2. Language
In this front cover, direct mode of address is used with the main image
of the artist, Amy Winehouse. This draws the audience in and connects
them with the artist. Furthermore, the framing used in this front cover is
a medium close up, which is a common convention in magazines as it
uses up enough of the magazine front page without making it look
clustered or empty. As for the colour scheme, the main colours are red,
white and black. All of these colours when put together compliment
each other very well. They are also inspired from the main image as in
the image of Amy Winehouse, there are small hints of red and black.
The red colour used in the colour scheme is also inspired from the Q
masthead, this is very signature, being that in every issue of Q, the
masthead is red and white, in the same font, the same size, and in the
same position. This way people will be able to recognize the magazine
straight away. This red colour is very effective as it stands out amongst
the other simple colours, this accent colour is used in many of the
features to make the important aspects of them stand out. For
example: In the “Why we fell back in love with vinyl” feature, the “vinyl”
part of the sentence is red, meaning that it is being highlighted as the
subject matter of the article. This colour red itself also contains many
connotations including feelings of sensuality and lust, which is another
reason it stands out on the front page.
The headline of the magazine is in the largest text compared to the rest of the articles, this obviously shows that
it‟s the most important and the article that they want people to buy the magazine for, plus, it‟s the cover story so it
goes along with the main image. Other conventional features used in this front page include: a plug, a sell line,
cover lines and a tagline. The cover line “One year on Amy. New revelations about the voice of out time, and how
we lost her” is extremely powerful due to the fact that it is paying tribute to a deceased artist who was widely
respected for their music. The sell lines are all placed in areas of the cover where they are noticeable and it good
alignment but they still provide the main image with the space it needs to let it stand out.
3. Institution
Q magazine is published by Bauer Media group:
“Bauer Media Group is a multinational media
company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany
which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the
company was founded in 1875, it has been
privately owned and under management by the
Bauer family. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media
Groups magazine titles amounts to 38 million
magazines a week”
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauer_Media_Group
From the information quoted above, I can tell that Bauer Media Group is a large global
company as it operates In “15 countries worldwide” and the worldwide circulation of its
magazine titles amounts to “38 million magazine per week”.
4. Ideology
There are many values that this magazine expresses and
communicates to the reader, the first being the need and desire
for beauty that is expressed through the image of Amy
Winehouse. As she looks very desirable and attractive this may
influence the readers, mainly female, to look like her. They may
be inspired in some way to use this image as an idea of how
they want to appear. Another value that this magazine
expresses and communicates to the reader is the need for sex,
some of the male readership of Q may find Amy Winehouse to
be a sex symbol and her attractiveness and seductive
appearance on the cover suggests this. But on the other hand,
this statement could be questioned and contradicted due to the
fact that Winehouse is deceased and this issue is paying tribute
to her. This magazine is mainstream and not in the sense. In
terms of it‟s popularity, this magazine is mainstream because it
is the UK‟s most popular music magazine. But it‟s also not
mainstream because it is specifically a music magazine so it
won‟t appeal to everybody, only those interested in music.
The price and the content of the magazine also stop it from being mainstream as the content appeals more to the
older generation than the young. The price of the magazine is £3.50, which is considered expensive for a
magazine, this will not appeal to people of a lower social class which stops it from being too mainstream. The
magazine seems to set trends as the cover star, Amy Winehouse was known for being constantly setting trends
due to her unique style. As for the magazine itself, It sets trends due to the fact that it‟s the leading music
magazine in the country so it is bound to influence other music magazines in terms of content. From what I know,
Amy Winehouse was seen as rebellious, which could defy social norms. Though for a change, the terminology
and language used in this magazine doesn‟t defy social norms, because it has in other Q issues, this has probably
been omitted due to the fact that this issue is paying tribute to Amy Winehouse and it needs to be respectful.
5. Audience
The founders of Q Mark Ellen and David Hepworth felt
the older generation of music buyers were being
ignored, so instead of aiming at teenagers and young
people, the target audience for Q is music buyers of
over 25 years old, of both genders. The fact that the
target audience is slightly older means that the
magazine can afford to be a bit more expensive than if
it was aimed at young people as the majority of these
people have paid jobs. Also with an older audience the
magazine can also contain more information about old
„classic‟ albums and music from past decades as it
would suit the audience. Q features many genres of
music so it is suited to all music lovers. The magazine
has a mass audience as it is so popular, but could also
be referred to as having a niche audience, as it is
specifically aimed at only music fans.
