Q Magazine - The front Cover

       The front cover of the Q magazine is Paul McCartney and he gives this issue of Q a vintage feel, rather than the hard rock and roll edge the Clash magazine gave. The image is of his upper body, he's covered up in a big coat, its almost as though he doesn't want to be seen, due to him being so famous. Its almost as if Q magazine is showing off who they have on the front cover as you can only see his eyes and hair but still know who it is. Paul McCartney has strong eye contact with the audience so it makes the audience feel more engaged. Q magazine is focused on new and old music and the genres: Rock, indie and alternative. Readers of Q often like old and new music, so using an artist like Paul McCartney is a good artist to use as he's really famous for his old work and his new more recent work. The image of Paul McCartney makes him very mysterious and discreet and almost makes audiences curious to see what the inside story on him will be about. Also he is only shown in a dark coat, this shows he's trying not to be recognised also shows he doest need to wear fancy, expensive clothes to make him look good because he is so famous he looks amazing whatever he wears. Paul McCartney in the image is central of the page so this makes him the first thing you look at, this a good tactic as he is a very famous artist so people can recognise him straight away.
       Theres only four colours used on this front cover which is very uncommon as most other magazines use colour. I think this is because Q magazine wants to give it the vintage look so the image used is black and white, to make it look like the image has just been taken, almost as if no matter how old you are you can still be cool and act young, this makes older readers feel more engaged with the magazine. Another colour used is red, this is because against black and white its very bold and stands out very clearly, it is used for the logo 'Q' This is because most front covers of the Q magazine is red, so it keeps the tradition and makes it easy for weekly readers to reconsign their favourite magazine. The red is also used for the text and the quote, this stands out against the picture of Paul so its clear and easy to read. The final colour which is gold is used to block the words Paul McCartney, this is because gold is a very Royal colour and because its over his name it almost makes you think of Paul McCartney as royalty rather than just an artist.
      The layout is very normal, very much like Clash and NME the logo is on the top left hand side, this shows a very similar pattern in magazines. The image is central and Paul McCartney eyes are dead central. The bar code is on the top right hand corner and the sub- titles are in the middle at the bottom of the page. The once difference on this front compared to Clash and NME is it doesn't mention inside stories, this is because is doesn't really need to because their main featured artist is so popular and famous they don't need to talk about their inside stories.