First Front Cover Analysis

The colour scheme of the the front cover is based around 3 block colours; red, black and white. This includes the picture, logo, fonts and other aspects of the magazine. The red represents the provocative, naughty and flirtatious parts of the front cover, e.g Cheryl Cole's lips and tongue. Also red is a very bold and loud colour which catches your attention and draws your eyes to the page. The black represents a gothic, dark and mysterious aura theme on the front cover, this contrasts with the red making it stand out more. This is shown via her eyeliner, hair colour and outfit. The white is used to contrast with the black and red so that it 'jumps' out of the page and grab your attention. This is being used in the 'Q' of the brand logo, and Cheryl Cole's face, where they are are very bright and and contrast greatly with the surrounding colour schemes. A 4th minor colour present on the front cover is grey, which has been used on font, a pug and on Cheryl's ring.

The design of the front cover is following a certain theme, which is using the three key colours discussed above (Red, Black, White). The fonts and boxes on the page alternate between these colours because it compliments the main photograph, keeping a simple, yet effective feel that is appealing to the eye. The use of this design keeps the page from looking too messy or busy, which makes it easier for the target audience to read and find their way around the front cover. The font on the page has all been written in BLOCK CAPITALS because it shows that the information it's giving out is important and interesting. The bigger the font, the more likely it is to attract attention. The headline at the bottom of the page, which is the main header on the front cover gets larger as you read downwards, so that you put extra emphasis on the bigger bolder font. The fonts used at the side of the magazine is much smaller as it is supposed to inform you on what's inside the magazine, it's duty is not to catch your attention.

The image used on the front cover of the magazine is a close-up of Cheryl Cole's face, neck and shoulders. She's a very well known celebrity at the moment with her latest song releases, so people will recognise her. The main feature of the image is that her eye's are looking straight out of the front page into the audience's eyes. This creates an eye-to-eye contact between the audience and photograph, this creates an interest from the audience thus increasing the chance of them purchasing the magazine.

The pose is represented in the photo by a slightly provocative and naughty expression used on Cheryl Cole's face, which would interest a more male audience or people who aspire to be like her because of the recognition and attraction of a good looking woman. The overall expression portrayed on her face is different to that of her normal personality and style which is seen a lot on television. If they chose to use a photo with a blank expressionless look, then many people may see it as boring because the photo wouldn't show any enthusiasm or encouragement to buy the magazine.

How words are used on the cover; "Q" The title of the magazine is short, snappy and easy to remember because it's only one syllable long. The font used for the title is very similar to a "Times New Roman" font which is generally looked upon as a posh, higher class, respectable font that is usually used when the text is serious and important. This gives the audience the impression that the magazine has been established for a long period of time, making it appear respectable and trustworthy as it's still going strong and on sale. The cover lines are bold and brightly coloured to gain the audiences attention, also they are much bigger than the rest of the text on the page so naturally that's where your eyes go first, after the main photo. The black and white skyline at the top of the page, "The UK's biggest music magazine", boasts the popularity and success of "Q", which gives a very good initiative to audiences to buy it. You can identify the contents at a glance because all the information is located in easy to spot on the edge's of the magazine so that your eyes don't have to search for necessary information. All the fonts used and the brand logo are easy to notice from a distance because of the loud colours and the boldness of the text. This also makes them stand out from other music magazines, due to the unique use of the focus on 3 main colours. By using "Rock" in the headline it tells the audience that one feature of the articles inside the covers will be on rock music, helping them make a judgement on whether this is the right magazine or not.

The language on the front cover of the magazine attracts the readers by the use of the main headline. This is big, bold and bright, but the main reason is by how the headline has been constructed. "3 Words... CHERYL COLE ROCKS" is a very intriguing headline because it has three possible meaning depending on how you interpret it, firstly "3 Words" is a new song by the artist, so it's promoting her new song. Secondly, "Cheryl Cole Rocks" is 3 words in length, so the way its written could be saying to the audience that she and her music is brilliant. The third and final interpretation could be that the reference to "Rocks" is based around the genre of rock music, also this can be seen as represented in the outfit and make-up she wears, which are dark and stereotypically rock music colours.

So, the overall impression of the front cover is very positive and gives out a good indication of what content is located inside. Due to the big, noticeable and pretty photo of Cheryl Cole located on the front cover, readers will want to see other pictures and articles within the magazine. It reaches out to fans because they will naturally want to read about a singer they admire. The magazine reaches to non-fans because of the personality change represented in the photo. The main target audience for this magazine are teenagers to people in their 40's, they will understand the saucy hints in the photo and are most likely to want to read about these music artists. Therefore young children are not taken into consideration as a target market to promote Q Magazine.