Textual Analysis

Cover

This October 2009 issue of Q Magazine has a prominent cover in that it shows Matt Bellamy from Muse smashing his guitar against the Q logo. It has a very strong and bold colour pallette, with a background of a grey gradient and overlays of red, white and black.

The strapline of Q, 'The UK's bigger music magazine' hints that the magazine features good quality and popular artists. The coverlines of 'Muse- Matt Bellamy is out of control', and 'Rock's Greatest Nutjobs' possibly reflects the mood of the main image on the cover.

Q is published by the Bauer Media Group, and was first issued in 1986. Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands.

The one strong image compounded by the simple and easy-on-the-eye yet bold colours gives an impression that the magazine is sophisticated yet will give a informative and entertaining read. The paper quality is very good, with glossy pages. This gives a collectable feel to it, a complete opposite to a cheaper magazine such as Kerrang! which doesn't have such a glossy and professional feel to it.

The small comment above the main coverline, "I bought 50 tins of beans and an axe", gives potential readers an insight into the featured article. In addition to the Muse banner/article there are many other artists featured, for example an article with 200 things you didn't know about the Beatles, which could attract the attention of any Beatles fans. The artists highlighted in the 'plus' coverline shows that Q has access to a wide variety of artists and the long list of artists there also implies you are getting a lot of content for your money.

Contents Page

The contents page shown is from the January 2010 issue

This is a typical Q contents page. It uses the same colour pallette as the cover page, and also includes an image of the front cover in the top right of the page.

This particular issue was dedicated to a main feature called 'Artists of the Century', and the importance of this feature gives it a very large space on the contents page.

It is divided into columns, with the aforementioned featured artists article contents on the left and other regular features on the right. A regular feature, the 'Q Review', has a large caption at the bottom of the page and is accompanied by a fairly large photo of a classic artist. This shows that Q will cater for a very wide range of artists, from many different eras.



Double Page Spread

This is the double page spread from an issue of Q featuring the Temper Trap band. It has a very simplistic layout and the background image takes on an almost sepia tone, making the serif font difficult to read in places however it gives the article a pleasant, soft read, it is easy on the eye and there are no clashing colours.

This particular article is very short in length and only gives basic information and facts, and very little in the form of interview and questions. In my article I will aim to create an authentic-looking interview feature that will be a lot longer and give a better insight into the workings and interests of the band.

Common features that this DPS has used that are typical of a lot of magazine features include;
- Drop cap at the start of the article
- Image captions
- Large long shot background image