Research of Music Magazines

The colour, or lack of in this case, indicates a certain branding by the label itself (a form of the house style), in the case it would be ‘Q Magazine’ and the colours red and white. The fact that it only has two colours makes it extremely clear which magazine is publishing this article through colours alone. The font, mainly the huge L and the smaller S, are the main font that is used by Q which in turn is another form of house style to show who is publishing the article. The heading of ‘lady GAGA’ is iconic with Q and the way they address who it’s about, as well as having a huge letter, such as the L, on the main article is known to represent Q magazine.

The fact there is no sub-headings or larger headlines indicates that this magazine may be for a more sophisticated audience and therefore they would know what it is on about by spending time actually looking at the contents page and reading the front cover. There is also a lack of caption on the image which also indicates a sophisticated audience as they don’t feel the need to explain what she is doing and in turn are not coddling the reader and treating them as if they know nothing.

The main, and only, image being in black and white makes it easier for people to realise that it is Q magazine publishing it as it is able to make the red L stand out against the lack of colour, and in turn makes Q known for having black and white pictures to, once again, show sophistication by not using bright colours to try and attract attention.

The double-page spread also lacks any inserts which in turn does not distract the reader from the actual article itself by advertising something or trying to show them some other information that may or may not be relevant to the article. Having the large S is enough to attract attention to the rest of the article as it makes people wonder why it’s been enlarged at the part and not anywhere else which in turn makes interest.

The numbers at the bottom of the page indicate what page the reader is on and therefore is able to help them manoeuvre throughout the entire magazine by searching for certain articles by using the index to find the article that they wish to read. Likewise, the layout used is 3 columns which also make it easier to navigate as they simply have to read down-wards, then eventually back to the top, rather than reading giant paragraphs which would get them lost.


For another doublepage spread, click here
 

Clicking this image should redirect you to Flickr where is has annotations on it indicating all of my observations of it. If for some reason it does not work, click here.


Clicking on this image will also redirect you to Flickr where it has my annotations and observations of this magazine's index. If it does not work, click here.


Clicking on this image will also redirect you to Flickr where it has my observations and annotations on the magazine's double-page spread. If it does not work, click here.