Analysis of Q and NME

Q and NME magazines both use presentational devices in order to target their audience and establish the genre of magazine.

There are many similarities, between music magazine ‘Q’ and ‘NME’. Both Q magazine and NME share similarities in the use of presentational devices. Red and white are both used in the masthead. The colours used are very bright and bold therefore making it easier for the consumer to see from a distance. The use of white in the masthead makes the magazine look more simple and pure, possibly making it more appealing to older audiences. At the bottom of the masthead there is a puff which says "Britain’s biggest music magazine". This may be a biased quote but still manages to make the magazine seem truthful and eye-catching to consumers, as it has been claimed that the magazine is one of the best in Britain. NME; consists of a clear, chunk and bold upper case font as it stands out and easily seen by potential consumer from distance. This distinguishes the NME brand from similar publications. The red colour connotes power, love and passion this links in to the fact that NME is rock magazine. The white colour around the masthead suggests professionalism. The costume of the celebrities in the Q magazine is also more sophisticated, which makes the magazine more appealing to older audiences. In contrast, the NME magazines main image is of younger celebrities making the magazine more appealing to younger audiences.

In addition ‘Q’ utilises a main image of ‘The Song Writers’ it consists of three middle aged adults. This indicates that this magazine is aimed at 25+ and preferably middle class readers. Whereas the main image in NME is a ‘rock n roll’ group. We can learn that this is group is involved in rock music because of their costumes and also their guitar strap. Also as the main image is quite big in comparison to other images and text. This draws more attention to the main image and suggests that this image, will have a key article on it, which is the most interesting or important aspect of a magazine. This reflects that it’s mostly aimed at young males between the ages of 16-21. However, looking at the main image in magazine ‘Q’ the models are looking very serious and ‘down to business’. Their costumes compared to the boy band group are different as the models are dressed sophisticated this attracts an older aged audience.

The main cover line on magazine ‘Q’ is “The song writers exclusive interview”. This suggests that the models are VIPs’. In addition to this it also suggests that the song writers interviews are vital in this magazine. The size of the font is bold and is eye catching. ‘Song writers’ is emphasised as their profession is important. The main cover line in ‘NME’ is ‘Burning up the UK; THE VIEW” this is bold and eye-catching. The white and black make it stand out more, it also challenges the stereotypical colours of design as the flame on top of the writing is white and not orange to represent flame. This suggests that this magazine is unique. The similarity between the two posters is that the main cover lines are bold and have very dark colours. They also have big bold fonts. However the difference between the font used in the ‘Q’ is more sophisticated this does not connect or relate to the main image as the boy band is not looking very formal whereas the ‘song writers’ are.

The main coverline of NME magazine says, "the view", this is possibly the name of the band , drawing more attention to the band.

An example of a cover line in the ‘NME’ magazine such as ‘R.I.P James Brown’ indicates that a famous artist died and that its important to be in the front cover a it would attract the audiences attention and would want them to buy the magazine to read more about the him. In addition to this it would also attract audiences from the type of music genre in which James Brown produces. Another example of this can

Overall, from the Q magazine we can see that it uses the key image and more sophisticated and classy colours to attract an older audience of the ages 25+.Similarly, the NME magazine uses its key image, cover lines and colours to attract its younger audience of the age group 14-21, who are fans of rock and indie music.