Making my questionnaire

Now that I've came up with a range of names and had a general think about my magazine, I'll make a questionnaire for my target readers to fill in, and therefore decide on features of my creation. I'm slightly worried at the minute as even though I've done most of my research, I'm still not confident that I'll be able to make a professional looking and credible music magazine, so hopefully after I've collected these results I'll feel as if I'm further in my progress to creating a proper magazine. Also, the deadline for our proposal pitch is looming, so I need to make sure all my research and questionnaire analysis is finished by then so I can include them in my proposal.

My questionnaire has 13 questions in, all which should give me a decision of a separate feature;

1. How old are you? - Typical question, just to see what range of people answered my questionnaire and to make sure I get a representative sample of my target audience, therefore proving all my results valid. The 2 categories I'm looking for answers from is the 15-20 and the 21-26 classes. Anything above or below will just widen my sample and gain general views from people who aren't necessarily my target audience but may still be interested in my magazine.
   
2. Does your current playlist include mainstream music? - Again to see how valid my results are and to see if they are relavant, however I hope people have an understanding of what mainstream music is, but I can always triangulate this for their answers of a later question, asking about 3 mainstream artists their interested in, to see if they have the right idea about mainstream music.


3. If you were browsing the music magazines, which name would you be more drawn to and more likely to buy? - This is where I just listed my names for people to pick, but didn't include all the ones from my previous post as I decided some weren't ones I'd be happy with using if they were picked by my target audience.
   
4. Should the celebrity on the cover look directly into the camera? - I just asked this to see how much flexibility I would have when considering alternative stances and facial expressions, depending on what my audience thought of images that follow you round the room with eyes looking straight in the camera. I personally think it's quite effective as it means the celebrity is always watching, however if the reader interprets it negatively, in a freaky way it could make them feel uncomfortable with the magazine.
   
5. Who would you prefer to see on the cover? - This was just to gain an idea of what artists were more popular currently; girl groups, boy groups, solo female artist, solo male artist or a mixed group. I may decide to go with whatever my target readers tell me or I may decide for myself which is best, as I need to consider what would be best if I'm trying to keep it simple if I'm going to stick by my mini-revelation. However, this result will also be useful for my other cover lines as I plan to use real existing artists to make sure my genre comes across.
   
6. Which colour scheme appeals to you most? - I had no previous idea of what colour scheme to use because I was stressed over what connotations of colours would give my pop magazine credibility and thinking about how to keep it simple, so I just created 6 fairly random colour schemes, however all included black and white in order to be inkeeping with the conventions of a cover, and to give a general base of colour. But I will see which is most popular, apply it to my magazine's house style and just alter it accordingly, and hopefully this method will work. If not, I may just conjure up a colour scheme as I go along, as it is something that can be endlessly altered.


7. Which shot distance appeals to you most? - I used 1 picture in altering shot distances to try and present it fairly, however because there is action in the background of my picture this may cause bias toward the long shot and full length shot. I think I will use the results of this question to determine my shot distances for my cover, DPS and contents.
   
8. Do you prefer a Q&A interview style or and article interview style? - This was straightforward question to see what style to use. I prefer the Q&A style personally, as I think general chatter can be more included on not so relavant issues so is more fitting to my mainstream magazine, and means it doesn't have to be deadly serious about music.


9. What colour images should be used on my double page spread? - Although all the ones I have analysed have used colour, which is probably more conventional, I have saw from my general research of looking through music magazines, that some DPS images have effects on them like black and white, and sepia effects. I'll see if my target readers prefer any or see if they would warm to an alternative effect to colour.


10. How many images should be on my contents page? - Just like the cover, different size images and shot distances have different effects, and I have saw contents use 1 full page image, 1 main image, 2 smallers images and 3 smaller images. I think although the loose convention is 1 main image I don't think it's too necessary so I will let my audience decide.


11. Do you prefer an article to be typed over the image or separated from the image on a double page spread? - Although the convention is to have it separated in black on white, which is what I'm planning to use, I just want to see if this is what my audience actually prefers, so to see if this convention is a good code.


12. Please name 3 mainstream artists you're interested in at the moment... - Again to gain an idea of artists my target readers would like to see in my coverlines and contents, and to see the style people are into to see if this would give me any guidance on how to style my cover.
    
13. Do you have any other advice or suggestions for my music magazine,that would make you more likely to buy it? - Just if anyone has any ideas, as I'm lacking in that department at the minute!

