2. This magazine cover features images of Lady GaGa, Jay- Z and Dave Grohl. The three artists on the cover are all dressed in the same colour, black. The colour black connotes that the artists are serious about their music. Most of the cover lines and flashes are placed in the left third. This follows the conventions of a music magazine. This represents the magazine as a conventional, mature and simple magazine. It also shows the target audience that it covers music in a matter of fact way. Overall, the image of Jay- Z represents him as a mature and cool musician. Most of the image of Jay-Z is placed in the middle segments of the rule of thirds. This represents Jay-Z has an important and established artist. The image of the artist, Lady GaGa, is placed behind the image of Jay-Z, however, it fits in the middle segments of the rule of thirds. This represents Lady GaGa as a central artist in the music industry. The image of Dave Grohl is placed on the right side of the rule of thirds. This suggests that Dave Grohl is mysterious, cool and enigmatic. The artist placed in the middle (Jay- Z) has his hands placed firmly in his pockets. Although the artist is serious about his music, having his hands placed in his pockets suggests that he is calm whilst making music. The body language of the artist on the left (Lady GaGa) also reveals a lot. Lady GaGa appears to be making a salute. Salutes are often used in sombre settings such as the military. Since salutes are used in sombre settings, Lady GaGa performing a salute suggests that she is serious about her music and that it is important to her. Her hand is also covering her eye. This makes her appear enigmatic. The left eye of the third artist (Dave Grohl) is not visible. This makes him appear enigmatic. The masthead is placed on the top left hand side of the magazine cover. Since the masthead is placed on the top left, it will immediately catch the viewer’s eye because it is the first thing that they’d be drawn to. In publications of Q magazine, the masthead is always placed on the left hand corner, this gives that magazine a house style and it makes the magazine easily identifiable with the target audience. The masthead is also very simple. This suggests that the magazine’s institution prefer to present music in a mature and advanced way. The main typeface used is a sans serif typeface. This is a typeface without minor details on the edges of each letter. Using a sans-serif typeface, presents Q magazine as a serious magazine that covers well known ‘grown up’ artists. The skyline of the magazine is written in a sans-serif font and the skyline also features a button. Placing a button on the skyline makes the cover look more trendy and eye-catching.
