Magazine Cover Analysis

The masthead of Q is always the same. Its white and contrasts of a bright red background which emphasis the white and makes it stand out to the audience. Although Q magazines masthead is always the same the red can symbolize danger or passion which can relate to the pose of the main image. The main image of Lilly Allen is slightly over the masthead making the image more significant. Her pose is quite seducing. She has nothing covering the top half of her body and has her back facing us turning her head over her shoulder. Shes positioned in the center of the magazine. She starts right at the top of the magazine to near enough at the bottom which makes her seem really long and adds to the seducing pose. Her hair and trousers are black. There are also black leopards circling her. The leopards could stand for masculinity circling her. Black is also the colour of most of the cover lines along with white and red. The black and gray colours makes the page seem sinister. The red cover lines could symbolize danger but it also could symbolize passion, love and seduction. The white and red also compliments the masthead. The words 'wicked wicked' are in bright red surrounded by black text connotating danger and gives a sense of evil. There's a mixture of normal, bold and italic text making some stand out more than others. In the main cover line the the words 'Lilly Allen' are the biggest on the page and are also straight in the middle over the center image which puts emphasis on it. Most of the names of bands are in bold black to stand out to the reader. There's also a pull quote in black above a bold band name to give the reader an incite into an article. Most of the cover lines are sans serif although some are serif, this makes the magazine look some what sophisticated although still appealing to not so serious readers.

NME is a tabloid magazine. NME’s logo is always the same and is always placed on the left third of the page. This makes it easy to recognise on a shop shelf. On this particular cover the logo ‘NME’ has a red background. The logo appears more stronger as it looks outlined. The colours used are white, bright red, bright yellow and navy blue. These colours work well together to draw your eyes to different parts of text. This adds to the tabloid look because it tries to entice you to buy the magazine. The page layout is busy and overcrowded. It represents NME as a teen magazine. It would appeal to teenagers because they are stereotyped as being untidy and quite rebellious. The main image is of Lilly Allen, a songwriter and artist. She's wearing an oversized shirt which looks tomboy. Her hair is slightly messy and she has a musky black eye shadow on. She's represented to look like she doesn’t care. She looks almost emo or indie. This would appeal to most NME readers as most of the music and artist are presented in NME is indie. She’s looking straight at you which makes you think that she is strong and confident. It looks like she's trying to get your attention. The main cover line is the biggest font on the page apart from the masthead. Its in a reversed out style which blocks out the words making them stronger. Their in a cut out kind of style which makes them look messy or rebellious. Some letters are bigger than others this has made them look messy which compliments the picture and the page layout. There's a pull quote on the left third of the page above the main cover line. This highlights the main cover line. Its untidy and looks jaggered so readers know that these relate. Some cover lines are sectioned in round circles. These show that their different articles in the magazine. There's a long cove line at the bottom of the page which borders the bottom. Its highlighted by the word ‘plus’ which makes the reader assume that there's much more inside. It then lists the artists and bands that feature in articles, all which cover the genre of music that NME readers like.

The masthead is bright red with white letters. The red background in the masthead emphasis the white and makes it stand out to the audience. This is the only red on the page making it very noticeable. Red can symbolize danger or passion, which could relate to the passion of music or the rebel danger relating to the main image. The image is unusual and grabs attention. Its of a young artist 'M.I.A' pulling a rebellious pose. Its large and takes up the whole of the magazine. The cover lines have been reversed text. This is so they don't get lost within the picture and stand out that little bit more. The black background of the reversed text cover lines adds to the rebellious style because it makes them look bold. The main cover line is opposite to the other cover lines as it has a white background and black text this is so its clear that its the main article. The magazine has very few eye grabbing cover lines and more attention is drawn to the picture. Because the cover lines are kept to simple fonts and colours it emphasis the colour and boldness of the image.