I'll hand around 20 of these questionnaires out to people I know who may be potential targets readers, I think this should give me a well-rounded view and results to use in my cover.

Naming my magazine

Now that I've carried out research of existing covers, contents and DPS, and have an idea of conventions and techniques which are used to appeal to the target audience, I can now decide on small features to start planning the creation of my own magazine through my research into my target audience.

I want to come up with a couple of names for my magazine that I'd be happy with, then feature them in my questionnaire to see which one is most popular, and therefore which one I will use.

The only condition I have for the name, is that it doesn't sound too cheesy but still connotes popular music to the reader, especially if I'm not going to declare the genre on the front cover. However, I think this will be fairly hard and I'll have to pick a good combination of name and font to pull off a classy masthead. Or I may try to come up with a modern, contemporary name, just to give my mainstream magazine that slight edge that doesn't fit into the rest of the cover. So classy or modern, or a bit of both, I'll let my questionnaire decide.

Existing names include, Q, Clash, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vibe, Spin, Blender, Artrocker, DJ, Paste, Rock Sound, NME, Kerrang! and Mojo. Some of these seem pretty unusual to me, but the majority are one word names, and fairly short, so I think I will try to mimic this catchy effect with my own ideas. Using slang as the title is something I've considered, but may not carry out in case it seems too childish.

Possible names I've came up with are;

• Disco/ Discoball - I like this because it connotes cheesy discos, yet I think I could give it a glam edge depending on the font I use and the general style of my cover which would give a good contrast.
  
• Bolt - I was thinking of a bolt of lightening, and I think it's a strong word which people would remember, and it has strong, powerful signified meanings which could imply pop is not a weak genre.


• Wink - I think this has the perfect balance of childishness cheekiness and sophisticated flirting and again is a lovely sounding word which would stick in people's heads.


• OOH - I really like this as it's so contemporary and kitsch, but I'm not sure if it would be better for a gossip magazine as it connotes shock.


• Shizz - A slang word, and a symbolic sign of youth culture, but I don't know if it fits in with the mainstream genre.


• Jerk - As an insult as one signified meaning, a quick movement in another meaning, but just a generally individual word. Also often used in music.


• Hush - A soft-sounding word which I therefore this gives a sophisticated feel, and I also like the obvious contrast of it meaning quiet whereas music is basically just noise.


• Pumpkin - I think this is great as it's just so random, however to some it may seem more fitted to a mother's magazine because of it's use as a child's pet name.
  
• Spank - I think this would be perfectly aimed at my target audience, however may not be very appropriate.


• Jiffy - I think this is quite modern, and just a good word to be honest.


• Gong - Connection to music, something to attract attention so I hope this message would be passed through it. Also awards are often called gongs, which is a positive interpetation.


• Whistle - I'd considered "Hum", but it may be too negative with the connoation of smelling bad, so I thought whistle was a better alternative.
  

Some of these will feature in my questionnaire and then I think I will go with the most popular one as long as I think it's been picked for the right reasons.

Links between the cover, DPS and contents

As I'm now finished my in depth research into existing covers, DPS and contents, I just want to round it up before I move on to my audience research. I've found this example of a cover, contents and double page spread which I think represents what I need to do fantastically.

Just because I've been worried about the little things, like what should match in colour, if it was OK to use the same set of images for everything etc., but this puts into perspective what I need to do and gives me control to decide all those little things. It uses Duffy in the same clothes for the cover, contents and DPS, so it's proved to me I can make an effective selection of features without having different clothes, photo shoots and backgrounds. And all along I've been trying to think of a solid idea for my images, not so much a theme, but just something to follow, but this is just so simplistic and easy going it's blasted all the over-organised thoughts from my head. The fact that she's basically just wearing a cardie, and that it isn't perfect white and black, really makes me consider how stiff any of my ideas would have looked as they would have had no spontaneous element at all.

I think this collection is so effective, and has a fresh, contemporary look which I love. It represents modern pop perfectly, plus there's absolutely no way it could be read as cheesy. It gives me a chance to look over the conventions I've came up with, to recognise some of them, and shows me how they can come together to make exactly what I want to make, something that portrays grown up pop so casually. I think a large part of the sophisticated elements of these features is the cool colours, mostly white and black, but with some bright parts that aren't over the top, and the simple fonts, especially on the cover. I just hope I can mimic the vibe this cover gives off with my own original ideas, as the last thing I want to do is copy an already existing magazine style.

