Q Magazine was originally called cue do to a phrase often used in music 'Cue the Music', but it was decide to change the name to Q as there was worry that people would confuse it with a snooker magazine- However, they still use 'Q the music' in their tag lines but mainly on their website. This magazine markets themselves to the A to B audience and sells their magazine at around £3.90 a month which quite expensive but actually near enough matches Vogue Magazine. But the magazine features things that a more educated audience would look for and appreciate.
The way which also indicates this is an up-market music magazine are the advertisers, you won't have Lidl advertising here, but you will get top end liqueur brands and the classic one is Jack Daniels as it has quite a big link to music and they pride themselves on high quality long established liquors. The reason why it seems to link to music is because all musicians are seen drinking it on tour, so it's quite influential. The latest models of cars always feature with in the magazines advertising, this will be because the magazine aims towards males more and this is a typical thing which most men admire.
Florence Welsh stars as the the main cover model. The magazine is audienced towards males primarily and this could be to the answer to why she is styled in this provocative outfit, this is something which the singer is not associated with unlike other mainstream artists such as Rhianna. It is a change from a typical 'rock star' male being on the cover as even the main feature is called 'the 100 greatest front men' which initially I do think when reading this that a guy would have been the cover image. In the cover image Florence is surrounded by the biggest city landmarks in the world, especially with London of course and then followed by Paris which are considered as the most exciting and happening cities of our culture with our current generation. The way she has been shot is from a low angle shot this could be a subtle way of the photographer trying to empower women, and try and look domineering, this is challenging the typical stereotype. I imagine the typical background and lifestyle is someone from one of these cities or someone who visits often, this then leads me to think that they must be well cultured and there for crossing into middle class or upper class, this is how the background explains its self. The fact that Florence was a new and emerging artist at the time shows that there is a need for an older generation to be immersed in new talents or at least teach a forever developing generation. I think this because on the cover there are acts mentioned such as Iggy Pop, Freddie Mercury and Axl Rose which apart from Axl most of them are dead and this really does show the targeted audience and whose music generation that they grew up in.
Q Magazine are really traditional with their use of fonts, these usually seem to use Times New Roman most of the time and are quite formal with their choice of fonts and themes. There are no curved edges or anything fancy but again this must be purely down to the target audience, as an older generation they don't want fancy they want straight to the point. Q do this very well. They are also really good at maintaining a constant colour scheme through out the whole magazine consisting of red, black and white. This continues primarily to the contents page where they have a white column, black coloured text and red background on the boxed text, this is almost exactly how the front cover theme goes as well. They have also put the issue number on the top corner and this shows how long the magazine has been established for and therefor generates credibility. The fact that the magazine have also put the link to their Myspace account also shows that this may be a way of reaching out to a younger audience too, however this may not be the case as Myspace has been linked with some serious success stories of stars using this as a way of getting their music out there; so this may be another reason in keeping with the music magazine and with the music trends.
The way Q magazine takes on new and old bands to widen the audience and hopefully introduce different music scenes to its audience is important. We know this as at the time the band 'The Courteeners' we relatively new and up coming (and have definitely succeeded in the music industry, just look at them now!) they have a large central picture on the contents page and in contrast we have Nick Cave who was popular in the 70's and 80's but has recently formed again as the 'Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds'; it is his music which the target audience would have grown up with and this would hopefully entice the readers to pick this issue up as it would have been new news as the time.
Having pull quotes and interesting stories to headlines this makes customers want to pick the magazine up and read whats being said inside, this is especially for city slickers who most probably don't have a lot of time on their hands. It is important for any magazine to catch the readers eye and this is why they do these pull quotes on the outside as it gives the reader a rough idea of the content and hopefully it's something interesting enough for the reader to actually buy. The magazine also has things like a crossword which are usually things that an older audience seem to enjoy as they are challenging. But, unlike NME they do not have a gig guide because this target audience will probably be a little too old for gig where they will be pushed around and also the artist in which they would pay for for and be interested in have either died or retired from the music scene.
In the double page spread for Q Magazine the colours used in this spread and in the image are in keeping with the rest of the magazines theme, these are sophisticated and grown up which appeals to the older audience of 30+, it would be unlikely to use brash colours such as bright pink and yellow etc as these would not be appealing to this audience.
The pull quote which is in red with a red banner above it is the first thing the reader is likely to read when they turn to this page. This pull quote also sets the tone for this article, however on it's own makes little sense, but this is what will make the reader want to read more. Using the informal phrase 'fuck up' this is key as this shows that this audience is less likely to take themselves seriously. This is again important as it shows that the target audience is older but again is not too old to appreciate new music.
The photograph takes up 2/3 of the whole two page spread, this because the image is shot in landscape and to show dominance of the person in the image they have dresses her in a really bold leotard/ body with hot pants. Again they are keeping in colour coordination of Red, White and Black. Q magazine is very image aware, so keeping to this is keeping the image sophisticated, in actual fact the colours used to be used to be provocative but which the image is slightly but it also has a level of classiness so it is in keeping of the magazines morals.
The use of a modern city skyline could symbolise that she is a new icon of our generation or that she is on to take bigger things. The typography of the article as a whole is very formal and the way it has been set out, it has not been broken down into an interview style with the question in bold and the answers given underneath, this can sometimes be a little harder on the eye but again it is aimed at an older audience.
