Music Magazine Research 2

'Q' is a British monthly music magazine- it appeals to a wider audience because it includes different genres such as rock and pop.  'Q' and is taken from the word 'Cue', it is shortened to make it easier and more memorable for the audience. The masthead does not limit the music genre of the magazine such as ‘Top of the pops’ magazine, this allows the magazine to cover articles on popular genres such as rock and pop, drawing a larger audience. The magazine cover consists of three dominant colours; white, red and black. The black and white are classical and stylish colours suggesting that the magazine is aimed at an older audience of both genders. The red makes it more sophisticated suggesting that the magazine could be aimed at an older, more sophisticated audience.

The main image is of Katy Perry who is very unique and has released many worldwide hits such as ‘I kissed a girl’ and ‘Hot n Cold’, which matches the strap line ‘The ultimate playlist’. She is looking directly at the camera which involves the target audience and makes them connect with her, making them want to read on. It relates to the very wide genre of music because Katy Perry is a pop artist. A cropped long shot shows her figure and what she is wearing. Her costume is black matching the colours of the magazine. Her posture makes her look confident and seductive which links with the pug ‘I cannot be stopped, baby’. The ‘baby’ makes the sentence informal which connotes that Katy Perry will be more honest and comfortable therefore we will find out Her dress is tight highlighting her figure and making her seem glamarous and idol-like. The background for the main image is plain white to make Katy Perry’s dominant black hair and dress stand out against the light background.

The magazine does not include as much text as ‘Top of the Pops’ which makes it less sophisticated, however it is easier to follow and more appealing to its target audeince. ‘Katy Perry’ is the largest text and in bold to grab the audiences attention, which suggests that she is the selling point of the magazine. Name of other celebrities are aligned to the left side of the magazine cover. These names are highlighted in red so they stand out to the audience, it is written in white and highlighted in red to match the colour scheme of the magazine. The typeface is quite formal and blunt which shows that it is targeting a older audience, it is all in capitals to make the copy stand out and grab the audiences attention.

This music magazine focuses on popular music. This suggests that it is based mainly around pop genre but also refers to any other musical style accessible to the public. Therefore, it has a mass audience because it covers all music genres that are popular and that many people share an interest in. The overall cover of this magazine suggests the target audience of this magazine is more female than male, which is clear from the cover artist and the colours used, also by some of the content, e.g. an article on Katy Perry, where a female audience would more likely be interested in than a male. On the other hand, there are articles on Metallica and hip-hop music, whose audience is dominantly male. The age of the target audience is shown to be based around late teenagers to young adults. The target audience cannot be any younger because there is an article on marriage and because the cover has a more sophisticated and mature appearance in comparison to ‘Top of the Pops’ magazine which appeals for a much younger audience. It also would not appeal to people much older, because the content is not that of interest to them e.g. celebrity gossip. The cover is appealing to its target audience mainly through the colours and the well-known artist used for the front cover, as she is an idol to young female audience.

An image of a famous pop artist; Katy Perry, is the main image of the front cover, and the only image included, which shows that she is important, iconic and the main selling point of the magazines issue. The magazine includes genres which are common and can attract a larger audience, and amongst them is the pop genre, therefore the image relates to the music genre of the magazine because the well-known pop star Katy Perry appeals to the audience. Having one focal point is important so that when you look at an image your eye will generally need  something of interest to really hold it. Therefore, having too many focal points loses the, but rather attracts the consumer to one central point appealing to a more mature audience. Katy Perry is in large and positioned in the centre of the page, which makes her stand out and shows that she is the centre of attention. A mid shot shows Katy Perry in more detail whilst simultaneously creating a space around her to insert other elements of the magazine during postproduction.  The positioning of Katy Perry in the centre of the frame allows text to be inserted on either sides rather than all to one side. This creates an even balance of text on the page so not all of it is scattered to one side. Also, a well thought of image like this does not require a huge amount of cropping and editing to do during postproduction. As a result, the magazine appears more professional and realistic.