Also, I've hoped to use a girlband as my featured artist because I had the most ideas for that, but through my research I've saw that music magazines hardly ever use girlbands, in fact I've only saw one that uses one. So I'm starting to think it may not be the right thing to do, and now looking at how brilliantly simple this collection is, it's made me really want to do a solo female artist. I have plenty covers featuring stars like Duffy, Amy Winehouse, Madonna, Kylie, Alicia Keys and Leona Lewis, and they're all in the right genre for my magazine.

So I think my research has been effective in opening my eyes to the different possibilities of music magazines and shown me that just because I want to make a real pop magazine, it doesn't mean I have to stick rigidly to any kind of rule. Although the sheer amount of things I could do is pretty overwhelming, and as I'm the most indecisive person ever I know I'll find it hard to decide on anything, I don't want to think about it too much so that it ruins my end result. Because finishing off my research has inspired me to go simplistic, I think I may try and keep this decision in order to stop me considering the endless list of other concepts I could do, but if I do suddenly have revelation I'll stick with that.

Now I move onto research into my target audience, where I'll be able to ease myself into the planning and gain feedback on early ideas, which I can then consider in order to carry on developing my magazine's identity.

Contents Analysis - Summary of findings

These are the conventions I've managed to pick up on from my analysis of the 4 contents I gathered.

Language

• Separated into 2 or 3 sections - All of the contents I've looked at have been divided into sections, normally like regulars, features and a more individual part like ClashFashion and QReview. I will look into my own individual feature, but I'll definitely separate it up some way, but I may come up with a little collection, like the Clash names, depending whether I go for the neat feel or the more thrown together look.
• Straightforward meanings - Most of the time it's fairly easy to denote the feature names, however this will probably depend on an individual's circumstances, as the reception theory states, as maybe a reason I wasn't familiar with some of the Clash features was because I'm not involved with that area of music. So I'll have to decide when making my own whether to have clear meanings in my names and descriptions for appreciation or to leave them with more ambiguity in order to intrigue my readers.
• Clever cliches and name combos - Humour and cliches are often used in feature names to make them seem smart and entertaining, although this on the front cover is often seen as juvenile. So I think if I were this convention I'd have to be real careful not to make them too cheesy. Also the name of the magazine is incorporated into regular features, like "Blender Bible","Q Mail" and "Personality Clash", which I think will be quite fun to do depending on my name, but overkill would be more than 3. Also a common feature is "The *MagazineName* Interview" which is something I'll probably use to to be subtly conventional.
• Features for diversion, surveillance and personal identity - Obviously because people find escapism in music, this is an extension of that which makes for diversion from their own lives into that of artists. Although surveillance is described as information which is useful for living, I believe that a lot of the information a reader will learn in here will be useful in their lifestyle, like about gigs, festivals and new music. Because musicians are often role models I think behaviour and values will come across in interviews, therefore making a source for personal identity.

Image

• Use most popular celebrities - For the images on a contents they tend to feature the acts with the biggest or most widespread fan base in order to encourage as many readers as possible, and to show they're a big scale magazine. It's just the same as the cover using the biggest act they've got in that issue, or someone who's purposely been picked to feature on the cover. Also, as I learnt from the Q contents, the images don't have to be massively relevant, although that is misleading, but helps when they are like on the Clash and Blender contents.
• Range in amount - I'm not sure if there's a convention to the amount or size of images on a contents, but I think a general statement could be 1 main image, whether that means just one full page image (like Spin) or a main larger image (like Q), even if there are smaller ones. Even the Blender one could fit subtly to this convention, as it's obvious the Lil Wayne is the main one. I'll ask about this on my questionnaire probably, as it's something I don't really know how to decide, but I really find the full page one very effective.
• Unusual - I think contents images tend to be a little more out there than one on the cover, as they magazine doesn't want to offend or put off the audience so plays it safe on the cover, but inside on the contents they need some abstract element to encourage the reader, like the unusual photo of Madonna in Q, the shock effect the Duffy photo in Spin may have, and all the bright colour of those in Blender.

Font

• Few fonts - Generally all the fonts are fairly simple, but often the one for the small descriptions will be either completely plain or traditional serifed, and the larger one for the titles will have some sort of quirky detail to it like Clash's square serifs and Q's very rounded futuristic font. Sometimes there's a combo of one being serifed, the other not, possibly to create a subtle balanced look of tradition and contemporary, but this isn't always the case if a magazine is aiming for one specific look or the other, like Blender which has an incredibly modern contents, or Rolling Stone where all the fonts are serifed for a more classic look.

