Main Task- front cover analysis (genre research)

Q magazine is a mainstream music magazine focused on popular music, and is published monthly by the Bauer Media Group. The colours red and white are a trademark of this magazine, making up the Masthead and being used in plenty of the front cover's text. Judging from the liberal usage, they are core components of the house style. The choice of colours also attract attention: the magazine shares the same colour scheme as attention- attracting objects like lighthouses. Its mode of address is quite informal: the colloquial language used suggests it is targeted at, and appeals to, teenagers and younger adults (likely in their twenties).

The magazine breaks with some conventions of feature placement, such as locating the barcode away from the bottom-right corner. In addition, all text is moved towards the edges, allowing for a clearer view of the central image. The splash, for example, is located at the bottom, the strapline on the left and coverlines are on the right. The main focus of the image is even in front of the masthead, emphasising his importance. A common feature of Q is the large circle, again red and white, which contains a few coverlines. The circle draws attention, making these articles stand out. This helps appeal to the audience, as it advertises articles they would most likely be interested in reading.

      

Billboard is another pop music magazine. It is published weekly by Prometheus Global Media, and is in fact one of the oldest trade magazines in the world.

As with Q, the central image is placed before a lot of the other features of the cover. Some writing is obscured, but never enough to render text unreadable. The primary colour scheme here is blue and white, and yellow, with the latter two being used in text and the former for the background. Red is also used in places, to make text stand out even more.

 Almost all coverlines are placed in a large block, instead of being spread around the page. The only exception, perhaps to draw attention, is a coverline in the top right-hand corner, below the masthead. The barcode and price are, unusually, nowhere to be seen, and are likely on the back.

Again, like Q, the language used is rather colloquial, indicating a similar (young but mature) audience. The rather structured format of the coverlines, and by extension the front cover in general, also supports this idea: it would appeal to a more ordered, mature individual.