Although it is stated that the target audience for Q magazine is the “older generation”,
recent readership reports have shown that more people aged 15-24 now read the
magazine. 38% ofthe readers for Q are aged 15-24 while 25+ is 53%, this shows that
the readership for Q is becoming more suited to the younger generations.
Source: http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
6. Representation
In this cover, the featured artist, Amy Winehouse, is
represented by the magazine as having a certain sex
appeal to the target audience due to her seductive
pose and sultry choice of hair and makeup. The dark
hue of Amy‟s hair represents her as having a
rebellious and carefree personality while the sultry
tone of her makeup and her eyes suggest she had
much more sensitive and deep emotions. The
magazine in some way also represents her as being
vulnerable due to the fact that she has a very
gormless look on her face, which in some way could
support the whole reason why she is on the cover, to
pay tribute to her. This choice of representation of
Amy will encourage people to read the magazine, as
her life story is widely known and appealed to a lot of people. The “new revelations” on
her death will make people buy the magazine as this is coveted information in the music
world.
7. Language
In this contents page, there is a variety
of images used, with all different types
a framing. There is a long shot, a
medium shot, a close up and a low
angle shot. All of these different types
of framing clearly show how it is
appropriate to have them in a contents
page, opposed to the magazine front
page where only a medium close up is
appropriate. As this is a very complex contents page, it is very difficult to analyse all of
the connotations of each image. Especially as it isn‟t exactly clear which is the main
image. But the image of Amy Winehouse clearly has connotations of remembrance, due
to the fact that the magazine is trying to pay tribute to her and her music after her death.
Q have a clear house style as a lot of features are similar and link back to the front page,
this makes the magazine consistent. One of these is the signature colour scheme as
they have clearly stuck to the colours of red, white and black. These colours compliment
the simple page design. And like the front page, they have used successful technique of
using the red colour as a colour to highlight important aspects of the page, in this case it
is the page numbers and some of the article names. Another way they have kept it
consistent is the use of the current front page in the “subscribe” feature of the contents
page, this keeps it up to date and contemporary to the audience.
8. Institution
Q magazine is published by Bauer
Media group:
“Bauer Media Group is a multinational
media company headquartered in
Hamburg, Germany which operates in
15 countries worldwide. Since the
company was founded in 1875, it has
been privately owned and under
management by the Bauer family. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Groups
magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauer_Media_Group
From the information quoted above, I can tell that Bauer Media Group is a large global
company as it operates In “15 countries worldwide” and the worldwide circulation of its
magazine titles amounts to “38 million magazine per week”.
9. Ideology
As a contents page, I don‟t feel that this
expresses and communicates any
values due to the fact that I don‟t know
the story that goes with the focus image.
Also, I know that the cover of the
magazine is always the most
exaggerated and expressive in terms of
values as the cover that is the primary
thing that often encourages someone to
buy the magazine. This magazine is
mainstream and not in the sense. In terms of it‟s popularity, this magazine is mainstream
because it is the UK‟s most popular music magazine. But it‟s also not mainstream
because it is specifically a music magazine so it won‟t appeal to everybody, only those
interested in music. The price and the content of the magazine also stop it from being
mainstream as the content appeals more to the older generation than the young. The
price of the magazine is £3.50, which is considered expensive for a magazine, this will
not appeal to people of a lower social class which stops it from being too mainstream. As
for the magazine itself, It sets trends due to the fact that it‟s the leading music magazine
in the country so it is bound to influence other music magazines in terms of content. One
of the artists featured in this page, Justin Bieber, is not seen as rebellious in anyway and
this page doesn‟t suggest any of this either due to the fact that all of the conventions that
defy social norms are featured on the front cover.
10. Audience
The founders of Q Mark Ellen and David
Hepworth felt the older generation of
music buyers were being ignored, so
instead of aiming at teenagers and young
people, the target audience for Q is music
buyers of over 25 years old, of both
genders. The fact that the target audience
is slightly older means that the magazine
can afford to be a bit more expensive than
if it was aimed at young people as the
majority of these people have paid jobs. Also with an older audience the magazine can
also contain more information about old „classic‟ albums and music from past decades
as it would suit the audience. Q features many genres of music so it is suited to all music
lovers. The magazine has a mass audience as it is so popular, but could also be referred
to as having a niche audience, as it is specifically aimed at only music fans.
Although it is stated that the target audience for Q magazine is the “older generation”,
recent readership reports have shown that more people aged 15-24 now read the
magazine. 38% ofthe readers for Q are aged 15-24 while 25+ is 53%, this shows that
the readership for Q is becoming more suited to the younger generations.
Source: http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
11. Representation
In this contents page, one of the featured
artist, Justin Bieber, is represented by
the magazine as a carefree “heart throb”.