Colour

• 3 main colours - On the 3 out of 4 I did, they generally had a 3 colour scheme. Like Clash had black, white and orange, Q had black, white and red, then Blender had black, white and pink. See the pattern? Generally black and white are used to keep it simplistic then maybe the brightest colour is picked out from the images and used for the page numbers and/or titles, so I think this is a convention I'll most likely follow because it ties everything together subtly if there's a lot of colour in the images and it gives quite a neat feel. Also it encodes that the magazine knows what it's doing, as I think the reader would notice it and see what the magazine has done.

Layout

• Image on right - Although layout generally is pretty different for each magazine and I would say is mostly up to me when creating my own, something that is similar with most of my contents in that the right side is more image heavy, possibly to encourage readers to read the text first, like from left to right. However Clash puts the images on the left and Blender has images on the top half, indicating they want their images to be saw first, so this will be a decision I make when I've got my text and images to see which one is the better half maybe?

Contents Analysis - Blender Magazine

This is the contents from the June 2008 issue of Blender, a music magazine I don't normally look at because I think it's target readers are mainly male as it's often known for it's steamy pictures of female celebrities. However when looking for contents to analyse, I found this and thought it was again unconventional like the Spin one, but I also noticed how it wasn't something I expected from a magazine like Blender. Although the text is slightly unreadable, I think I can get the jist and it was more for the layout I wanted to look at this contents.

Though I can make out the feature names, the descriptions are a bit too illegible, but using the Blender archives it makes it marginally more clear what they're talking about.

Similar to Clash, this contents just has a plain and simple "Contents" title , which I personally think is better after seeing Q contents, so it's probably something I'll do as I consider it to be in between having no title at all (like Spin) and having NameContents (like Q).

This is similarly separated into "Regulars" and "The Guide", however I don't think it features all of the magazine's content, which I'm not sure is the case with the other conents but here it seems quite obvious, so maybe they've just picked the best to avoid the contents looking cluttered and less appealing. But something which is cleverly done, the features and regulars are normally separated on a normal contents, but here they've been combined, as different artists take part in a similar style feature each issue which I think may appeal to their target readers as they may often think "Oh, why couldn't they have done that feature on so-and-so", but this way that doesn't happen if the artists a just interchanged, if you catch my drift?

All the features are generally pretty direct, with the odd pretty abiguous one like "Station to Station" where Madonna is the artists in this regular, but I think Blender have an effective way of lisiting there features. They aren't totally ambiguous, but generally easy to denote and are those clever kind of titles which aren't just the name of the artist but are like "Collect Call From --Artist" and "Dear Superstar : Artist", where the artist's name is combined with some sort of cliche, which I think reflects the way features and regulars are combined. I like this style and hopefully it's something I could use without it being too cheesy.

Again the features are just for diversion, with the many interview style features and maybe for personal identity with the features like "Blender Bible", which is very similar to the "10 commandments" feature in Q. I think this convention is something I knew already and just accepted.

Also, a small quirky feature is the artist index, aimed to make it easy for the reader to see what things they'll be interested in - no fussing over stuff they've never even heard of just to find something about an artist they'll be interested in. Although this may be useful for all readers, it is something that suggest the target readers are predominantly male, as I think females are more open to just flicking through, whereas males will probably just want everything simple laid out for them.

Like the Spin contents, this contents is very image orientated, with the images taking over half of the page. I think they're laid out quite artistically and so are very effective at evoking interest in the features. This is also because of the bright colours and unusual stances, which I think looks like a convention for contents, that the images need to be something a bit different which are fairly unmotivated and abstract to encourage the readers to look at them. This is done well here as I have no idea what's happening in any of the images, however that might just be the way I'm reading them because of my knowledge and circumstances, so they may make more sense to a usual reader or to an American who has more knowledge or the artists featured.

Again fonts are what I expected, a slightly more interesting font for the titles, very plain font for the descriptions.

The way the colours are used is very similar to that of Clash, where there's black on white mostly, but then for the page numbers and titles the brightest colour from the images is used. In Clash, this is more obvious because of the muted colour images, but here becuase of the numerous bright colours in the images, it allows the whole contents to be drawn together subtly, while still looking quite organised and neat.

