This document compares and summarizes four British music magazines: NME, i-D, Q, and Mixmag. It provides details on the history, target audience, price, and content of each magazine. For NME, it notes that the magazine was originally a music newspaper that transitioned to a magazine format. For i-D, it highlights that the magazine focuses on street style and youth culture. It states that Q and Mixmag both include music reviews and cost £4.20 and £4.99 respectively. The document then provides more detailed profiles and summaries of Q magazine and i-D magazine.

1. Research

4. Comparing British music magazines
To begin with I am going to compare the four British magazines
NME, VIBE, i-D and Q. Firstly ‘New Musical Express’ (NME) is a
music journalism magazine published since 1952. During the
1970s it associated with gonzo journalism, then became closely
associated with punk rock. Originally NME started and a music
newspaper but gradually moved into a magazines format. The
content includes music news, reviews, videos, galleries, tickets
and blogs all for £2.10. Secondly there is i-D magazine. i-D was
founded by designer and former vogue art director Terry Jones
in 1980. The magazine has managed to keep its street style and
youth culture central over the years. i-D costs £4.00 to buy in
the UK, which is slightly above the average price. The magazine
has a varied review section which includes new releases of
music, concert and film reviews, it also includes radio and
television reviews. After that there is Q magazine which costs
£4.20 per copy and includes new music releases, film and
concert reviews as well as radio and television reviews. Lastly
there’s Mixmag magazine. Mixmag is a British electronic dance
and clubbing magazine. The magazine is published in London,
England. The magazine includes incite into dance events, music
reviews and club nights. Mixmag costs £4.99 per copy.

5. Q magazine
Q magazine was founded in 1986 by Mark Ellen and David
Hepworth. Originally the magazine was called ‘Cue’ but the
company decided to change it in case of people mistaking it
for a snooker magazine. Q is also known for their exclusive
interviews with popular artists. Each copy costs £4.20 and
includes new music releases, film and concert reviews as
well as radio and television reviews. The magazine is
extremely successful in Britain, it gives a wide insite to all
the latest old school and new bands to date. The magazine
has a close relationship with Glastonbury festival which
allows them to advertise to the perfect crowds with daily
printed copies.

6. Mission statement for Q
Q is the ultimate guide to modern music, distilling it
down to the good stuff. Well-respected by artists and
labels, the audience gets unrivalled access to music’s
biggest names. Employing the worlds best writers
and photographers, we deliver our features with the
depth and craft only a monthly mag can- taking time
to get to the core of a story and producing a
magazine you can truly luxuriate in. With our
website and media channels and our partnership
with Absolute radio, Q reaches over one million
music fans each month. Passionate but not
prescriptive we deliver something for the novices
and the experts in everything we do. We know our
stuff and we are eager to share it with anyone who
wants a friendly, informed hand to guide them to the
best records, the absorbing stories and fascinating
people.

7. Chris is 29 years old and lives in Leeds. Music is more
important to him then anything else in the whole
world. It’s the centre of his social life. It soundtracks all
the best moments in his life. Its his identity, his social
currency and his world. Chris lives for gigs, festivals
and those electrifying moments of togetherness that
only music can provide. He is the one who sorts out
gig tickets for his friends, turns them on to new bands
and sets up the big festival weekend. Chris works in a
professional job and finally has the money and time to
indulge his music habit to the full . He lives with a
partner (no kids, yet) who is similarly music mad. He is
“discovering quality” in all areas, from sound systems
to deluxe reissues to cars , travel and clothes. Chris
loves technology- he was the first with the iPod,
iPhone, iPad and now streaming music services. He
downloads music but still prefers to own CDs. And he
spends more on music than anything else; a big gig
every week or so, six albums a month plus a Spotify
subscription and countless on-the-go downloads.
Q reader profile

