NME front cover

The second magazine front cover i chose to analyse was NME. The masthead is red with a white outline on a black background, all bold colours and writing make it stands out. Which fits in with the conventional 'three colour rule' in this case of white, black and red. The main image is not the conventional one main artist or group taking up most of the page, it is a mixture of different artists and groups like a collage as if they are coming out of the page. The artists fit in with the indie genre and would appeal to their target audience. The pictures also take up only have of the page and the other half is dedicated to the title making that stand out to the readers therefore as the text takes up most of the page and '2010 is the biggest, this is this issues selling point. ' The albums of 2010 is in bold writing helping it to catch peoples attention. ' The albums of' is white bold text on a red background still sticking to the theme of the front cover and '2010' is the main feature of the page taking up a lot of space where usually the cover story only occupies a small space on the front cover. The black on white text makes it really stand out. The 0 in 2010 also acts as a pug as it includes text inside stating what the issue will include. The theme of red continues as there is a line seperating the ' The albums of 2010 and what artists will be included. The artists names are in black on white background with red bullet points in theme colours. Artist names are in bold as they are important and stand out to the audience. The names also go from big to small. A yellow pug is also included as there is a special offer.

Q front cover

The first magazine front cover that i analysed was Q. Straight away you can see that the main colours used on the magazine front cover are red, white, black and grey. The red represents love and passion which ties in well with the seductiveness of the main image of Cheryl Cole. The black and the grey fit in well with the genre of this magazine which it rock with a slight gothic and indie edge. In contrast with the black white is used to make it stand out. Overall the main colours give a dark, sexy feel to it, which would appeal to their core audience, men. The three main colours chosen for this front cover also connotate sophistication and sexy. The masthead is situated in the top left hand corner of the magazine, bright red background and Q in white. The Q is in itallic font and this connotates sophistication. This magazine cover unlike NME uses the right and left collumn allignment which connotes organisation and sophisitcation. The close up image of Cheryl Cole is very different style to what the audience is used to seeing her like, this will encourage the audience to read the magazine as they are interested in seeing her this way. The way she is made to look here portrays a rock/gothic look which is completely different to the Cheryl Cole that the audience is used to as when she was in girls aloud this was the complete opposite type of magazine she would be featured in, as Girls aloud was a pop group they would have featured in music magazines such as top of the pops for example so this new look that we are seeing on the front cover indicates a whole new Cheryl and music career that the audience will be anticipating to see. The red of cheryl coles lips matches in with the colour scheme, which connotates sexy, seductive etc. The grey of the blade ring on her finger also matches in with the grey in the colour scheme. The water falling on cheryl cole, the smoky eyes and the open mouth, tongue touching the blade ring also help to connotate sexiness and seductiveness of the front cover and give it a risky edge. The smoky eyes also tie in with the gothic/rock dark theme of the magazine. As they have not gone for the usual hairsyle of Cherly Cole one of her significant features her volumnous hair, they have created the effect of her being outside in the rain with wet hair this implies that they want her main face features to stand out as they have concentrated on her eyes and lips to stand out and attract the audience. The colour of cherly cole's skin is almost a grey-ish colour fitting in with the colour scheme also helping to make her features stand out. The word 'rock' stands out as it is in large times news roman red font showing that the magazines genre is rock. They also include "The UK's biggest music magazine" this helps the audience understand that they are reading a professional magazine of a good standard. The coverline is 'Three words' in which there is a pun used as the name of Cheryl Coles new album is 3 words, and there is actual three words on the front cover are 'Cheryl Cole rocks'. The words also go from big to small making 'rock' the biggest word as Q is a rock magazine. This text will catch the readers eye as it is bold and red.

AS Media Brief

The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.