magazine cover deconstruction 2

Lily Allen, known for her unqiue voice blending sweetly with the genre of pop has made her become a cult hero among the pop charts. So now lets begin getting into depts of this front cover.

Q is a music based magazine with a whole range of media coverage that excels the perception of only music. This is evident as it incites the readers to dive into the magazine by unveiling the 25 greatest rock movies. This breaches further into a whole different audience, for people who are interested in the filming industry however it creates a middle boundary for two interests, people who are into the genre rock music and others who are into movies these two interests can combine into a new audience for this article in the Q magazine.

The target audience of Q is teenagers’, young adults stretching to middle aged age group both female and male. This cover alone seems to be dominantly focusing on a male audience as it is a very revealing cover, one that is seductive but in a subtle way. Yet triggers the hormones of a lot of male or even female audiences’, this very attractive image of Lily Allen is the main image centred in the middle of the front cover to capture the eyes of people passing by or glazing upon the magazine. The style of the magazine is modern and simplistic. Sticking to a set colour pallet and using the same font in a range of sizes and colours creates a clean, organised looking cover. I believe that the magazine appeals to male and females, this issue especially, but targets a youthful audience with minimal text and sometimes complex and interesting. The cover suggests that we may see more of Lily Allen if we look into the pages of the magazine, however her body language such she’s protecting herself and doesn’t want anyone to see her exposed. This brings the emotion of sympathy in as we can only feel sorry for this pop star constantly in the spot light of the public eye. On the other hand she has to wild animals placed by her sides protecting her, these vicious and life threatening animals is a testament to her character as she is strong and has overcome so many struggles in life and comes out still fighting and strong as a panther.

 The main colours are blue, white and red this is linked with union jack flag especially as the sub headings display British bands that have dominant legacy’s around the world such as; Oasis, U2 and Stone roses. Plenty of bands covering a lot of genres to cater for any musical audience. The main stand out colour is black that contrast with the white naturally great, giving the cover an old fashioned look with modern stars featured on the cover. Q stay along the lines of the new dawn of music but keep their musical roots which audiences, band and the world of music respect as people don’t forget bands they once loved. It can be seen as old stars passing the torch onto new stars. As you know with Q magazine you will discover new exciting bands but the reason you went to the magazine is because they feature bands you already love. The font of lily Allen is basic but creates mass effect as it’s spread across the whole cover with the title of sexy beast in colours of blue and white that symbolizes tranquillity, peace with no harm what so ever this is opposite of the meaning of the word ‘beast’ this plays humours irony upon the cover. Although she is described as a beast she is naturally a lovely person that is indicated by the colour choice and font. There are no harmful indications through text. ‘Sexy beast’ is a use of both oxymoron and metaphor, it displays both sides of her character one that is seductive and desirable but one that is harmful like an animal, and this takes the human out of her. The masthead is top right corner of the page, this is where it is naturally is. It forms an image and brand audiences’ can identify with this, this is used to make the magazine noticeable as our eyes go firstly to the right hand corner. When we see Q we know what we expect, and that is music. Q is in red and white, a very romantic and caring colour, suggesting a bond between the magazine and audience. It’s a fact red is the first colour a human eye sees does this mean Q is the first magazine we see upon a shelf. Maybe this is the answer to their success.

The camera shot is a worms eye view, displaying a dominant figure of Lily Allen, in a powerful situation as we are looking up to her, like all her fans may possibly do. The audience now sees her from an idolising angle. This can only mean Lily Allen is at the top of her game, the biggest stage of her career being successful in the music industry. This would mean she is gaining more fans that would buy Q just because she is featured on it. On the cover there is repetiton through the word ‘wicked’ being said twice to describe Lily Allen are we in for a devilish interview with the hot topics of her life this may excite readers as Q are going to give what other magazines aren’t, clear truthful factual pieces of controversial topics of Lily Allen being described by her.

There is a blue plus sign to say Q have so much more to offer you, this seems that the readers get their money’s worth as they are getting value for money, which is a big plus on their behalf especially in this decreasing economy where money is dominant and tight. People don’t like to spend often and much. With this magazine the strap lines display more articles and bands that are in the magazine, this is a teaser for what will be in the magazine.