Furthermore, mise en scène is used in the front cover to make it more effective and eye catching. For example, her costume is very colourful and brightens the mood of the image; it is also revealing which matches the 21st Century fashion suggesting that she is glamorous and stylish. Additionally, the bright lighting and the white backdrop make her seem very stunning and angelic which suggests that she is extraterrestrial and rare. Moreover, the white background makes the colours of her costume and text stand out more making it clear for more attractive to the audience and easier to read. The shadowing around her figure makes the image more realistic and seem as though it has been set with the original background. As well, the colours in the image have affected the general colour scheme. For instance, her black hair fits the black colour of the masthead and some of the text on the cover. Also the pink in part of Katy Perrys’ costume complements the colours used in the text, as it been taken out and used in the text, which is necessary because it shows the image is specifically related to this magazine issue. This issue of Blender consists of three dominant colours black, white and pink. The colours are bright, young and fun which suggests that the magazine is based around the genre of pop, which will probably attract a younger audience who have an interest in pop music. The hot pink colour attracts mainly an audience of females and creates a brighter mood to the cover. White and black contrast therefore the white colour is used to make the features stand out, the black is used to make the text and fonts stand out against the white background so it is readable.  The colour scheme is relevant to the magazines content as it is colourful and fun, which is similar to pop music and the fun content that would interest an audience of young people, such as the main article, “Katy Perry kiss ‘n’ tell with pop’s bi-curious babe”. The text ‘Katy Perry’ is in two different colours; black and hot pink. This is to make each part of her name stand out and appeal to the audience who are interested in Katy Perry.

The texts purpose is to report the latest most interesting news that can engage a mass audience; it achieves this through linguistic devices that make the audience want to read on. The magazine is called ‘BLENDER’, which refers to a mixture. This reflects the genre and target audience of the magazine because it blends different musical genres into one magazine therefore attracting a wide range of audience. There are two different types of font used in the cover, one for the masthead and one for the rest of the text on the cover, which includes the content. The advantage of using a similar font throughout is that it keeps a consistent style making the cover look simple, uncluttered and clear to the audience which avoids confusion. Moreover, it allows the audience to distinguish between the important headlines and the less important headlines. For example, the masthead is a different font to the rest of the cover, which portrays it as separate from the rest of the cover, also makes it stand out more. The font that has been used for the cover is plain, bold and has curved edges, therefore has a very ‘pop’ look, which relates to the theme of the magazine. It makes it appear fun and feminine, which is in contrast to e.g. a heavy metal magazine masthead, where the font would be very harsh, with sharp edges giving it an unsettling look. All the text is clearly visible on the page, as the font colours are either hot pink or black and complement the white backdrop.

The typeface of the magazine cover varies, so that the bigger the text is the more important and the smaller text is of less importance. The consumer is drawn more to larger fonts quicker than smaller fonts because text elements with a larger font have a higher level of interest to the reader. On the Blender cover, the masthead is the largest size, because it is the most important part of the magazine and is what the consumer is first attracted to, eventually leading to the purchase of the magazine. With the strap lines and content on the front cover, some fonts are larger than others. For example, the names of the famous singers such as “Katy Perry” is emboldened and the second largest font on the page to make it more eye catching as she is the main selling point. This shows an artists importance and dominance over other text. It is also used to attract a larger audience because she is what people want to read about. Perry's name will most definitely get a larger audience than if the word 'BABE' or 'kiss n tell' was the largest font because this does not have any significance or importance hence why it is necessary to pick the right words when changing the typeface. The strap lines also reflect the content of the magazine and its genre. Celebrities are included in the strap lines such as Katy Perry who belongs to the pop genre along with T-Pain; a hip-hop singer, which once again suggests that although the magazine is mainly pop theme it can include other genres to interest a wide range of audience.

The alignment of text is according to the conventional grid; however the text seems to be also slightly aligned to fit the artists’ figure. The purpose of this is to attract the audience from reading the text to the image of this iconic figure. The text seems to be controlled or attracted towards her also conveying that she is the most important part of the magazine. The purpose of a conventional grid is to give the reader a comfortable vision pattern. It makes the magazine look more organised and professional. The head of the artist covers the masthead, which adds layers to the cover and makes the cover artist stand out the most. The feature bar also settles in top of the image of the artist. This is probably because the feature bar includes a promotion “Free downloads! 10 hot new tracks”. This is a major selling point as people that read the magazine are interested in music and so would benefit from free downloads therefore attracts the audience to purchase the magazine. Moreover, the price and the barcode are not included in the front of the cover. This may be because they are not important, or because the magazine is well known and so the magazine does not need to be promoted as cheap to attract its audience.