Q Analysis

For my first front cover analysis I chose to do a fairly recent issue of Q. I chose this issue because I really like the way they have styled the cover. Q’s name is always in white with the red square background which means you always know that this is a Q magazine from its branding. For the rest of the writing around the cover, they have also used red to highlight the main bands appearing inside the magazine or inside the speech bubbles. They have also put Robbie in a red jumper to tie him into the colour branding of the magazine. The rest of the colour scheme is quite plain, with colours like black and grey to make sure that the red really stands out. A typical convention of a magazine is to have plugs down the side of the cover to give you a preview of what’s inside the magazine, for example “Inside Arcade Fire’s mind-bending cabaret” They give you a small chunk about the story inside but have highlighted Arcade fire in the bigger sized font as well as making it red.  They’ve also used a banner at the top of the magazine announcing the Q awards, putting in at the very top of the magazine is a great way to make sure it catches the eye of their audience. The main thing I like about this issue of Q is the way they’ve styled the main title and the some text from the story to make it look almost like a cartoon, using the speech bubbles and boxes over the main stars name to make it look comic like. His expression also fits into this, it’s quite shocked or surprised, maybe because he’s telling all his secrets or something exciting’s inside, either way it makes you what to find out more about it. These ideas are quite different from other issues of Q its more relaxed as well as still looking professional. From this magazine I think I might consider using the banner on the top of my magazine, I think it makes it look a bit more professional as well as giving you a bit more information about the magazine. Since I also like the idea of the comic theme I think I might try and use something similar on my cover to give it a bit more of an edge, but to still try and make sure it looks professional. I also like the idea of having a main colour around the title of the magazine and then using that colour for other important parts of the magazine cover, so once I've created my magazine title and start designing a logo I will keep this in mind. I will also keep in mind the idea of making the stars names bigger and bolder than the other text on the page to make sure they catch the eye of my audience.