Which Company produces the Magazine?
Q (publisher - Bauer Media Group)
Target Audience
According to the Q website they describe typical Q readers as "passionate, engaged, open minded music fans driven to continuously discover new music". They are also described by Q as being affluent (upper class).
75% Male 25% Female
How much does it cost?
Q Magazine costs £3.99 with annual UK subscription at £47.88
How often is it Published?
Monthly (in the UK)
What is its circulation?
Total Circulation: 88,240 in the UK
103,017 global
Actively purchased Circulation: 98.9%
Approximate monthly revenue streams from advertising and circulation
Circulation: £352,077.60
This information tells us that when selling a magazine, a large proportion of revenue is created from advertising ie. they do not solely rely on circulation revenue streams and that this is such a high number due to the popularity of the magazine.
The Cover
The title
It is called Q as it was seen as an abbreviation for 'Cue' as in the sense of 'cue the music' however it was decided by Q's publishers that calling the magazine 'cue' would cause too much confusion and may have caused people to mistake it for a snooker magazine (Wikipedia). The other reason it was called Q which was given in Q's 200th issue was that the use of a single letter would stand out and look more prominent on newstands.What does the title connote?
The title 'Q' suggests that the magazine is chic, modern and is obviously well recognised within the market due to it's confidence in using a single letter to give the magazine it's identity.
The masthead/title logo
The Masthead uses two colours only, red and white. The font appears to be of 'Old style' possibly adobe jenson pro. It is half covered by a member of the band on the cover Mumford and Sons, this demonstrates that the magazine is so well established and so well recognised, it does not need to have the logo clearly displayed to be identified by customers of a mostly repeated readership.Strapline
There is indeed a strapline however it is hidden behind the picture of a member of Mumford & Sons. The strapline "Discover Great Music" is positioned slightly below the Q logo in white and it can be once again assumed that this strapline is known by the regular readers of the magazine, re-iterated by the magazine editors confidence in allowing it to be hidden. The phrase "Discover Great Music" is making you relate good music and indeed finding good music to being within this magazine. It is an effective phrase to use as it will encourage potential customers to open the magazine and engage in this activity.Main Image Analysis
The main image on the front cover is a picture of the British folk rock band 'Mumford & Sons'. The members of the group are all relatively separated with the direction of gaze being shared (they are all looking towards the reader.) The members facial expressions on the cover differ slightly. Lead Vocalist Marcus Mumford's facial expression is rather relaxed, it gives off a calming vibe with his body language indicating that he is the lead singer whilst still staying fairly vacant.
The bands backup singer and banjo player Winston "Country" Marshall is giving a completely contrasting facial expression close to the stereo typical "rock on" expression. He appears on the cover with his banjo and his body language indicates a hyped up atmosphere with him positioned in a rock style stance. 
Ben Lovett is much like lead singer Marcus Mumford having relatively the same sort of body language (relaxed/calm) with a more upbeat facial expression. 
Finally member Ted Dwane is looking excitable almost shouting showing a resemblance to Winston Marshall although his body language is much calmer and tranquil. 
All members of the group appear to be wearing plain clothing with no real accessories or any noticeable outcasting features, matching in with their "folk rock" genre and highlighting their public image. Due to Q's decision to create 25 different covers, it shows and re-iterates their confidence that their readers have a diverse music style and that the ideal reader listens to "great music".What other images appear on the cover? Why?
There are not any other images on the front cover by definition, they would be more classed as graphics or decals rather than images. There is the main slogan surrounding this issue clearly visible within a yellow and blue box with bold, black text.
The names of the various perfomers are put on each of Q's covers, written in a typeface resembling calligraphy or handwritten in the colour blue, all giving a coherent house style.
The content promoted by the cover lines (as stated earlier) is the main story surrounding this issue which appears to be the 25th anniversary edition. This is shown by the "25th Anniversary collectors edition" text placed at the very top of the magazine and by the fact that there is 25 artists.
The typefaces appearing on the front cover are varied and range from being very bold, black lettering "The Music that changed my life" to a handwritten style font "25th Anniversary Collectors edition". These are obviously used to provide variation and to grab us, as reader and potential customers attention. With the graphics appearing being yellow and blue it is re-iterated just how much they want to make the cover stand out and have attention drawn to it. The list of artists featuring is put along the right hand side of the page, in a yellow font similar to, if not the same as the one used for the signature style lettering of Mumford & Sons. What sort of language can you identify?
There is not vast amounts of language on the Q magazine cover however some language techniques have been used. Firstly there is repeated use of the fact that this is the "25th" issue. This repetition allows the reader to pick up a clear indication of the reason why this issue is different to others. The term "The Music That Changed My Life" indicates that there is a sense of personal preference within the magazine and that the intensity of the quote shows that it will be an interesting story. It is almost trying to describe to the reader how popular artists became famous, this being a strong incentive to buy the magazine, it is not surprising that this quote is so vividly shown on the front cover.
Does the magazine look similar to other magazines? (What is it's USP?)
The layout of "Q" is far different from the front covers produced by its competitors. The border surrounding the magazine is different from anything produced in the music magazine market place. The lack of details inside the magazine that appear on the cover is also different from other magazines with just the masthead, main story, and the various artists featuring in the magazine giving any indication on the content inside. There is however a section in the footer of the border "Plus! 145 Albums To Discover" which does indicate another story, aside from this, there is very little which could be deemed similar to its fellow music magazines.
The only other distinctive feature on the cover of "Q" is perhaps the signature of Mumford & Sons appearing across the page covering part of the main image and gaining a lot of the attention to the front cover. How many pages are there?
In this issue of Q there are 170 pages
How many pages of adverts?
In this issue of Q there are 32 pages of adverts
Advertised Product Categorization
Album Releases
Live Events
Gaming
Clothing
Car
Snacks
Features
Dizzee Rascal: Workaholic
Q Now
The Top 10 Scraps
BBM Reader journey through music
Q awards
Q icons
Q50
Q this Month
Q Reviews
Q live
Last Requests
Reviews:
Q50
Q Reviews
Q live
Featuring Stories & Interviews:
Dizzee Rascal: Workaholic
Q Now
Top 10 scraps
The Music that changed my Life
Photography:
Q icons
Publicity Material:
Q this Month
Q Awards
Reader Created Material:
BBM Reader journey through music
Last Requests
Double Page Spreads
Other double page spreads include reviews of live perfomances, album reviews, photography & an outlook on the Q awards.
Are there any "advertorials" in the magazine?
There is one example of an advertorial within this issue of Q that is titled "Walls of Sound". It is unclear whether or not the page is an advert or a article. It seems to be a mixture of both.
It is an article written by Q, advertising 'Monitor Audio' equipment. It is described in the header of the page as being a 'Q Promotion'.How does the magazine achieve a unified "house style"?
The magazine achieves a unified house style in many ways. If you were to start with the basics you would see that the colour scheme is fairly continuous and does not vary a great deal (if not at all) from page to page. The Q logo is used throughout the magazine as a graphical element which in turn, allows the magazine reader to read through the articles without a great deal of style differentiation.
The mode of address throughout the magazine is very formal keeping a civilised impression to match the design of the pages. The language in the magazine is used conventionally in a formalistic manner.
Why is this house style appropriate to the TA (Target Audience)?
This house style is appropriate as Q state that their readers are "affluent". If this is correct then it is assumed that the readers would not appreciate a colloquial mode of address and would imply that the readers are of upper class. The design and layout of the various features looks sophisticated with no real change in the colours used, repeatedly using the effective Red & Black colour scheme. This can then be used to conclude that the TA is content with the magazine produced and does not like change or variance within the magazine.
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