This is shown by the simplistic design of
the image as it is not loud and as eye-
catching as images displayed on the
cover of the magazine. This is also
shown through the expression of Justin
Bieber as he seems very flirtatious and
playful. Like most images used in magazines, the eyes are the main focus of the image
as it is that feature on the face that shows the most emotion, the use of a close-up
image successfully emphasizes this, his body language shows this too. Unlike the Amy
Winehouse cover image, the magazine here represents Justin Bieber in a way that most
people are familiar with as he is not edited and made up into someone that he is not, in
other words this image does him justice unlike most magazine images. The magazine
also successfully represents his genre of music correctly, as his music is classed as
“Teen pop”, through his pose in this photo as the majority of his songs are appeal heavily
to teenage girls and are famous for being flirty and catchy. This represents him correctly
and realistically and shows that the magazine has purposely done this not to represent
him as something he is not.
12. Language
The main image
used in this double
page spread is a
medium close-up,
this is effective as it
shows a good
amount of the artist
without being in too
much detail, it also
conveys a very
simplistic design
which compliments
the layout on the
other page (right). The other image used, in a much smaller format, is a long shot, this shot
allows us to see the artist in action, which is key for a music magazine. As for the colour
scheme, I‟ve noticed that black is definitely the focal colour for the double page spread. I feel
this colour has been inspired from Amy Winehouse‟s jet black hair, this was a very distinctive
and striking feature of Amy‟s so using it as inspiration for the colour scheme is very effective.
The main image of Amy on the right page contains some key connoations, the main one
being her body language, this really represents and sums up Amy‟s “rebellious” and “care-
free” attitude which was argued to be the cause of her downfall which lead to her death.
These connotations definitely help the audience remember who she really was.
13. Institution
Q magazine is
published by Bauer
Media group:
“Bauer Media Group is
a multinational media
company
headquartered in
Hamburg, Germany
which operates in 15
countries worldwide.
Since the company
was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer
family. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Groups magazine titles amounts to 38
million magazines a week”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauer_Media_Group
From the information quoted above, I can tell that Bauer Media Group is a large global
company as it operates In “15 countries worldwide” and the worldwide circulation of its
magazine titles amounts to “38 million magazine per week”.
14. Ideology
As this double page
spread is incredibly
similar to the front
page of this issue of Q
in terms of ideology, I
will list below some of
the key points that this
double page spread
conveys to the reader
and the widespread
public who would read
this music magazine.
• Amy Winehouse‟s sex appeal through the use of her unique style and body language in the main
photograph on the right page
•The contradiction of the above suggestion due to the fact that this issue is paying tribute to Amy after her
death in 2010
•The fact that Amy‟s rebellious behaviour could defy social norms as she isn‟t a good role model
•Argument on how mainstream Q magazine is – it‟s expensive but still the most popular music magazine
in the UK
•The respectful, toned down language of this issue of Q due to the main subject matter and tribute to Amy
15. Audience
The founders of Q Mark Ellen
and David Hepworth felt the
older generation of music
buyers were being ignored,
so instead of aiming at
teenagers and young people,
the target audience for Q is
music buyers of over 25 years
old, of both genders. The fact
that the target audience is
slightly older means that the
magazine can afford to be a
bit more expensive than if it
was aimed at young people
as the majority of these
people have paid jobs.
and music from past decades as it would suit the audience. Q features many genres of music so it
is suited to all music lovers. The magazine has a mass audience as it is so popular, but could also
be referred to as having a niche audience, as it is specifically aimed at only music fans.
Although it is stated that the target audience for Q magazine is the “older generation”, recent readership
reports have shown that more people aged 15-24 now read the magazine. 38% ofthe readers for Q are
aged 15-24 while 25+ is 53%, this shows that the readership for Q is becoming more suited to the
younger generations.
Source: http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
16. Representation
In this cover, the
featured artist, Amy
Winehouse, is
represented by the
magazine as having a
certain sex appeal to
the target audience due
to her seductive pose
and sultry choice of hair
and makeup. The dark
hue of Amy‟s hair
represents her as
having a rebellious and
carefree personality while the sultry tone of her makeup and her eyes suggest she had
much more sensitive and deep emotions. The magazine in some way also represents her
as being vulnerable due to the fact that she has a very gormless look on her face, which
in some way could support the whole reason why she is in the magazine, to pay tribute to
her. This choice of representation of Amy will encourage people to read the magazine, as
her life story is widely known and appealed to a lot of people. The “new revelations” on
her death will make people buy the magazine as this is coveted information in the music
world.
