Music Magazine Research: Q

Q Magazine Logo

Q magazine is a monthly magazine currently published in the United Kingdom by Bauer Consumer Media. First published in 1986, Q’s creators, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, felt dismayed by the lack of music press at the time when considering the new generation of music emerging. Q set itself, in terms of quality, way ahead of other music magazines at the time, with each monthly issue encompassing incredibly detailed photographs in, in general, higher standards of printing. In early days of publishing, the magazine was sub-titled “The modern guide to music and more”, and was originally called ‘Cue’, as in to ‘cue a song’, ready to be played. The name was changed subsequently due to the confusion that could potentially emerge about the magazine appealing to pool and snooker fans, as the title would remind readers of a pool or snooker cue. Also, a single-lettered masthead/title is deemed more prominent and impacting on shelves and newsstands.

Regarding content, the magazine has an extensive review section, featuring: new music releases, reissues(music), music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It uses a star-rating system from one to five stars; indeed, the rating an album receives in Q is often added to print and television advertising for the album in the UK and Ireland. It also compiles a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months.

Another prominent feature of the magazine is the consistent interviews with popular musicians and bands at the time of release, or perhaps even past legends. This is a much devoted-to feature of Q and as a reader myself, it appeals as one of the most interesting sections of the magazine.

Above is Q magazine’s February 2010 front cover (FC), featuring Lady Gaga. Despite the common misconception that Q is typically a ‘rock’ magazine, it is actually defined by the founders and publishers as a ‘new music’ magazine. There has just been more rock-related covers and articles as these types of musicians are under-publicised elsewhere – unlike pop artists. The magazine’s masthead features the traditional and recurrent ‘Q’ logo in a red box, which as the magazine developed, crew more cornered but the iconic and recognizable logo no longer has to pose as a main image on the FC. Sometimes the logo is even covered by part of a photograph as it’s so iconic. A similar technique is used with the cover-line ‘Lady Gaga’, where the A in Gaga is behind the body of Lady Gaga, the related celebrity. Generally speaking, the cover-line portrays a simplistic colour scheme of red, white and black – obviously in consistency with the magazine’s prestigious logo. Other cover-lines that feature on the FC are the black and red coloured text on the right beside Lady Gaga, that predominantly feature the names of recognisable musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix and Vampire Weekend. The bottom right features a ‘plus’ column of artists that will feature in articles throughout the magazine. In general, I think the magazine cover is a success as it strikes you but is not overwhelming, and it has achieved its fundamental aim – to appeal to readers without putting them off. With this magazine cover, I am drawn in and intrigued.

Q Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Q Magazine Contents Page

Above is a photograph of a Q Magazine contents page, and despite it not coming from the same issue as the former FC, the design of the contents page is consistent throughout all Q issues.

All issues of Q feature a contents page that spreads across two pages, as it’s quite an image-heavy design. Each one of these images is accompanied by a reference number that refers readers to the correct article or feature, that are scattered around the page with the corresponding page numbers. As you can see above, the left-hand side page features one large and dominating image of a band, with a graphic below stating ’50 albums of 2010′ – a direct link to the referenced article on page 48 (seen to the right-hand side of dominating image). The banner that pans across the top of the entire double-page spread is in correspondence with the colour scheme of the logo: red and white, which is a consistently apparent theme throughout the magazine and always has been since the magazine started. The right-hand side of the double-page spread features a lot of imagery but smaller yet more frequent graphics. These images also have a paired number reference with the column of articles on either outside of the pages. Q’s prominent and frequently popular, sought after reviews also get a mention on the bottom of the right-hand contents page, which has emerged more recently due to the popularity of the review feature. Q’s structure appears to have no definite borders, and graphics are peeking over the edges and overlapping other graphics – but done in such a way that makes the contents page look creative and loose. A fair amount of symmetry has been used to keep the contents page a little ‘in-tact’, however.

Personally, I like the double-page spread format, as it allows the designers space to portray more information in a less conjunct way. There’s a nice balance between negative space and content, which I think makes the image hard-hitting enough to make a positive impact, but yet again, not too overwhelming. Simplicity at its finest.

Q Magazine: Double Page Spread Analysis

Q Magazine: Double Page Spread

The double page spread contrasts greatly to the following BBC Music double page spread, by that I mean despite the similar elements (a large image and supporting text), this double page spread features one page for a large image of an easily recognizable Lady Gaga, and a full-page of supporting text. This two are placed opposing one another but the blandness of the alone text has been abolished by the remarkable illuminated ‘L’ that overlaps the text, but is translucent to allow readers to read the content. This has been placed to prevent readers being immediately repelled by the large amounts of writing, but as the subjected celebrity is incredibly famous, many audiences would be more than happy to read any amount of writing about her.

The photograph on the left features Lady Gaga, taken at mid-shot whilst the subject is nude, but covering any explicit features. The photograph is black and white, along with the text, which contrasts greatly with the resounding ‘L’ on the latter page. The graphology on the latter page also encompasses initials that section the article into different parts, which could make it easier for audiences to navigate the article.

This contents page is incredibly successful when considering the design comprises of three elements: text, a large letter and a photograph. The simple but striking image perfectly compliments Q’s style and appeals to all readers without blinding them with luminosity and scattered colours. I also hope to use this as a key style model when creating my own double page spread.