Q Article Analysis

The chosen artist that features in the Q article is Cheryl Cole, this is due to her recent solo work as Girls Aloud have taken a years break. The choice of artist is odd for Q magazine which is renowned for featuring 'serious' artists such as The Killers, Green Day, U2 and Muse, also most of the cover artists fall into the rock genre. However, when women feature on the cover of Q, their image is sexualized, such as Lady Gaga's and Lily Allen's topless cover pages, possibly due to the fact that the main target audience is men above 25. They also fall into the pop genre, so Cheryl Cole being on the cover and having the main article is not so strange after all.

The language in the article gives the reader the sense that Q believes them to be intelligent and well informed. They use wordy phrases such as 'So universal has Cole's appeal become her individual achievements have eclipsed those of Girls Aloud', showing that they are not minimizing the amount of words to appeal to a wider audience, they want older people to be entertained by the article. There are also some obscure words that younger people might not understand such as 'nadir' demonstrating Q's aim of appealing to adults. However as it is a magazine, and not a serious broadsheet newspaper, Q uses quotes from Cheryl Cole and other people who know her to give the article a more welcoming feel. The anchorage text to one of Coles images is 'Everything I do is scrutinized. Everything I fucking say'. Q wants our attention to be brought to this phrase as it is dominant on the page; even if you didn't read the article and just skimmed through you would still see this. This is because they want the article to feel as if it is between two friends, the formality is reduced with the use of the swear, also Q knows its main readership is adults so there is no need to worry that they will offend someone with it.

The text in the article is a simple black font, this gives a sophisticated feeling to the magazine as it follows the house style of Q, the anchorage text is in red demonstrating the importance of the house style. The article is laid out around various pictures, giving it a simple feel and sticking to the fact that they aim to look sophisticated. However, most of the article is made up of images, on the pages of texts the image is the main attraction on the page. Also three out of the six pages in the article is dedicated solely to images rather than text, this could be due to Cheryls fame as one of the most attractive people in Britain and Q is playing to her strengths.

The images in the article present Cole in an attractive manner, she has pouted poses and leather clothing showing her in a sexual light, her images also have connotations to the film Sin City, something that the readership will be able to relate to. The text attached to one of her images reads 'Wa-hey, I shoulda brought me brolly pet', which is the antithesis of what is being shown in the image. Q may want the reader to not take the article too seriously as the images suggests you would, it may also be Cheryl Cole showing that she too doesn't take herself seriously either as she jokes about the Prime Minister Gordon Brown too, 'Brrrr' She grimaces 'Slippery one ain't he?'.

The article does demand some prior knowledge about Cheryl Coles career, however, this is common knowledge to anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past few years. Again, like the NME article, anything that happened prior to the article is explained just in case. However, in Q it is not explained in a large amount of detail so that it doesn't patronize the adult readers.

NME Article Analysis

The chosen artist that features in the NME article is Gerard Way, lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance. The bands recent album (released four years ago) The Black Parade was aimed at those who felt misunderstood or alienated by society, mainly teenagers. This suggests that the magazine is too aimed at teenagers as they would be interested in reading about teenager’s main rock icon.
The language used in the article is mainly simple, it’s wrote in a formal fashion but is laced with colloquial phrases such as ‘chucked out their tunics’ and ‘honk the pop fact sirens’. This is because the article is informing the reader about the years that My Chemical Romance have been missing from the music scene but they aim to do it in a way that will keep the reader interested, teenagers don’t want the intelligence level of the writing to be too high because they will get bored or confused and opt to read another magazine.
The tone of the article gives the sense that NME wants the reader to feel like the member of the in-crowd, they are parting information about something that has not yet been released yet. They also want the reader to feel as if they were a close friend; this is demonstrated through colloquial phrases and social words such as ‘Riiiiiiiiight’. However they treat the reader as if they were an informed fan as they talk about tracks from other artists albums like ‘Jenny was a friend of mine’ by the Killers. But the chances of an NME reader actually reading this article is slim as the artist may not appeal to all of them and they may not have the attention span to read such a lengthy article. The text used is a simple black font, which follows the house style of the magazine. There are also few entry points within the article; it seems that you would have to read the whole article to understand what is going on. The article is spread over four pages, the readership just won’t have time to read this amount.
The majority of the article is text rather than images; this is odd for NME as their readership is mostly interested in looking at montages of images rather than reading lengthy articles. The images show Gerard Way now and back on The Black Parade tour, this is to highlight to the readers that the band has changed from what it used to be. This could be a ploy to entice teenagers who didn’t like My Chemical Romance before to give them another chance because they are different now.
The main image for the article is a close up of Gerard Way with the anchored text of ‘This record is going to be a grand failure if people don’t get it’, this is juxtaposed with the image as from the facial expression Gerard Way seems to not care if his music fails, the text however suggests otherwise.
The article seems to only make sense if you were aware of My Chemical Romances previous album and image. Newer readers of the magazine who would’ve been too young to know about the album which was released four years ago might struggle to understand the concept of change within the band. However NME explains the previous album and tour, the rock opera about a cancer patient and the controversy surrounding it, helping recent readers to understand the history of the band.

