Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Q magazine is one of the largest selling music magazines in the UK and has been around since 1986.
It's biggest competitor is Kerrang as they are both published by Bauer Media Group.
The First thing you notice on this front cover is the feisty, intimidating, seductive, medium close up of Cheryl Cole. This straight away draws in the reader as the image connects the reader/ audience by starring straight at them. Dark colours are very eerie and mysterious creating tension and making you want to read about Cheryl Cole.
All the colours on the front page co-ordinate with each other making the cover look more professional and well presented. I hope to give the same effect on my music magazine front cover.
'Q' is the second thing on the page that draws attention. It's BIG and RED and is positioned in the same place on the cover, for each individual issue of the magazine. 'ROCKS' is very appropriate for the style of the magazine, as Q is mostly rock orientated. It could persuade the audience to buy the magazine as it is clearly stating that the magazine rocks, Or could suggest that the genre of the magazine is rock and therefore would appeal to a specific audience. The cover lines are keeping in the black and red theme of the front cover, but have been clearly presented to stand out from the background and been highlighted in white. I like this effect as you don't often see this on magazines and it create a nice touch. 'The UK's Biggest Music Magazine' is the tag line of the magazine. It reassures the reader by suggesting that they won't get any better than Q. Most magazines use this on the front covers at the top of the page as the eye naturally starts to read from the top to the bottom, meaning the reader should reader the tag line before anything else.