Front cover analysis - Q

Q magazine targets a wide range of audience with a variety of different genres.
The colour scheme on this cover is sophisticated using red grey black and white. The title of the magazine always has a red square background with a white ‘Q’ on top, which makes the title stand out. The other main pieces of texts on the cover, such as the large headline and the main features in the magazine are also written in red. This makes them stand out as they are most important, especially since the background and image is dark.
The main image is of Madonna, which suggests the audience for this magazine is very varied and targeted for late teens to early thirties. She is wearing all black which camouflages with the black background. Her bright blonde hair and pale face then stands out more which is what attracts the audience to the magazine cover. The eye contact she is giving in the image, really engages the audience as she is looking straight at them. The expression on her face also suggests quite a sexual appeal, so would not only attract her female fans but males too. The image covers the title of the magazine to show that is the most important part of the cover.
Contrasting Madonna are the other artists featured in the magazine including ‘Rolling Stones’ and ‘Artic Monkeys’, which shows all the different genres this magazine involves.
All of the fonts used on this cover all seem to be similar, which gives the magazine a professional look. The size of the fonts all seem to be quite large. This is to grab the attention of the audience. The ‘Free inside’ is bolded to catch attention and to persuade the magazine to be bought.
The barcode and price is place on the right hand side of the magazine towards the top of the page.
Although the blended picture is effective, I think that my image will stand out more using a brighter colour scheme to the clothing and perhaps have a background. I will however use a similar font scheme, keep it simplistic yet effective.