Music Magazine Research - Q

Q is a very well renowned music magazine, and is one of the most popular music magazines on the stands. When it was first made in 1986 it offered a better quality print and better quality of photography. Q magazine still tries to be one of the more quality magazines, and when looking at some examples of their magazines I immediately notice how interesting and eye-catching their main images are. This tells me that the main image is extremely important and needs to catch the eye of the consumer/audience so they will then look at the magazine.

Each of these images has something interesting about them, like how the Beady Eye main image has given Liam Gallagher a very 'raw' 'rock 'n' roll' look, and the way in which the other band members are being reflected in his glasses. It is a very sophisticated image and very clever, and also has a sense of it being like a painting, and all of these features draw your attention to it - his attitude, the way it has been edited, and also the way the anchorage text links in with it.

The front cover with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters is bursting with attitude. The way he looks like he is screaming and fire is coming out of his mouth, and also the band are in his mouth is very eye-catching. This image also tells us what genre of music he is, due to the fire and almost 'demented' look about him will draw people of his genre, which I believe is rock, towards the magazine and entice them to look at the magazine and potentially purchase it.

Michael Jackson is an iconic figure and everyone knows of him. His ups and downs along with his general life have always been a big story in the media world. Immediately, anyone looking at this magazine front cover is going to instantly recognise him with or without the anchorage text. This picture has been edited to look very raw, to link in with stories about him like plastic surgery and his struggles with the law etc. and this links in with the anchorage text where it says 'unmasked.'

These magazines have shown me that the main image is probably the most important part of a front cover, but you also need to consider typography; as all of these magazines use the same house style (red) and all use a white background in order to give good pronunciation of the image. I also notice that the background does not have any shadow and is out of focus, to give it a cleaner and also more artificial look. The Rolling Stone, for example, tends to include the shadow of the artist/band onto the wall behind them, which will have been intended; but granted this is a light shadow and not too heavy. This will definitely be something to think about when taking the images for my front cover. But, I have noticed that they all have a blank background instead of a natural surrounding to give clarity to the writing which will inevitably be included in the picture. Moreover, all of these images are a close up, which shows the facial expression of the artist, and you can see the raw attitude of their faces.