The document analyzes the cover of a magazine featuring the band Mumford and Sons. The cover photo shows the band members in a studio with a worn black background, emphasizing their folk style. Their natural poses give the image depth. The magazine title is pushed to the back to make the photo the focal point. Above are white-boxed subtitles about interview topics in darker or lighter text. Red is used subtly throughout to highlight important parts without distraction. The price is small at the bottom, making the content the priority. Overall the cover presents a sophisticated, clean look for its mature audience.

1. Analysing
Magazine
Covers

2. The photograph used on the cover is of
the 4 members of Mumford and Sons, it
is shot in a studio with a very rustic,
worn away black background, because
Mumford and Sons is a folk rock/indie
folk band they have a slight edge to
them, and the use of a worn down/used
background it slightly emphasises their
bands individuality. Yet most of the band
members are looking and acknowledging
that the camera is there, their poses are
quite natural, they’re all doing different
poses from jumping to standing straight
looking away from the camera. The
different poses gives the image different
dimensions like the feet in the
foreground to the rest of the bodies
more in the background, this is
emphasised even more because the title
of the magazine (Q) is pushed more to
the background allowing the image to be
the main focal point to the viewer of the
magazine.
Above the headline there are 3 white
bordered subheadings ‘chatting with
Obama’ ‘Jamming with Dylan’
‘Cheating death…’ 2 of which have
black text and 1 with white. The darker
colour text stands out against the white
boxes. The use of white boxes helps
the viewer determine that these titles
link to the headline ‘Mumford & Sons’
because they use the same white
colour for the title headline and the
subtitles boxes.
The overall main colour scheme throughout
the cover is red; shown through the name of
the magazine Q, and is also used for sub
titles. Red is a very bold and bright colour
and stands out well against the darker
background, it helps highlight the more
important parts of the magazine but because
it’s used subtly it doesn’t distract the eye
from the main cover photo. Q is a music
magazine for a more mature target audience
and the colours used in the cover are mainly
black, white and a copper/gold. These
colours make the cover look very
sophisticated and the simplicity doesn't
make it look messy and cluttered. The use of
white boxes around some of the text
emphasises the maturity of the magazine as
it gives a clean cut look about it, successfully
presenting the magazine to a mature target
audience.
The price range is displayed quite small in
the bottom right hand corner next to the
bar code, this almost makes it the last thing
the viewer sees after all of the other
content. As Q magazine publishes once a
month, the price of £3.99 seems quite
reasonable. It allows the magazine to be
aimed at various target audiences, all of
whom have different disposable income,
broadening their market.
The white bar at the bottom of the page carries some subheadings of other aspects included in the magazine, it
reminds me of a banner you can hang but is located at the bottom of the page. It includes and eye-catching title ‘PLUS!’
in a bright red to direct the viewers eye to some of the other aspects included in the magazine. The rest of the text is
patterned in a black, gold, black, gold sequence, by doing this it helps define each individual act involved, highlighting
that they include more then one act.

3. At the top of the page there is a
row of subtitles of some of the
other aspects included within
the magazine , it is shown in a
bold, normal, bold pattern, this
helps the viewer define the
individual acts involved within
the magazine, also defines the
genre category which the
magazine is placed in.
The photograph used on the cover
includes an eye line match, the eyes
are looking directly at the viewer as
if he is intimidating the viewer and
with the informality of the quote
using ‘mate’ at the end, it’s like the
person in the picture is directing the
quote to the viewer. The extreme
close up used emphasises the stern
and intimidating expression the man
is wearing, and with the headline
covering parts of his face it directs
more attention to the eyes and the
scowl he’s portraying.
The overall look of this front cover is
very simplistic and clean cut. It
focuses on just one topic and
doesn’t include any subtitles or
headers which could clutter the
front cover, this could be because of
the extreme close up shot which
takes up nearly the full page. The
way the headline is arranged it’s
framing his eyes making them the
focal point throughout the whole
cover.
The main colours used in this magazine
cover for the text is red and white, but the
large image brings a lot of darker tones to
contrast against these bright/light colours,
they include black/navy from the jacket and
blacks/browns from the hair and eyebrows.
The very minimal colours involved in this
cover make the cover look sophisticated
and simple and allows the main headlines
to stand out and not look cluttered. The
title of the magazine (NME) is the only
piece of text in colour and is highlighted in
a bright red, this is NME’s trademark but
compared to the rest of the cover it is very
prominent and notifies the reader on what
they are reading. On the other hand it is
placed more in the top left hand corner
were as the main headline is more central,
so it stands out but doesn’t distract from
the headline.
The main headline is sectioned into 3
segments, altogether it reads “Midlife
crisis? My life’s a crisis all the time, mate”.
The first segment “Midlife crisis?” is shown
large across the forehead and across the
noise. It highlights the main question and
what is included within the interview, but
at the bottom of the page its finishes off
the quote from the article in a much
smaller font, addressing it as less important
but still relevant to the magazine.

4. At the very top of the cover it includes
3 details of the magazine. The first
detail is the issue number which is 164,
it shows that this is not the first
magazine this brand has released. It
also states what month and year the
magazine was released in so the fans of
the magazine can keep up with the
latest copy. The last detail at the top of
the cover is the price which is free, I
found it very hard to find a publisher
for this particular magazine and
because its free it indicates that this
magazine isn’t well known yet.
The magazine title/brand called ‘The Fly’
is shown quite large and in black text.
The title is very eye catching and
because the title is just above the heads
of the Arctic Monkeys it directs the
viewers eye from the title and straight to
the splash image.
The headline of the magazine cover is
simply the name of the band ‘Arctic
Monkeys’ it’s simple and straight to the
point showing that in this magazine it
includes content from the Arctic Monkeys.
It will also benefit the fans of the Arctic
Monkeys know that they have content
within this magazine.
The colour scheme on this cover is very minimal,
if you take away the colours in the clothing the
subject are wearing the only colours used is black
and a light grey. The light grey background
emphasises the black text making it stand out
more. The simplistic colour scheme doesn’t make
the cover look cluttered and messy, the text is
one colour and the background is another and
this directs the viewers eye straight to the
photograph in the centre of the cover. I prefer
the use of this light grey colour than white
because it adds more depth throughout the
cover and a modernistic tone.
The splash image is of the Arctic Monkeys and
because it is placed in the centre of the cover it is
the first thing the audience see’s. It is a high
angle shot looking down on the band, with a
broad and open stance and a direct eye line to
the camera it’s as if they are trying to intimidate
the viewer. The overall stance of the band is that
one member stood further in front than the rest,
even to an audience who isn’t familiar to the
Arctic Monkeys it shows that the one standing to
the front is probably the lead singer.
Overall there wasn’t much to talk about on this cover, because it is very simplistic and doesn’t
include much content like sub headings and anchorage. I do however like the simplistic layout
as it keeps the subject straight to the point and it looks very sharp and clean and not as
cluttered as the Q magazine cover.