Analysis of Q magazine cover

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There is a close up of the main artist in which this magazine is based around, in this case its Jay Z. in this photo he is staring straight into the lense of the camera which is what I have seen on every cover I have analysed. This is because it gives an effect of when it is on the shelf in the shop as it seems like if you make any eye contact with it, the eyes will follow you everywhere in an attempt to grab your attention and get you to buy it, when taking my photo for the front cover I will also get the person to glare into the camera, they have also went with a grey/white background which I will go for too. The facial expressions in which Jay Z is pulling is making him look very serious and giving a mean look to the camera, I’m not sure yet whether I want the person to have a mean/serious expressions on his face like this one or have a relaxed face as I think they both have different types of effects. Also they have positioned the photo in the right hand side of the page, out of the four others I have analysed, this is the first one in which I have seen where the image has not been centralised, I like this style so I may choose to put mine on the right hand side as it looks unique and I like it.

This cover has a colour scheme involving four colours which are red, black, white and brown. In all of the magazines I have analysed they have either went with a colour scheme of using either three or four different colours, most often it is only three colours. When making my magazine I will try using both three and four colours to see which one is most attractive to the eye. Sometimes I think using four colours looks un-neat and un-professional but not in this case as they haven’t used the colour brown too much but they have spread it out across the page which makes it look like more has been used. Before analysing this magazine I was only planning on using three colours, not knowing what they are, but since analysing this magazine it has changed my perspective so I may use four colours but at this moment in time I’m not quite sure so I’ll make my mind up by trying different colours and amounts when creating my magazine cover and I’ll make my mind up then.

The layout of this magazine is different to most others, which is what i just touched on slightly in the first paragraph. It makes the cover look original and unique which is what will catch the audience’s eye. I do like how they have placed the image one side and then the text on the other. When designing my cover I try this design out and see if I like it.

This magazine has a banner at the top of it which my cover will also have, this one says “the 10 most exciting people in music”, usually with banners on a magazine they tend to brag about how good their magazine is which is probably hat my magazine will have but I like how they have not followed the crowd and again it makes the magazine more unique and original, although it looks like a general music banner when you get closer and read you’ll see what I mean.

Analysis of NME double page spread

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This double page spread is dominated by a mid-shot of the vaccines which takes up two thirds of the page and only allowing 2 columns of writing instead of the original three columns which most magazines tend to go for. In the shot they have got all the band to stare straight on into the camera. A lot of the time you only have the band/artist making eye contact with the audience is on the front cover to grab their attention, most of the time you have a chilled out image on the double page spread where the band are not looking at the camera as they have already managed to grab the audiences attention. This band looks like they want to look like they are from the 90’s so they have old clothing on and old school haircuts. Also the background colour looks like it has been stained with tea to emphasize that they don’t want to be resembled as a new band.

They have went for a grey background behind white text. Every magazine has done this, either going with a grey background or white with black text, this is because these two colours create the biggest contrast which makes it the easiest it will ever be without making the text huge. They have also went with streaks of blue throughout the page which catches the readers eye and doesn’t allow it to properly settle. They have went with the first letter of the first two paragraphs a lot bolder and bigger than the rest of the text but also making them blue to show the start of a new paragraph.

They have went with a serif text style for the title which most magazines do as it stands out off the page and looks better than if you had san serif text. San serif text style is used in most magazines for the actual text throughout the page as it looks neat and gives a joint up handwriting effect and is easy to read as it makes it look like the text is flowing. I will most likely do this as it gives a nice effect as I it is both eye catching and easy to read.

The layout of this magazine is pretty standard apart from the fact that they have used two thirds of the page for the image and only managed to fit in two columns of writing, I have not decided on the amount of columns I will be having and also how much of the page my image will be taking up. They have also went with a quote from a band member in the middle of the text, this is to catch the readers eye and also gives them a rest from reading all the small texted article. I will go with this idea as I like the fact that it catches your eye and you can read it before you start reading the article as it will give you an insight but you can then read it during the article to break up all the text and it gives you a so called rest from reading.

Analysis of NME double page spread

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This spread is based on ‘The Teenagers. The left hand side of the page is dominated by a high angle shot of the band lying on a bed. This is a great photo I think because it brings out one of the stereotypes of teenagers being lazy and lying round the house all day doing nothing. Another thing I like about this picture is the posters which are behind the band on the wall. This seems like a typical teenager’s room by having all the posters of half-naked/naked women on the walls. Also I noticed that the bed covers look like an old women’s house’s bedroom as they look out dated and old fashioned. This is probably because they have been kicked out their own houses for being lazy and not getting a job so they have had to go and live with their  grans and have just completely taken over because if their granny seen this they would be truly shocked at what they were seeing. I do like the way in which they have planned and set up this scene for the photo because I like the story it tells and the pure stereotype it portrays.