8. i-D magazine
i-D magazine is known for its innovative
photography and typography and as a training
ground for fresh talent.Photographers Wolfgang
Tillmans,Mari Testino, Terry RichardsonCrai
McDean,Nick Knight and Juergen Teller started
their careers at i-D, as did Dylan Jones and Caryn
Franklin.
The magazine pioneered the hybrid style of
documentary/fashion photography called The
Straight Up. At first, these were of punks and new
wave youth found on English streets and who were
simply asked to stand against any nearby blank
wall. The resulting pictures—the subjects facing the
camera and seen from "top to toe"—are a vivid
historical documentary photography archive, and
have established the posed "straight up" as a valid
style of documentary picture-making.
The magazine has a sound
cloud, twitter, Tumblr,
YouTube, Facebook and
online website. This would
appeal to a younger
audience who would be able
to access the magazine on
different forms of social
media.
The ‘i-D’ is to represent a
winking smiley face often used
by young people whilst texting.
The people on the front cover
either wink or find a way of
covering their right eye to
represent a smiley. The front
cover also includes a word at
the bottom that is to do with
youth.

9. i-D Reader profile
• i-D magazine has a target audience around the ages of 18-30yrs
old. This is because the text is written at high level of English, this
would either be too difficult or wouldn’t appeal the younger
audience. The content is suitable for that age group and would
appeal to the older and younger generation. Another angle would
be the cost of the magazine. Only somebody of an older age would
regularly buy this independently.
• i-D primarily aims at the female audience. The magazine, as well as
music, steers towards topics of feminism and other related articles.
This doesn’t appeal to the majority of the male audience.
• The audience is aimed at creative individuals, for example artists
and fashion students. The simple reason behind this is the content
of the magazine is mostly art, fashion and modern music.
• Consider themselves knowledgeable
in the fashion, music and art industry. Again this is to do with the
content. It’s the sort of information this type of person would like
to be constantly updated with.
• The reader would generally really interested in music, but not
necessarily mainstream music and art. They would be interested in
indie and non mainstream artists.
• Would enjoy going to festivals, concerts and gigs. With modern and
old artists this reader likes a huge range of music and wouldn’t be
able to pick their favourite genre. i-D would give perfect
information to help with latest festivals and what bands to check
out and where to find them.

10. Dazed magazine
Beginning as a black-and-white folded poster
published sporadically, the magazine soon turned full
colour, promoted with London club nights. Waddel
Ltd distributes the magazine. A single copy is £4.50,
the company publishes 6 copies per year.
The magazine Dazed, formally “dazed and confused”, is a monthly
British style magazine founded in 1991. Its founding editors were
Jefferson Hack. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature.
In November 2006, Dazed launched a new web based strand of
the magazine titled Dazed Digital, which delivers fashion, film,
music and art news and online events.

11. Reader profile for Dazed magazine
The target audience for Dazed magazine is 18-30 years old the same as i-D,
predominantly aimed at females but roughly 2/3 is aimed at the male audience,
although the magazine doesn’t post for the stereotypical male adult. Dazed is
similar to Clash as they both feature similar topics including fashion, culture, art
and music. The genres of music that are included in this magazine are varied from
hip hop to indie rock and new up coming music. The audience is for the more
cultured background and wealthy people, this is because the magazine covers
fashion for leading designers not from the high street. There is a great theme of
appealing to the British youth throughout the magazine. The front cover features
modern stars that would appeal to a younger audience. The reader of the
magazine would have to be influenced with popular artists and have knowledge of
different genres. We can expect the reader to be wealthy to a degree, because
this magazine is costly. And to also be interested in fashion, art, culture and
literature. The job the reader would have would be a designer in modern fashion
but has many hobbies like running, biking, languages, ice skating and art. They
would live in an expensive, luxurious apartment in London, spending most
evenings in bars, art exhibitions or eating in fancy restaurants. The reader would
buy a copy of Dazed magazine when every new addition was published as it
would inspire her/ him to take up new music, hobbies and give her something to
talk about with her/his large circle of friends.

