Q analysis

Q

The target audience of ‘Q’ for this magazine is music fans that would buy the magazine regardless of who is on the cover as they are a fan of the magazine. As well as fans of the key signifier, Muse. This is one of the purposes of having a key signifier on the front cover; it allows a wider audience to be attracted and interested in buying this issue of Q. The secondary audience of this magazine would be people that are fans of Joy Division as it is shown that they feature in this issue as well as Muse. It is clear to the audience that Joy Division are featured heavily because there is a picture at the top.

On the front cover, there is a mid shot of the band with the lead singer, Matt Bellamy in the middle with the other members of the band either side of him. They have light shining on them from behind, which is very reminiscent of heaven. This could mean that this band is the pinnacle (or highpoint) of music. The background is very dark and so are the clothes they are wearing in the picture, in music videos, and when performing depending on the album. The hair and facial hair do give them a very alternative/rock look, which is the genre of music Muse generally produce and what is featured heavily in Q.

The colours used, white, black and red all contrast well to one and another and as well as can give a subtle idea about the feel of the music Muse produce and the type of music in the magazine. All of these colours have connotations to the genre of music covered in the magazine.

The text on the front cover is very bold but neat, the main point of attention being the word ‘Muse’, the text has a glow effect added which can also serve as a way to catch the audience’s eye.

Rolling Stone

The magazine “Rolling Stone” also portrays the artist Muse as quite dark by not having much lighting on the key signifier even though it is on the front cover. Similarly to Q, they only have one bit of light on the front cover but in general it is darker which suits the tone and genre of music Muse tend to produce. As well as Q, the key signifier is presented with a mid shot and is not looking at the camera. The use of light on Matt Bellamy’s eyes gives a dramatic feel to the shot which again, portrays the drama Muse create in their songs. The picture almost looks like it is from a film.

Instead of having the artist in front of a plain background to make the cover more eye-catching Rolling Stone have one picture as the front cover which gives it a more classic look which shows what kind of content is inside and also what audience tend to read the magazine.

I feel that there is a very split target audience for this magazine, there are die-hard fans of music and current pop culture that would buy the issue. On the other hand there are fans of the current key signifier, as there is only one image on the cover, compared to Q, which features more than one. It seems as though that Muse are the biggest part of this issue of the magazine.

There is also a secondary audience of just rock fans in general as above muse reads “Men In Rock” which could appeal to fans of the genre.

The house style is very classic which fits into the theme of the magazine. There is a use of using eye-catching colours; puffs all the codes and conventions are there to make a successful magazine cover. The colours of the text are very similar to the clothes they are wearing which are quite dingy again, giving the audience a feel for the artist. The words that stand out on the cover are “Rolling Stone” and “Muse” which shows that Muse is the heavy focus of this issue of the magazine.

Vogue

The target audience for the fashion magazine, ‘Vogue’ would most defiantly be women around the ages of 16-34 years of age, although I do disagree with this age bracket as it does not seem likely that 16 year olds would be reading this and have the same interests as women in their 30’s. The audience wants new fashion tips or just takes interest in the subject/ people involved in the issue of the magazine. Vogue is generally described as one of the ‘higher class’ fashion magazines, which gives an idea of the audience that purchases it. The secondary audience would be fans of the key signifier, Cara Delevigne or people that have interests in models.

The house style of the magazine relies on the colour red a greatly, mainly because one of the big articles inside is a guide to the red carpet style. Similar to other magazines there are puffs, use of buzzwords and eye-catching colours. Parallels can be drawn for conventions used to attract the audience to the magazine. These parallels are things such as; the key signifier, the house style, things being featured on the front cover and eye-catching colours and bold words. The key signifier, Cara Delevigne is shown as looking beautiful and stylish, this could interest women as they might like the way she looks or dresses and this could convince them to buy the issue. She is also looking at the camera which breaks the fourth wall and can again, catch the audience’s eye.

The key signifier is portrayed as very elegant, beautiful and stylish (all things that the target audience most likely aspire to be). Her hair is flowing she has nice makeup which again gives a sense of beauty, which can portray to the audience what the magazine, has inside and how ordinary people can look and dress like famous actors and models.