Q - Cover Analysis

As stated before, the name of the magazine is Q. Because of the simplicity of the name, the title of the magazine is just the letter Q or a RED background. The magazine cover appears to follow the rule of thirds. I say this because there are cover lines on either side of the page with the main picture placed in the middle.


The main focus image is of a male and a female. They are part of a band called Arcade Fire. If you were unaware of this, it would be difficult to establish who they actually are due to the placement of the words 'Arcade Fire'. As I am unaware with this genre of music, I had to search most names on the magazine cover until I had found the people on the front cover. I did this because the name Liam Gallagher appears on the cover next to the picture. Although i know who he is, others may not and could assume that Liam Gallagher is in fact the man in the picture. As well as this, the big PLUS sign in the middle at the bottom of the page could also suggest that it is referring to the picture by saying 'plus the new faces of 2011' and therefore introducing the readers to a new artist who hopes to make it big.

The image itself gives me a mixed view. It can either be seen as fun and energetic, or have a sense of seriousness to it. This is because the girl in the picture has been caught jumping in mid air adding the energy to the cover, whereas the man is standing with his arms out slightly looking straight down the lens of the camera. The caption to go with the name of the band is 'three months inside their great leap forward'. The pictures may be summarising those three months which are going to be read about. Maybe the three months has brought a lot of hard work, time, and effort, hence the serious face with the man, but it has also seen some highs and good times which is shown in the smile and jumping in the air. Apart from the main image there are NO OTHER IMAGES on the front cover.

All of the main text on the front of the cover is written in BLOCK CAPITALS and in a non sans serif text. This is so as each and every caption can be read clearly by the reader. It also allows the magazine to stand out more from a distance. If you were to walk into a shop and browse the magazine stands, then you would be able to read every caption clearly because of their sizes and due to the CAPITAL letters. Although this is the case for the main captions on the front cover, there are small quotes and other bits of information which dive into the main caption which are written in a plain black sans serif font, such as this.