Theory

1. Defining an Audience Task 2
Melissa Storey

2. Q Target Audience
 Q has a target audience of a medium
age of 32 years old with a 70/30
percentage male over women
readership, which they claim has the
youngest and affluent audience than
any other music magazine. In the UK
Q is the No. 1 actively-purchased
music magazine with 369,000
readership. Overall the readers have
a 73% ABC1 social status which
expresses the high quality
photographs and slightly complex
text. The media pack I found has
given me a lot of information into their
audience and a large paragraph on a
subject person who reads Q and an
example of National Express who
advertises with them and their
feedback.

3. Images
“Q‟s readers prize its lavish photography, indepth reporting and sense” humour. of
www.bauermedia.co.uk/uploads/QMediaPack
The images are all photographed towards a impressive high
quality of popular bands and artists. The front covers of Q‟s
magazine are usually shot with a medium close up to make the
artists seem close to the audience. A high quality shot then edit
is taken making the magazine seem professional, relating to
the 73% ABC1 social class as they have money to buy a high
quality music magazine.
Inside Qa large interview is usually placed in the middle of the
issue from the artist on the front cover. In this page spread
there is usually one high quality image on one side of the
double page spread, which is shown with the Lady Gaga
interview to the left, as well as other issues I have looked at. In
the image inside the issue of Lady Gaga you can see she is
wearing a lot of make up but not a lot of clothing. In fact a few
chains and her own hands cover her breasts to keep it from
being too explicit as it has a high social context to follow, being
the highest social grade music magazine. Dark or a black and
white filter are used on the photographs to make it
sophisticated but also fits with the unique music they talk about

4. Words
“
The text on the front cover is simple with bands and artists names
standing out in a larger font or a brighter colour which will grab the
audiences attention on what they are interested on the most.
There is not a lot of information on the bands except for the main
interview with the Arctic Monkeys and the White Lies and Richard
Branson. On the front cover the use of alliteration is used for a
simple effect to lure the audience quickly in with “Bread, booze
and backing cakes” an unusual three things put together which
gets people interested on the article.
Just from the look of the interview inside Q you can see it has a
large amount of information. This shows it is targeted at an
audience who have time to read a lot of information about their
favourite artists. The bright „L‟ in the middle of the page draws
away the amount of text on the page looking like a symbol for
Lady Gaga. The text is small leading on again that the audience
targeted to this magazine is that they have time on their hands to
read about music and music is a particular interest for them. This
is supported by the reader profile given in the media pack.
”
Chris is 29 years old and lives in Leeds. Music is more
important to him than anything else. It‟s at the centre of his
social life. It soundtracks all the best moments in his life. It‟s
his identity, his social currency and his world. - The Reader
 This was taken from the media pack on Qfrom one of its very
own readers which helps Q fit musical influence interviews and
information on festivals. Q is a more informational about the
artist. It looks formal therefore expects to have formal


5. Colours
A simple three colour scheme is used; red, white and black.
The colours could be in different shades, e.g. black to a dark
grey. A simple colour scheme attracts the audience more the
images and the colour white is there to highlight certain words
(Arctic Monkeys and White Lies)
The blue banner across the top is there to highlight 25 years
of triumph and tragedy, a 17 page special inside. These are
called stickers and when they are placed across a front pages
are there to tell the audience something exciting you can read
about inside, grabbing their attention and getting that certain
person to buy the issue.

The dark colours complements the type of music in
Q, a new grudge, unique bands and artists. Altogether the
colours are formatted well together and compliment each
other making the magazine look professional and new.Inside
the issue the colours are very simple with just one large red „L‟
which instantly links it to Lady Gaga. She is well known and
popular therefore doesn‟t need any recognition inside the
magazine with her unique photographs. Having a black and
white image makes the photograph look sophisticated
contrasting Lady Gaga in the image with her not wearing
anything.