I really like this contents as I think it's very contemporary, with the way the images are laid out and the futuristic representation of the date which I absolutely love. But it took awhile for it to sink in that this was from Blender, as it looks to me like it should be from one of the trendy indie scene mags, but maybe it's because I'm not part of the target audience that I've took an aberrant reading or decoded it differently. But I thought because Blender normally features quite mainstream acts and dabbles in a bit of everything, I was part of the target audience. It does also have to be accounted for that it's an American magazine, and I'm British so more used to the British representation of things, but I think that's a pretty lame excuse really because we are heavily influenced by American sitcoms etc. But it's a style I'd consider doing, and seems credible but interesting.

Contents Analysis - Spin Magazine

This is the contents from the August 2008 issue of Spin, featuring Duffy as the cover star as well as in the contents. I'm assuming Spin uses double page contents, as this only lists the features of the magazine, not everything else. I really like this though, because of the unconventional full page image, which I think every Spin issue uses judging from other ones I've collected, but it will be just because it's not a full contents on one page.

Something I notice is that it doesn't even say contents anywhere, it just has the masthead of the magazine. I think this could be put down to the fact it's just the features and most of the magazine content is on the next page, but it's still an unconventional characteristic. It's just called features, so I think it will have a similar separation as Q magazine, without the incredibly neat set-up of Clash. This may be again to appeal to the target audience, and I think a large part of that is the fact the features have their own separate page, suggesting that's where the emphasis of the magazine is, and that's why people read it, which to an extent is true. However, it also conveys to me that the rest of the magazine isn't up to the standards of the features, and aren't very important, as probably when the reader sees the features they'll flick to them and not even bother looking at the next page.

Similarly to Q, Spin have clear meanings in their feature names and descriptions, the descriptions being a bit longer than those of Q and Clash seeing as they have a whole page to themselves. The feature titles are just that of the artist, similar to some parts in Q, and the lengthy descriptions are detailed with straightforward denotations, like "Duffy - She's been dismissed as a Winehouse wannabe, but, mercy, those pipes are undeniable. Straight outta Nefyn (Wales!), here's pop's latest blue-eyed soul sensation." is basically an introduction to the article and artist, like a bit of background, which is the case for all the other descriptions too. This is fairly unconventional, and it has the most motivated meanings of all the contents I've looked at, because of the background they give, as even if you didn't know the artist, you gain some kind of information about them just from reading the description. I think this may be to appeal to their target readers, who may have more of a deep interest in all kinds of music, and will therefore want to read all the lengthy articles and therefore lengthy descriptions. Also I think this amount of text is to balance out the aomount of text and image, because of the image being full page. If there had only been little text, it may have connoted a juvenile, uncredible vibe, which I'm assuming is not what Spin wants.

What I've also noticed is the small quote quote in the corner "I don't do this for any reason other than the fact I love music." which I think has been encoded to bare resemblance to a wise proverb or philisophical comment, to position the readers into thinking the artists are serious about music, and therefore making the magazine more credible. However I don't think this is something I could pull off on my own contents because a) it probably wouldn't be as effective on a non full page image and b) I don't think it would match the style of magazine I'm making and therefore not appeal to my target readers.

Though the image of a contents are generally just used to draw attention to the best features, I feel this one does a lot more because of it's size and intrigue. I think the preferred reading would be that it's a parody of the stereotypical guitar smashing rock gods, transformed into a girly, fun look by the pink guitar and Duffy herself, and I think the target readers are people who would appreciate this mocking style. Because of this clever concept and her happy look, I think it invites the reader in, however opening the magazine to that could have quite a shock effect, but both of these reactions are positive. Also the way she's reaching out to the camera almost creates a link between her and the reader which I think is another reason it's quite inviting. It's just a generally unconventional image to have on a contents, seems more like something that would be on a double page spread, but it definitely creates some interest for the contents with the prop and facial expression especially.

I think only 2 fonts are used, both very simple, the serifed one for the description, the sans serifed one for the titles and quote. This is basically been the same for cover, DPS and contents, simple fonts, nothing over the top, serifs in different places, the occasional band font and the same style running through the magazines. I'm not even sure why I bother to comment on it anymore.

The colours of this contents are unlike any feature I've seen, as they all seem to pretty random. There's the black and white of her clothes, the pink of the guitar, red of her nails and logo and the navy of the page numbers and credentials. It's all very thrown together and seems to add to the spontaneity that comes across in this cover's image. The blue used for the text may be trying to emphasise her blue eyes, however I don't think it's a noticeable as some other image matching I've saw like on the Duffy Clash cover and the Amy Winehouse Rolling Stone cover. Something I have just noticed though, is that often if colours seem to clash it's because the masthead doesn't fit in, but it only occurs on magazines like Q and Spin which don't change their colours to match the features. Although this does cause clashing, I think it's clever in the way it keeps up a constant image for the magazine, but it also depends on how the masthead is desgined, like both Q and Spin are in boxes separated fromt he rest of the cover/contents. This will have be something I consider which possibly may give my magazine some anchorage to it's identity.

