Front Cover Analysis 2 - Research

This is a magazine cover from Q magazine, it features Cheryl Fernandez-Versini (formerly Cole). Usually Cheryl's style is very pop and girly, whereas on this cover she has been styled to look more like a rock artist. Richard Dyer can be applied here as he says that "a star is an image not a real person", and in the way that Cheryl has been styled so differently to how she would usually look, Dyer's theory is shown to be true.

A house style has been proven again in this cover as it does in other Q covers, the masthead is always in the same location and in this issue, the red text has been used not only to highlight the masthead and separate the different articles, but also in the strapline to highlight the word 'rocks'. As Q features predominantly rock artists and bands, this fits into their usual style of music. In this edition, Cheryl has a large amount of makeup on, and it looks as though she has decided to create a look that is sexy and appealing to men. Although Cheryl's audience is mostly younger females, this look could persuade more men to buy the magazine.

Her heavy eye makeup is indexical to the genre of rock, and alongside the leather jacket you can see her wearing in the bottom right corner. These signs all work together to show the genre and make the customer know that the issue is going to be featuring the rock side of Cheryl's music.

A puff is used on the cover of this magazine, the puff is used to tell the reader of something different inside the magazine, about a different article, in this case one on John Lennon. John Lennon was a member of The Beatles and therefore by displaying his article on the cover of the magazine, could be used to draw in more older readers.

How this research has influenced my ideas and creativity:

This cover has allowed me to see how the contrast of dark makeup and clothes can create a rock magazine image, and how the circular puff can be used to highlight an article on the cover that is completely different to the main article. I would like to use this idea to create an article for my front cover that may be more about lifestyle or fashion or an article around a musicians life, rather than solely focused on music.