Contents Analysis, NME

The contents page for NME is dominated by a large picture of Blur. This is because they recently reformed for summer shows and this was the first time since then that the band has been pictured together. This confirms that the magazine is aimed at young males; the page is dominated by a picture rather than an article. The other image on the page, which is small and in the corner, is a snapshot of January’s edition of NME. Seeing as NME focus on gossip rather than content, the fact that Blur are the main image shows that they are the biggest gossip for that month’s issue. Also, as the members do not have a direct mode of address, the magazine seems more laid back; this suits the target audience who are mainly teenagers who share this ethos.
The colours and fonts used follow the conventions of the front colour. The contents page follows the house style of the magazine, with the text being the same as the title block. This creates a more stylish magazine, if the fonts and colours repeatedly changed then the magazine would look trashy.
The information in the magazine is organised in alphabetical order of artists. Unlike other magazines that have the name of their articles on the contents page, NME tells you the page where you can find the artist. This helps the reader to access the artists that they are interested in; it gives the target audience freedom to decide what they want to read. This tells the audience that the magazine has gone back to basics to make the reader feel like they can easily access the articles in the magazine.
The contents page also contains the promotional offer of getting the magazine for 85p per issue if you subscribe. This makes the target audience feel like they are getting a good deal, as it is aimed at young males who don’t have a large disposable income, also NME are guaranteed to sell copies each week.
The magazine logo appears up in the corner of the contents page. As it is a small image, this shows that the magazine wants to portray that the artists are more important than their brand. The promotional offer also contains ‘NME’ in bold, this is the only time that the magazine title has dominance on the page.

Preliminary Magazine

Questionairre Results

From my questionairre I found out various information which will help me when it comes to creating my magazine. Some of my results could not be put onto pie-charts, but i found out from them that my target audience are willing to pay on average £2 for a music magazine. Those who currently read music magazines purchase NME and Q, this gives me an insight into the type of music they want covered in their magazines.

From this question I found out that most people would like the magazine released fortnightly, this would give more time to create the in-depth articles that they would also like to feature.

I found out that recognisable artists and exclusive interviews attract my target audience most to music magazines. They want to feel that they are learning things about their favourite artists that they can't access elsewhere.

Cover mounted CD's and free posters attract my target audience most to music magazines. However if the magazine was fortnightly a cover mounted CD would not be possible.

I found out that readers would not mind reading about up and coming artists. This gives them the sense that they are discovering artists that have the potential to become big before anyone else.

Seeing as the results came back half and half I will attempt to balance between content and imagery to keep everyone happy.

This helped to prove that there was a gap in the market for my magazine. Seeing as the majority of my target audience are not currently reading a music magazine shows that publishing companies are not providing for young females.

Questionairre

Magazine Proposal:
My magazine will be a music one that covers the Rock genre; however it will consist of artists that are not mainstream. It will focus mainly on the indie element of it and feature bands such as Vampire Weekend and The Maccabees. I will also have regular features that cover up and coming British bands, they will be the main focus of my magazine as most music magazines cover artists that are American. My target audience will be mainly British.
My magazine will be primarily aimed at girls aged 16 – 24, this is because music magazines that are available to buy at the moment are aimed at males. Also the music magazines aimed at females don’t really cover serious music or are more aimed at a younger audience, such as Top of the Pops.



1) How regularly would you like the magazine to be released?
Weekly: Fortnightly: Monthly:

2) Please state the amount of money you are willing to pay for a music magazine:


3) What attracts you to a music magazine? You may select more than one:
Recognisable artists: Exclusive Interviews: In Depth Articles:

4) Which of the following would attract you to the magazine?
Free posters Cover mounted CD Special Price offer:

5) Would you enjoy reading articles about artists that are not famous yet?
Yes: No:

6) Which do you prefer?
In-depth articles: Montages of Images:

7) Would you like the following to feature in a music magazine:
Competitions: Quizzes: Information on events: None:

8) Do you currently read another music magazine?
Yes: No:

9) If Yes could you please state the magazine and the reason why you buy this:

10) Could you suggest a name for the magazine?

Preliminary Task : Images

Here are some possible images for the front cover of my magazine:
Image One:

Image Two:

Image Three