6. Layout
The layout is simple, sophisticated and easy to read. There is a
50/50 ratio of images this shows both are as important as the other.
This shows that the audience has quite a high status and a passion
for music. They have time to read and look at high quality images.
 On the front cover of Q 90% of the writing is towards the bottom.
So the audience look at the photograph of the popular band and
then are drawn into the text explaining who the band is, a caption
to bring you into the Arctic Monkeys interview and some more
information about bands and artists relevant to the same genre
as the Arctic Monkeys. It also advertises a special edition
magazine on the front of the cover in a form of a sticker, again to
grab the readers attention quickly. The reader may have enough
time to read quality work but they want to be able to quickly find
their favorite music magazine.
 Inside the magazine Q gives the reader a great quality of high
resulted images of their favourite bands which attracts a high
social status audience as they wouldn‟t want camera phone
images live from a Arctic Monkeys concert but a well thought out
image which takes up a large space inside the issue. Lots of text
about the interview with the artist inside the magazine gives you
lots insiders about the particular artist but not in a gossip
magazine way, more sophisticated and journeyed through their
promotion.

7. Anchorage
Using a different page spread from Q I can talk
about anchorage. Music magazine do not use
this as much as gossip and women‟s
magazines as they are mainly aimed for a male
gender. But in most interviews they will cut out a
quote that sounds interesting to make the
audience feel a certain way for the band or
artist. For this instance the pulled quote on this
page makes the audience feel sorry for the
band as they have used phrases such as “we
weren‟t taken seriously” and “that really hurt us”.
This draws an audiences attention and causes
them to want to know what happened and to
read more on the article.

8. Codes and Conventions
Colour Scheme
Q is a magazine which specify in new but unique music. A
lot is in the indie genre. The codes and conventions of the
indie genre are dark shades to represent the dark alleys
where this kind of music was first found. Magazines like this
who also follow the dark code and conventions of an indie
magazine are NME as they also portray the indie genre.
The front cover uses dark grays, blacks and whites to fit
with the indie genre that the Arctic Monkeys come from. The
gray background contrasts with the bright red background
for Q. This helps the reader easily find Q‟s magazine on the
shelf of a newsagents quickly as it is a bright contrasting
colour to catch your eye.
Inside Q the colours are very simple but has a large
contrast with the bright red „L‟ on the white background
which is making a statement just like the indie genre and
who the article is about, Lady Gaga.

9. Codes and Conventions
Photography
Usually music magazine use low quality images taken at
concerts, festivals and gigs but Qwant to give their readers
high quality images. This lets Q have an advantage over other
music magazine as both older and younger music fan
audiences like high quality images of their favourite artists.
Inside the magazine they product large quality images on one
full page- like the Lady Gaga photograph, so people can take
these pictures out and pin them on their wall. This is extremely
common in music magazines for them to incorporate posters
inside issues to get teens to buy their magazine. Posters are a
great way in music to sell a print magazine as people will go
out and buy the physical copy and not on the e-reader.
High quality images are a great way to grab an audience‟s
attention because more often or not they look at the artist on
the front cover before reading the text, therefore the images
are what sells a music magazine. This would not be the same
for a hobby magazine as that audience read that genre of
magazine for an informational purpose rather than an
entertainment purpose.

10. Codes and Conventions
Fonts
A common convection for Q‟s magazine is to have a large
single letter of the artists first initial under their interview.
Have a convention like this makes
it easy to fine the
main interview
in the issue. It
takes up the whole page, this is a unique feature for a
magazine but it bring some interest to an interview page
with paragraphs of text.
The rest of the text does not take attention away from the
images. If Q want to make some text stand out they will
make the size larger or change the colour. The basic san
serif fonts keep the magazine look simple and
easy magazine to read, showing the audience have a
sophisticated for a music magazine. This causes it to be
busy lifestyle but they still have time to be interested in
an
their musical lifestyle.

11. Codes and Conventions
Modes of Address
Q let the artist talk for themselves, there is not a lot of
addressing the audience in the interview pages. These
are more informational on the artist being interviewed. For
example there will be some information about the artist, a
quarter of a page, then the rest is the interview from the
artist. It is not conversational based but more written like a
story of the interview which is unusual. You can tell this
music magazine is for an older audience than NME or
Karrange‟s audience as they use slang words and
address the audience a lot more. Having a magazine that
for the same genre as others but addresses a different
social grade and age range is more likely to sell a lot more
and Q achieves this standard well. The way it addresses
the audience shows a ABC1 social grade as it is not
informal or uses lots of slang.