Lauren Statter

Q Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Target Audience- The target audience for Q magazine is clearly for older people who are aged 25 and over. This is clearly highlighted through the layout of the page as it is very organised, is not over the top with colour and has a neat structure.

House Style- Throughout the magazine the colours that are used are red, white and black. The red stands out against the white background> These colours give the magazine a calm and sophisticated which is done for the audience

Design Balance- The contents page is informally balanced. This is because the photo of Adele is much larger than the writing on the left hand side explaining what is inside the magazine.

Gutenberg Design Principle- The reader's eyes are first drawn to the top left hand corner of the page which is known as the primary optical area. In the contents page the readers eyes are drawn to the name of the magazine and what is on this page which is the Contents The readers eyes drift to the bottom right corner where another story is being highlighted. In the left hand corner known as the weak fallow area, the magazine mentions less important information as this is the last place that the reader will look.

Imagery- There is only two images on the contents page this adds to the target audience of older people as it keeps it simple and neat. The image of Adele takes up most of the page to emphasis she is the top story in the magazine. The image in the bottom right hand corner indicates some sort of significance to the magazine. The colours are constant throughout all of Q magazines so the audience recognise what magazine they are reading.

Lauren Statter

Target Audience- The target audience for NME magazine is more males than females as the genre of the magazine is largely associated with rock, alternative and indie music. The colours of the magazine are mainly black with some red and white. The black emphasises the magazine is mainly aimed at boy teenagers as it has a sort of edgy look to it.

House Style- The house style of the magazine are the colours black, white and red. The layout of the contents page in almost every NME magazine is the same so the reader knows exactly where to look for the top story of the week.

Design Balance- This contents page is informally balanced as there is a big photo in the middle of the page and the columns are not all the same width. This is because the photo is the top story of the week so it is made bigger to highlight its importance. The writing on the right hand column shows the other stories inside the magazine.

Gutenberg Design Principle- The reader's eyes are first drawn to the top left hand corner of the page which is known as the primary optical area. In the contents page the readers eyes are drawn to the name of the magazine and what is on this page which is the Contents The readers eyes drift to the bottom right corner where extra information is being shown.. In the left hand corner the magazine mentions less important information as it is an advertisement.

Imagery-There is only one main image on this page to indicate the importance of the story and for the reader;s eyes to immediately by drawn towards it The layout of the magazine is a bit all over the place as a lot of stories are being shown on the right hand side which adds to the target audience of the magazine

Q and NME magazines have very different styles because they have different target audience and the magazines tell stories about different genres of music.

NME is a relatively cheap magazine just costing £2.20. it is also issued weekly. This magazine is aimed at boy teenagers. We can tell this because it has advertisements for boys inside it.

Lauren Statter

Q and NME have some similarities as well because there contents pages are both informally balance and they both have the same colour scheme of red, black and white as these colours clearly standout against each other. Another similarity of these two magazines is that they are round about the same price as NME magazine costs £2.20 whereas a Q magazine costs £3.

Differences between these magazines are they are aimed at different people and are based on different genres. Another difference is that NME is releases a new issue every week whereas Q magazine only release12 issues throughout the year. These two magazines are different in their layouts as NME has a lot more information on their contents page whereas Q are much more neat and simple in their layout and it does not look overcrowded with information like NME does.