The colour scheme for the written is again a white background with black written. This is because it has the biggest contrast as they are two colours completely opposite to each other which make the written very clear and easy to read. The main stand out colour on this page is bright blue because it stands out from both the picture, black written and the white background, so this was a really go choice as it catches readers eyes as there are different amounts of it on each part of the page. When using the blue they have used it as a background to other written which makes that bit of text stand out because of its importance and also its need to be seen, so the blue helps do both of this. I am going to go with an idea like this about having a block of colour to background some important text as I like the effect it gives and how it makes the page look.

In the text on this magazine they have started it with a drop down letter which is bigger than every other letter involved in the paragraph. They have decided only to go with one of these letters when in some magazines they have two but it doesn’t really make any difference all it does is show the start of the text/paragraph. It looks like they have ony went with two different styles of font which keeps it looking neat, in my opinion I think anything more than three fonts on a page looks very un-neat. They have also went with a ‘San Serif’ text style for both the title and the main text. In a lot of cases I have found that the style of ‘San’ tends to be used for the title as it is big and bold and san serif is used for the text which makes up the paragraphs. Looking at this magazine I’m not sure whether to use both styles of text as this has shown me that san serif can look bold and stand out as well as san does.

Analysis of Q double page spread

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This double page spread is image dominated as the right hand side of the page only has an image of the artist (Cheryl Cole), that isn’t the only image on the spread as on the left had side there is an image which takes up about a quarter of the page. The main image has just a plain white background which is also the same background as the other page, whereas the other image has a background of a dark city with just lights on, on this photo she is tipping her hat towards the camera which creates a shadow over her eyes, even though they’re not visible you still think they are making eye contact when you look. This is a powerful image as the shadows follow you around the page making sure you focus on everything. I like this idea of having these two different styles of images as one is focusing on the camera and one isn’t. these images make the page seem more interesting and attractive on the eye as it doesn’t allow you to get bored of it. When making my double page spread I am yet to decide how many images I am going to have on it, looking at this one though I may go for having two images on as of the effect it has, I will not go for anything more than two though as it will be un-attractive to look at.

Again with a Q magazine they only have three colours on the page which are black, white and red. As with every other Q magazine I have seen they have went with the big red letter in the middle of the page, this is very eye catching and I think it looks good, but, at times it makes the text hard to read and makes you squint more than you already have to. Q is unique in the fact at how the only colour they have is the big letter in the middle of the page, as most other magazine have to have splashes of bright colours dotted around the page to keep the reader interested and attractive whereas Q  only have the coloured letter. Another thing which I have noticed when analysing Q magazines they always seem to go with a black and white image. When analysing the Lady Gaga spread I didn’t agree with having a black and white as nothing on that page seemed interesting. But in this one the whole image seems black n white but they have chosen to make her lipstick coloured which makes you focus towards her face which many people find attractive. When taking my photos I’m not sure at the minute whether or not I’m going to have a black and white image as I have mixed opinions on it.

They have chosen to go with the artists name as the title of this page which is very much like all of their spreads whereas other magazines tend to title the page with something else. Also they have went with san serif text style for the both the title and the main story whereas normally you have the title in serif style as it gives a more bold, standout effect and san serif usually just used for the main story as it makes the text look hand written, joined up and makes it flow more which makes it easier to read. I will probably go with what most magazines do and have a main title and not just the artists name and also make it in serif text style so it stands out more and again have san serif text for the article.

Analysis of Q double page spread

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This article is based on Lady Gaga. The colour scheme used is mainly practically all black and white with one big letter in red. I have found that in almost every magazine I analysed they have had a white background with black written, before I started looking at them I was expecting bright colours everywhere, e.g. background and all the text, but, through the process of looking at them and finding out the main colour schemes used I think it would be silly to have bright coloured written for all the text as it would be un-readable.  So going back to this double page spread I would expect to see some more colours because I think having everything black and white makes it seem as though the artist whom this page is on is old and not around in the music business anymore, when in fact lady gaga is in the peak of her career. When creating my magazine I will go for a white background with black written but I will have bright colours dotted around the page, which will grab the reader’s attention from the whole page.

This double page spread is dominated by one mid-close image up of Lady Gaga. This is the only image on the whole page itself and I kind of like it but don’t at the same time. The thing I like is the fact that as there only is one image it makes the reader focus on that image and the text only as there is nothing eye catching on the page. What I don’t like is I think it looks boring and in my opinion I would want to read this because there is nothing interesting on the page, if they had some images of her performing live and recording new songs it would appeal to me a lot more but this just seems boring in my opinion. I think you can guess that when I come to create my page like this I will go with more than one image purely because it makes things look interesting and is better to look at. Or even if I don’t go with more than image I will have some bright colours dotted around the screen to catch the readers eye.

