Cover analysis - Q with Madonna

This is the May 2008 edition of Q, featuring Madonna as the cover star. I think this particular issue of Q is aimed more at women, generally denoting this from the "Women in Music" and the fact it has a female celebrity on the front, so I chose it as I'm not sure whether my own target audience will be gender specific or not.
I'll focus on the image of Madonna mostly, as I think it's quite an unsual stance, but I will explore the other elements.
It's a fairly close up shot, from the chest up, giving it a feeling of intimacy, maybe trying to connote to the reader it's personal to them and because she's about the distance away a friend would stand it could be the magazine trying to ease the reader into a comfortable position or hinting that the article inside can substitute for personal relationships. However, I interpret the fist facing the reader and the hood-up to be very hostile and anti-social, which probably isn't the preferred reading, therefore I don't think it's been coded well as it seems contradictory to the close-up shot.
The hood is a signifier with many possible interpretations, but personally I think the preferred reading is that it means she's hiding something, secrets, that may be revealed inside the magazine, when assumably the hood comes off. This would compliment the closeness of the camera shot, and it is a technique I think Q is using to appeal to the target audience, who are probably interested in celebrity gossip and secrets of their lifestyle. Alternative connotations of the hood, which will be influenced heavily by the reader's opinion of Madonna, could include she's trying to hide away the fact she's a celebrity (possibly the signified meaning of someone who feels her lifestyle is excessive?), by appearing in something the target audience may wear, however this probably wouldn't attract readers if they interpreted it like this as the are considering buying Q because of the music made by celebrities. Also her celebrity status is reinstated with the display of the Chanel logo (seen as the reader views the headline) as it's like the visual form of name-dropping. The hood may also be hinting towards the recent "hoody culture" formation, yet that isn't really who this magazine will be aimed at so wouldn't be a very effective connotation, so it could possibly be an aberrant reading coming from a member of a that very stereotype.
The colour scheme of the image is very monotone, black and silver, which gives both a futuristic feel (trying to promote Madonna's youth to prove she's not a crumbly old celeb who's embarrassing to listen to?) and possibly a tough vibe. The half-glove gives off a biker/gangster feel, the silver pattern looking similar to a knight's chainmail, yet these hard interpretations are softened by the edge of girly, blonde, curly hair peeking round the side.
Her facial expression is what I call the "seduction pose", often used on perfume adverts as I learned in GCSE Media Studies, but possibly not used for the aspirational value it holds on advertisements. She could have been positioned like that in order to attract the continuous male buyers of Q, who wouldn't be interested in the womanly feature of this issue.
To finish the image analysis, she overlaps the masthead of the magazine, suggesting importance, but also suggesting the magazine name and image are recognisable, therefore promoting a good reputation.
Moving onto the colour used, the colour scheme matches that of the logo, which seems unusual for Q, as I know from looking at other issues they don't normally do this. I was thinking that maybe it was to appeal to the more womanly audience of this issue, as the cover now looks very colour co-ordinated and neat, which may connote a very perfect and organised vibe to women browsing the magazines shelves as they will appreciate how matching it is. Also they may have used the same red as the Q logo for the text because it is a symbolic sign which may be read by women as the original and very iconic lipstick colour (pillar box red), so it appeals well to the target audience in the preferred reading. However, the black, white and red, may also by very symbolic to a film fan, of horror movies, so this could be an aberrant reading which wouldn't have the encoded effect. Also, the colour scheme may be viewed as quite classy, as it is mostly monochrome, like a silent movie, which contradicts the messages portrayed by the futuristic style image, therefore suggesting that it's a bit of both - grown-up but up to date.
The font is very clean-cut, no serifs and no ambiguous letters. I think it's plain and simple as a signifier that it is sophisticated, to allow the colour to give more emphasis and for the bold and italics to be more noticeable. This therefore allows the magazine to draw the reader to certain points, where the very mundane font is slightly different in colour, size or shape (like the headline and quote), as this is where the readers eye will naturally be attracted to. The only variation of the very square font, is the Q logo, which looks as if it has cover from a serifed font, and this gives the whole magazine a classic look, and makes it seem like a reliable source as it's not gimmicky as if it's trying to hide something. Also, this connotation is actually enhanced by what I mentioned before, that Madonna covers it slightly, suggesting that is has a good reputation and doesn't need to put it's corporate image too "out there" in order to attract readers.
The language of the cover lines used altogether seems to promote popular culture, another reason why I chose this cover as this is the area of music I wish to create a magazine about. As well as featuring a veteran of mainstream music (Madonna), all the acts lined up to interview her are very recognisable and successful in this current time (therefore I consider them as mainstream). I think this "gathering" that it's presented to be would really appeal to the audience as it's so many celebrities packed into one feature, and it personally intrigues me when celebrities collaborate in some way, so it should therefore draw the reader in. Also the way the list of celebrities is laid out, like a shopping list, with ellipses and the "all" in italics seems to emphasise just how many people are featured and prove to the reader what a good source of diversion the magazine can be as it's like a whole world of celebrities. Also the acts who are "at the movies" and "in a pub" are referencing to very mainstream pastimes, therefore presenting celberities on a normal human level, another aspect of celeb lives that the public are interested in. I think the indexical sign of the Great British flag promotes a patriotic feel, but with the sticker style it is brought up-to-date therefore much more appealing to the fairly young target audience of thsi magazine.
To conclude I think this particular issue of Q promotes popular music and presents it in a very grown-up, sophisticated way. I think I will take a lot of inspiration from this if I decide to feature a solo artist, as this is the kind of thing I'm trying to promote. I also noticed it doesn't annouce it's genre therefore leaving the possibility that anyone can buy it, depending on the impression they get from the cover. I think possible conventions I can draw from this, although it's the first one I've looked at are the image overlapping the photo, simple fonts, few colours or a scheme and the headline (name of featured celebrity) almost rivalling the logo in size. I don't think the image is that conventional, so I will look into other images to see if they're any similar.