This is a contents I find strangely appealing, similar to how I liked the Clash one, but they have such opposite effects as this one is wildly mismatching compared to the uptight neature of the Clash one. I think I'll have to go one way or the other when it comes to my own, but I think both give credibility. However a less organised feel like this one may deflect some of that manufactured feel pop music gives off.

Contents Analysis - Q magazine

This is the contents from the February 2008 issue of Q, which doesn't seem to highlight very main features without looking at the cover, but it's generally about a 2008 preview. I don't think I really like this contents, it seems very cluttered and too busy.

First of all it does what Clash doesn't and calls it's contents Q contents, which i don't think has a negative effect, but I don't believe it's necessary as the house style comes across very effectively and the reader will know what magazine their in.

Again it is separated into Features, Every Month and QReview, which are like the Clash categories, but these don't fit together as well the Clash ones, but this may be intentional to appeal to their target reader. Like for instance, maybe Clash's target audience are wanting clearly delivered music info, no frills, and straightforward organisation of the magazine, whereas Q readers are looking for a more thrown together feel and a bit of everything, as I think the mismatching titles connote this feel.

The feature names and descriptions are also nearly opposite to that of Clash, as they have a much clearer, motivated meaning, however the preferred reading that I'm picking up on for them could just be because I'm more a part of Q's target audience than Clash's, and maybe Clash's language is very clear to their readers. For instance "Where are they now? - Toploader traced. Nation breathes easy" has a clear denotation of they've found out what Toploader are up to these days, combined with a bit of humour. But I do feel it's less effective in a strange way, because as it is obvious to me what these features are, I'll know whether I'll like them or dislike them, therefore I may not read some of them, but in Clash because I don't have a clue what some of them are but the language sounds intriguing I'll flick to the page to see what they're about. But the straightforward language also has the side that the readers may be appreciative of just being straightforward told what things are about. I may try and mix these styles when creating my own as I think they both have valued effects, but Clash's contemporary ambiguity may not be suitable for my target readers, so maybe only a small element of this could be incorporated.

Like Clash have their fashion and CD to separate them, Q have their review section to appeal to their maybe older, more conservative target readers than Clash's young, alternative style audience. Because I have recognised having an individual area as a convention, when thinking of my own to separate mine from the crowd, I'll need to think of something which hasn't been done before and will appeal to my target readers. But at the minute, I'm stumped for ideas.

Again, the features themselves seem to be for surveillance and diversion, with numerous interviews and obviously the review section for surveillance info, and things like the crossword for diversion or escapism.

I find the images quite odd, as I cannot seem to decode them very well and they appear a bit random and irrelevant. I don't think either are of the cover stars (upon further research I've found that the cover stars were a mix of Chris Martin, Bono and Liam Gallagher), but are just parts of small features. I think they have been used because they are big acts (Madonna and Led Zepplin) and just to show that Q is big scale, even though it's slightly misleading. I still don't really understand the relevancy of the Madonna photo because it's just "50 Madonna facts to go" yet she's in a top hat with an umbrella on a real photo shoot, so it may just be a library picture to intrigue the audience. But the Led Zepplin has more music relevancy, as the signifier is they're performing a gig, then the signified idea of the lifestyle associated with this goes on to appeal more to the target readers.

3 fonts are used all over, which seems to be an emerging but obvious convention. There is the smaller serif font used for descriptions and articles, similar to Clash, however in the review section the font is different and sans serif, which could be Q trying to subtly separate those features and emphasise the feature which they're known for. The larger font used for the feature titles is simple, yet different, and is the equivalent to Clash's square serif font, as it is rounded with no serifs to differentiate it from the other fonts.

The colours are basically that of Q's house style, the red, black and white, just like the Madonna cover I analysed, which adds to the conservative feels to match the easily denoted language. The grey is also used to highlight the reviews section, in the same subtle way the change of font does.

I think it is the layout and boxes which ruin this contents for me, as everything seems so segregated. I will have to take this into account, as I like the boxes on articles, but prefer free writing on contents.