In every magazine I have looked at they have had large drop down letters at the very start of the first paragraph and maybe one more later on or sometimes not. In this case though, they have decided to put one in half way through the text and another later on. I think this looks wrong and doesn’t fit in, in my opinion. i can only think they have put them there us because it is lady gaga this is about and she isn’t normal and likes to stand out and maybe they have added this little effect in to do so. Usually the title of a page in a magazine is in the style of ‘San’ which makes it bold and stands out a lot but this time they have decided to use the ‘San Serif’ style which is just used for the actual story in most cases. Again I think this makes the page look boring and doesn’t appeal to me. It seems strange because usually Lady gaga likes to stand out from a group and to have a ‘scrawny’ title it seems she can’t do this. I will go for to two different styles in my magazine. Also the font which they have used looks like the average Word font and again doesn’t stand out or look appealing.

Also, double page spreads which are about famous people tend to have a quote by them in the centre of the text, but this one does, again this makes it look boring. But, having said all of this and the above about her always wanting to stand out, by going the complete opposite to what you usually see in a magazine makes her stand out, but in a boring, bland way which not many people know Lady Gaga by.

Analysis of Q contents page

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Q has a double page spread for contents whereas most magazines only have one A4 side for it. This is because of how image based it is, it seems like it’s going to have a story on it as when you first look at it, it has one side dominated by a large image, in this case Cheryl Cole and has very little text which is what an actual double page spread is like. In all of the Q magazines I have looked at they have done this, I think it is so they make sure the reader know that this person/band is the main focus in this edition of the magazine. The way which the creators of this magazine have laid it out is very clever as they have used the double page to good effect in not just it allowing many images to be used but also they have alternated the page numbers from one side of one page to the other on the other side. This makes the reader scan across the page when looking for another page number to follow on from the left, so makes him see everything which will be inside and if they have not bought it already this should encourage them to do so.

As in the above I have talked about the images. This page will catch the readers eye because of all the colours the pictures bring, also the page is very attractive to look at. But, by having all these images on the page it doesn’t allow you to focus in on just one, you have to look at them all and it makes you want to read on into the full story of all of them. I really like the idea of having lost of images on the page without it looking un-neat and like they have all just been thrown on anywhere, but, unfortunately my contents will not be able to have the amount of images this one has in as I’m doing mine on A4 paper so it will look silly not having many words on the page when really that’s what contents pages are all about, slightly introducing you to  story and leaving it  at a sort of a cliff hanger so you want to read on and find out.

The colour scheme used on this page is red, white and black. A white background, with black written and two paragraphs in red. The red is mainly used for underlining the title of a story. This red catches your eye as it has a great contrast with the white background. This also doesn’t let your eyes settle on just one thing as there are lines of red all over the page. This is like the images in the fact there is so many of them they don’t let your eyes settle on just one thing. I like this idea so I may use it when creating my page as I like the fact of your eyes never been able to rest.

Analysis of NME contents page

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The style of this page is very different to the ones I have just annotated as this one is jam packed with information where the other ones have either had many images on or just nowhere near as much information as this one. On the other ones I have been saying how you can’t just look at one picture or story as the others all catch your eye, but, in this case there is so much information you don’t actually know where to start, this may seem like a silly comment but the fact at how small the written is, nothing really catches your eye as to where to start except from the only image in the centre of the page. This may seem like a bad idea in your head but looking at the style of this magazine it fits and looks cool. When it comes to making my contents I will have to think about the style /genre of my magazine and that will depend on what i want my contents to look like.

Again the colour scheme of this magazine is red, white and black. I think these seem to be frequently used colours because of how different they are in terms of contrast because you can have any of them colours for the background and you’ll be able to see the writing on top if you use one of the other colours. The background colour they have chosen to go with and it’s the one I may end up going with is white, but they have varied the colour of the text up on both sides as on the left side the text is red with black page numbers and on the right it’s the opposite. On the right hand side they have separated it up by having a block of black with white written to show different parts of the magazine and also to separate out the amount of text on that side of the paper. I think I may go for a three colour, colour scheme for my contents as I think this works the best but at the moment I’m not quite sure what colours I will use.

Throughout the page they have used ‘San’ text style which where the letters are all straight up and can be made very bold, so they have no fancy flicks on the end which is ‘San Serif’ most magazines tend to have the title in san and the rest of the text in san serif but not in this one, I think this is again representing the coolness of this magazine as they don’t want to have a text style in which the letters have curls on the end as that looks girly and I don’t think would appeal very much to the audience which this magazine is targeting.

Also on this page it has an advertisement for how you can subscribe to this magazine, usually in magazines you don’t see this on the contents it will just be a random page in the magazine which will catch you out. I will not be having an advert for subscription on my contents as I think I don’t think I will have enough space for that as well as the other information I will be putting on, if I was going for a double paged contents I would more than likely have it on there.