrums and nudity', which shows the magazine had a large, varied  and interesting amount of content. How This Has Influenced My Ideas and Creativity

• I like the way it overlaps the masthead and breaks convention. I think I will use this on my magazine.
• I also like the bright yellow used to highlight the headline.
• I don't like how the band is stood, it makes the person on the far right seem like an add-on, and not part of the band.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis 2

This is a music magazine front cover with the band Maroon 5 on it. They are the main image, and the fact they overlap the masthead shows that the magazine is so well known that the audience do not need to see the full masthead to understand which magazine it is. This breaks conventions as usually you see the entire masthead as the image is put underneath the masthead. It stands out from the rest of the page as it is one of the only red coloured objects on the cover, as well as the rest of the font being sans serif, whilst it is more old fashioned. The red of the masthead matches the red on the main singers’ top, giving the masthead a counter balance so it still matches with the rest of the cover, and which brings the eye down to the headline. This also highlights the importance of the person standing at the front to the audience, as he is the main singer Adam Levine. All the members of the band are looking directly, which connects more to the audience and makes them more likely to buy the magazine.
The hairstyles of the band also create symmetry, making the cover more aesthetically pleasing, with the two long hairstyles in the middle at the sides and the two shorter hairstyles at the back, further highlighting the main singer stood in the middle.
The outfits are all darker colours, with their expressions almost fierce, and with the main singer having tattoos on his arm, it is inferred to the reader that they are more of a rock band.

Due to them taking up most of the page, with only 4 cover stories on the page, it shows that Maroon 5 are the main topic of this issue of the magazine. There are freebies, and the colour scheme is quite simple yet sophisticated with the red and black of the masthead linking in with the main image, and then the black, white and gold of the rest of the text and underlining gives the magazine a more modern style. This makes younger people, especially older teens and young adults, the target audience this magazine is aimed at.
There are no pugs or puffs, which leaves the cover uncluttered, giving more attention to the main image and the headline/masthead.
The Iraq comment has semiotics in the way that it is biased, shown from Bush's friends are described as 'cronies' which infers the image of criminals. This point is backed up by saying they 'swindled billions' making it sound as if they were thieves.

How This Affects My Research?

• I really like the way the band overlap the masthead, and I think I will use this on my magazine.

First Look At Front Cover Analysis

Own Front Cover Analysis

Analysis of front cover from amyjacklin

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

I was quite happy with my magazine font cover as it had the main features of a magazine front cover and I liked the way it was arranged, especially the contents page. For the colours, I quite liked them as they stood out quite well due to how bright they were, however the red is quite abrasive, making the cover a bit overbearing. This detracts from the look of the cover, as well as the contents page as it had a large amount of red as well. I like the way the masthead it set with the first word having a different font size as it breaks it up slightly, making the cover look more edgy which would appeal to the target audience of college age students more. The puff is good as it helps sell the magazine by standing out to the audience, however with the large amounts of red and general shape of it, I believe it doesn't sit well on the page. If I was to do this again, I would definitely change the colour or at least the shade of red, to make it less harsh for the target audience.

College Magazine Contents Page

This is my college magazine contents cover. I like the way the pictures are set out, however the large amounts of harsh red.

College Magazine Front Cover

This is my magazine front cover. I like the colour scheme which makes the cover stand out. If I was to do this again and improve I would make some changes to the red colour as it is rather abrasive in large quantities.

College Magazine Draft

This is my college magazine so far.

Target Audience Research- Photographs on Flickr

Worst 3 Photos From the College Magazine Photoshoot

These are the worst three photos from the shoot. In the first one, Amy is turned too far to the side and is on the the wrong side so it would not fit to my design. The second photo is slightly blurry and she is not smiling enough, and in the third Amy is blinking and she is centre rather than at the right which would fit my design.

Best 3 Photos From the College Magazine Photoshoot

These are the best three photos from the shoot, I like the positioning and lighting the best, especially on the second picture. This will probably be used as my front cover photo. They also fit my design the most.

College Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page Designs

These are the designs for my front cover and contents for my college magazine. The main colour scheme for the two pages will be red, black, white and grey. The model will be wearing darker clothes to contrast against the white background, and will have no props as it is a medium close-up shot.

Codes and Conventions of Music Magazine Covers

Codes & conventions of music magazine front covers from amyjacklin

Q Magazine Front Cover Anaylsis

The target audience will be teenagers and young adults around the age of 16-21 as it has a large pull out about gigs and most of the people that attend gigs are older teenagers as they have the money and time to go to them. The colours are very stark, making it stand out to the audience, using the red of her hair against a pale face with the blue eye shadow creates large contrasts. Florence is the main subject of the cover, showing that the magazines main story will be about her.

Research Into 3 Media Institutions

The first media institution I have researched is Bauer Media. They have three music magazines, Mojo, Kerrang and Q, all of which have an accompanying website as well as Kerrang and Q having a radio station. Mojo is in the genre of classic rock. Kerrang has the genre of rock music. Q also has the genre of rock. Their target audience is the age group of 16-34 year olds.

The second media institution I have researched is Development Hell Ltd. They produce two main music magazines, Mix Mag and Word, each both have an accompanying website. Mix Mag is in the genre of club / dance music as well as pop music. Word is in the genre of rock music. Their target audience is the age group 17-35 year olds.

The third media institution I have researched is IPC. They produce one music magazine, NME, which has an accompanying website. NME has the genre of rock, alternative and indie music. Their target audience is the age group 17-30 year olds.