Q front page analysis

I am starting to get an understanding of the sort of codes and conventions which are used in a typical music magazine. Here is Q a popular music magazine with the age range varying from teens to middle aged this magazine has to include certain conventions so that they appeal to all audiences. The ideology of the magazine is to focus on gigs, upcoming artists and interviews from the famous stars which is where I will get a lot of inspiration from when making my finished magazine.

The magazine title is very captivating as it takes up a lot of the page with the masthead being white and a red box surrounding it, it is emphasised a lot on the page. This is done so that the audience can automatically know what magazine it is, the background colour of the magazine is plain so it highlights all of the headlines and the central image. The title is placed in a puff style so that it doesn't blend into the background. The central image is of the famous band Coldplay, all of the band members are making eye contact to entice the reader as it makes it more captive. The picture fills the majority of the page which shows that the main story in the magazine is going to be based on Coldplay.

There are also two smaller images which are spaced around the page each picture has a small headline next to it to give you the idea on what the story is going to be when included in the magazine. The other images included are not linked with the central image so it gives you the idea on the different stories which are included inside.

The colour scheme has mainly black and white writing although the masthead highlights the word ‘Coldplay’ in a yellow font this is to entice reader with the contrast of the colours so that it is easy to see if the magazine is on a shelf. The way Q has used the font is that any band which is mentioned they put in a larger font so that it headlines what artists are going to be spoken about in that issue. The different fonts used on the front cover makes the magazine look interesting, instead of it all in one font and looking boring.

The second title says 'the essential music guide' this has been cleverly placed as most people start looking at a magazine front cover from the top of the page. Seeing that the magazine is an essential music guide means it would intrigue a first time reader if they wanted to find a new interesting music magazine. This has been highlighted by a red box with white writing like the title, which emphasises that it's very important.