AS Research and Planning: Q Magazine Cover Semiotic Analysis

Q Magazine is a well known music magazine in the UK. It covers a wide range of genres; including pop, rock, indie, grime and dance. The magazine is versatile and appeals to a wide range of music fans, but their main audience are men from the ages of eighteen to thirty, as the music isn’t biased with the mantra of ‘good looking half naked men’ gracing their pages, as does some other female orientated music magazines like Top of the Pops. Also, studying through the magazine there are mainly photos of men, with a definite lack of femininity; men do not wish to read (and look at) women in Q, as this is a music magazine not a top shelf magazine. The men inside aren’t photo shopped, half naked and don’t have rippling and tanned torsos, which is an element why it is mainly a man’s magazine.

The main image used is of musical icon and legend John Lennon, as the magazine is celebrating his 70th birthday. The image is in black and white, which has many interesting connotations. It denotes John Lennon is dead and that black and white symbolises the passing of time and reflects upon death, the image is taken in 1965 (which is indicated by a piece of text in the corner) which effectively points out the time when he was at the peak of his career. The photograph is a close up to mid shot and he is staring contentedly at the camera, the effect being that the reader feels that he is looking at them and addressing the reader directly. The background is white, which simplifies yet cleverly maximises the effect of the cover as it is not too busy and leaves a good background for the content features, strap line and masthead. The background also amplifies Lennon, as he is black, so there is effective contrasting.

The masthead is situated in the left hand corner and is in a very large font, this is because the magazine name is only one letter, so the scale of the name is enlarged to make up for the lack of a long name. The font is in white, but contrasts with a red background. Psychologically, red is an extremely strong colour. It conjures up a variety of contracting and conflicting emotions and denotes love and passion to violence and warfare. Metaphorically, red both symbolises cupid and the devil. Red is also a stimulant, which studies have shown can have a physical effect of respiration and increased blood pressure. Red also denotes power and authority, like for business people and red carpet events. Q used red as a part of their colour scheme to grab attention via the ‘traffic light’ advertising theory that red stands for ‘stop! And read me.’ Red urges consumers to take action (to buy the magazine) and doesn’t allow the magazine to sink into the background. The white font used contrasts exceptionally well against the red background. The white appears brighter when contrasted against such a vibrant red which makes the masthead clearer and easier to read.

The strap line is also red and is situated just below the masthead. Q has used the same colour contrasting technique here, using a red font against the white of the main image (which also acts as the background of the cover). The text just below the strap line acts to add weight and depth to both the strap line and main image. It is written in a gold font and uses signifiers such as ‘unseen’, ‘last’ and ‘whole’. These words signify exclusiveness (which for such a musical icon, who is long dead, is unusual which urges the reader to read), up to date (as far as possible), and a promise to the reader to tell them everything about the man, which due to his status musically, will interest many music lovers.

There is more text below this, which is written in a smaller and white font, as it overlaps the darkness of the image. This is for effective contrasting and again works for the black and white scheme of the cover and allows the reader to read it more clearly. Below this, are three images of alternate covers readers can purchase. The signifier ‘4’ is exerted, with the effect being that the triangle that the number is written in is pointed toward the images and the text above it.. This adds emphasise and entices the reader to look at the images.

To the right of the cover the focus isn’t on John Lennon, but the content features of the magazine. The headings of these features are red, like the mast head and the strap line. Signifiers like exclusive! Signify that readers will be getting inside gossip and vicarious knowledge, which urges people to purchase the magazine. There is a stamp of red, a red circle with white text inside which tells us that there are thirty seven pages of reviews inside the magazine. The border is gold, with the text at the top enforcing the main focus of the magazine, John Lennon, The font of ‘70th’ has a classical edge to it, adding weight to the significance of the issue being a collector’s edition to musical fans.

Most notably, Q rarely uses black and white images on their covers, with this cover being an exception. This is for reason stated before, emphasising the fact he is dead. The colour scheme of red, black, white and gold is extremely interesting and is relevant to Lennon. As we know, red denotes violence and warfare, and the cover uses a significant amount of red. This has connotations with the way Lennon died; he was murdered by a fan with a gun. Also, the gold border and the text below the strap line which is written in gold is relevant to Lennon. Psychologically, gold is the colour of riches and extravagance. The darker tone of gold the magazine uses lends richness, warmth and compassion. We can make connotations toward Lennon here, as he is such a famous figure, who had a lot of wealth. The expression he is pulling suggests contentedness and peace. He looks neither happy nor sad, which can symbolise that in death he is at peace with the world. The image is a verisimilitude image, as the image, with the connotations toward death and time, is true to life.