12. The main image is of the Foo
Fighters, a popular old school band.
The magazine uses the band as a
main tool to attract the reader. the
more famous the artists the most
readers will be attracted, appealing
to a wider audience.
Q magazine uses a certain house style of
fonts and colours throughout each edition of
their magazines. This adds a constant flow
for regular readers. It also adds to
recognition. With special editions they
sometimes swap the colours to physically
show a change as well as metaphorically
showing a change. Q mainly uses the colour
red. The connotations of the colour red are
danger, blood, anger or action. This may
appeal to readers who want a magazine on
the edge. The editors tactfully do this to
appeal to the audience.
Near the masthead there is a tag
line ‘exclusive CD’. This tag line is
very tactful because when people
are trying to decide on a magazine
to buy they read the front cover, if
the magazine offers a free CD, that
could ultimately make somebody
decide to buy it over a different
one.
‘Foo Fighters’ has a grey background,
the reasoning behind this is to make
the words stand out, Q do this to
make a link with the main picture on
the front of the magazine. The reader
will see this text first and decide if
they like the band, if they do, they
will continue to read.
The artists are looking right into your eyes,
they’re also smiling which creates a
relationship with the audience, inviting
them to read more. The positioning of the
band tells the reader that the lead singer is
the one in front of the rest of the band, it
also suggests he’s the most popular. In
addition the image is the biggest thing on
the page, Q does this to show that they will
feature the band more than anything else.
The masthead is placed in the right
corner of the page, this allows the
reader to see it, but it also avoids
taking the attention away from the
main image.

13. There is no big title for the image of Noel
Gallagher , just a label next to it. The magazine
has purposely used their most famous artist for
this. The audience will automatically know who
that is, therefor persuading them to read more.
The magazine is split into three main columns
that guide the reader through start until finish.
The first column is full of information for the most
popular artists, this is more enticing for the
audience. The next column is roughly the same.
An exception is the last column which moves
onto a different topic all together. It also works in
order of the pages. The first column starts at 12
and the last column finishes on 98.
The page numbers are bright and big
which is exciting and bold when
contrasted with a black, red and white
colour scheme. There are also in the
right order of start to finish. This makes it
neater and easier to make sense of when
reading.
Each piece of text has a picture to go
with it, this makes it easier for the reader
to identify what the text is about and
who it includes. It is also a fun way of
reading. The images break up the text so
the page looks exciting not boring.
The layout for this particular edition is
similar to every normal magazine, in that
the images are placed with and around
the text related to it. The title ‘Q
Contents’ allows the reader to identify
what page they’re reading. In addition
the colour scheme from the cover page is
continued through to this page, as well as
the rest of the magazine. Keeping the
same dark colours, black and red, gives
the reader some continuity and a flow
whilst reading. Changing up the colours
could just cause confusion.
The main image on the contents page correlates with
one of the cover lines talking about Noel Gallagher.
This just gives some extra insite for what will be in the
article. All the images also fit with the genre of music
talked about in the magazine, all but one of the photos
is boxed which keeps it neat and guides the reader top
to bottom. The photo that isn’t boxed is a picture of
Prince an extremely famous singer. He is arguably the
most famous on the page, thus making him more
important. Perhaps that is the reason for his picture
being out of the box.

14. A huge picture is
spread over the first
and second page.
The size of this photo
indicates the scale of
his fame. Big white
letters cover the
page ‘His name is
Prince…’ The ellipse
is there instead of a
‘read on’ or
‘continue’ to draw in
the reader.
The page is purple
themed as that was a
significant colour linked
to Prince himself. The
font is in purple and
white which creates a
good contrast making
each letter stand out.
Inside the letter
The writing is carried
on through to the
other side of the
page, giving the
reader continuation
and flow which
guides them to the
next part of the
article. Again the
purple theme is
carried on to this
page creating a
theme, this is also for
continuity.
The picture of ‘Prince’
is not a primary
photo. This will have
been a photo of him
from one of his big
concerts that many
people will recognise.
We are given
clarification of this
with the ‘Prince
special, opening shot’.

15. i-D Magazine The front cover of i-D magazine is always
quite basic in the sense of not having much
on it. The main features are the image and
the title. The image is always of somebody
famous. Mostly, the person is involved in
the fashion industry and interested in art.
Willow Smith is also dark skinned. This
shows the magazine is open to diversity, this
is another example of how i-D is involved
with youth culture.
The picture is colourful and full of vibrancy.
The clothing she is wearing is ‘out there’ and
considered stylish which matches with the
fact this is a London magazine. She is also
winking her right eye this is the same as the
title which is a symbol for a winking face
using ‘i’ for the eyes ‘D for the mouth and ‘-’
for the nose. The symbol is also associated
to youth, which is a repeated theme
throughout the magazine. The word at the
bottom of the page is also a repeated
pattern throughout every edition. The word
is always to do with youth, for example in
this edition it is ‘spirit’.
The string of words under the
title is a taster of what the
magazine involves, for
example ‘fashion, music,
people’. i-D has also used a
play on words by saying ‘i-
DEAS’ the jokey and fun side
of the magazine is being used
to attract their main audience
of youngsters.
The grey marble background
contrasts with her bright coloured
clothing, she is wearing a bold red
floral jacket and a blue patterned
top. This could be looked upon and
different or indie. She is wearing
colours that reflect her personality
and ‘spirit’ linking back to the word
printed on the bottom of the page.
In addition she has blue eye liner
and a yellow bindi, these electric
colours match her bright outfit,
along with her facial expression
which is winking and smiling with
her mouth open.

16. i-d magazine doesn’t stop there with
their boldness, involving colour. Two
spirals of colour are placed on either
side of each page. Without this colour
the page would just be plain black and
white. The images give the page that
‘pop’ it needs so it can carry i-ds
continuous theme of being bold. With
this specific contents page, they have
specifically kept it simple but effective.
There isn’t too much going on to
confuse the reader, also the layout of
the page is very easy to follow. There
are clear sub titles and the numbers are
all in chronological order, this just helps
to guide the reader through each page,
giving the magazine flow. Each sub title
helps people to easily decide which
category they’re most interested in and
helps them to find it quickly. Each of the
pictures have numbers on them so that
if you see an image that catches your
eye or intrigues you, it is easy to find
the page or category it belongs to. This
is something I would quite like to use.

17. i-d has carried the black and white theme
throughout the cover page, contents page and
the double spread page. Each of these pages
always contain some colour contrast. With this
particular page there is a quote in red font.
The colour change separates the sections of
text. Two pictures of Rihanna are use and are
heavily shadowed. There is no title for this
page, which is unusual. The magazine has
used such a recognisable person that a title
simply isn’t needed. The quote goes on to tell
its reader than this famous singer fully
supports i-d magazine. She is a global idol to
many of the readers and would fully help the
advertisement and sales of the magazine go
up.
The text is in one single strip down the middle
of the right page. This text isn’t necessarily
split up, which is common for this magazine as
many people who are interested in the
literature and context more than anything.
This isn’t something I am going to use as my
research has shown me that people prefer
smaller bits of text rather than huge chunks.

18. My final magazine is dazed magazine. This is a
very powerful magazine cover that I have
chosen. The audience for Dazed is the youth.
The image is of a boy dress in what would be
considered as ‘punk’ clothing, and the other side
is the same boy but a completely different look.
The idea of this is to show the young people
who are reading that anybody can be who they
want to be and that a look does not defy who
you are. With knowledge of how young people
suffer with body image in this day and age, it is
not what an average magazine would publish
and I like that. Again like i-D Dazed uses colour
contrast as well as image contrast. The quote at
the bottom correlates with what I have just said
previously ‘Not everything is black and white’
meaning not everything is simple and how it
looks, the meaning could change depending on
your interpretation. Again not your average tag
lines are used to give a taste of what is to come.
I liked how colour wasn’t needed in this cover
page, and even though it wasn’t used, the page
was very effective and did a good job of drawing
in a reader.

19. The contents page has similarities
to the cover page in the sense that
it contrasts quite often, in this one
a male and female are contrasted.
This is quite a busy page. It uses
lots of colour and strips as well as
lines. These bars cross over the
images and even interfere with the
contents. The page has no title,
which is quite uncommon with
mainstream magazines, showing
rebellion and independence. The
actual contents doesn’t give much
information on the left hand side
but has more information on the
right side. I like that there is
minimal information which is
unique and more attractive to the
reader.

20. This page is a mirror of itself
creating a look that is rarely
achieved in magazines. The
pages look more empty
making it look like less of a
challenge to read. This page is
likely to link to the front of
the page about identity of
people. The strips cover the
faces of the people featured
on the page. The only colour
on the page is that red strip, it
could symbolise the danger of
self image and how people
are loosing their identity to
social change. I liked the
different ways the magazine
used to present text, it is
unusual and is something I
would like to involve in my
magazine.