Q was founded in 1986 by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology. Q was first published by the EMAP media group in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands. From Wikipedia
Denotation Mast Head There is a huge sized font of an “S”, it is in serif, bold and italic. It could be suggested as a drop cap; sub heading “Lana Del Rey” same style of font but much smaller, it is positioned in the upper third of the page Additional Text There is a pull quote in the middle third of the DPS, It discusses the image and specifically Lana’s reaction to the image. There is more additional text on the right third of the page with more information discussing Lana’s life, the photoshoot, inspirations and other artists. Main image The main image has dark lighting and is slightly blurred and is positioned on a dark background, there is a blue light shining on her face from the left and red from the right. She is wearing heavy
dark eye shadow and lipstick. She has placed her hand on her neck, he nails are painted pink and she is wearing a gold neckless. Additional Information Masthead from the cover is used as a thumbnail on the bottom left and right sides of the DPS. The issue date is written on each side as well as links to online sites. There are page numbers. Colour scheme Two sets of fonts with black red and white.
Connotations Masthead The huge “S” seems very out of place within the image and seems to make no sense unless used as a drop cap, but even that doesn’t make sense because there is already an S there so it seems out of place but the S does serve very well as a masthead and blends well with the background allowing text to be written over top of it. The sub heading Is in the same font whereas the rest of the page does not use that font therefore it must also be important, its positioned in the upper right third this would mean that when flicking through the magazine you would see that first, thus being very effective at quickly explaining the page. The title also nicely breaks the border of the page without making it look messy. It is also positioned right above the text this is very aesthetically pleasing and makes the page look very ordered and professional. Additional text The use of the pull quote in this magazine is very unconventional because usually pull quotes are used to grab the audience’s attention when skimming through the pages whereas on this it is very long and seems to be talking about a type of analysis of the page itself. It also highlights Lana’s very odd sense of style saying she is “Demonic” shows a type of morbid gothic side of her. She also uses language such as “that’s my life” which sounds like something someone in their late teens would say and its part of this generations “stating the obvious” language, this shows that Lana is with the zeitgeist of the time and understands and reflects her audience well. Keep with the style we have already seen the positioning of the text is very professional and smart looking leaving lots of white space which makes the whole page look much more clean and tidy than something like CLASH magazine. The actual information on the right third of the magazine seems to be your conventional interview and doesn’t seem to break any conventions at all, which is peculiar seeing as the rest of the DPS has. Main Image As already mentioned the main image is very “demonic” looking and brings off a certain devil may care vibe. The heavy makeup, dark lighting and pose all shout out a macabre feel and manage to perfectly show Lana’s attitude to music and life. The use of coloured lighting connote a wider colour pallet than the usual conventional gothic look, showing that her music although dark is also creative and has two sides of it. The lighting also shows that she has herself got two side; “The Red” means the passion, anger and extreme emotions where as “the Blue” shows the deeper, calmer and sadder side of her. Through the main image you can see that there has been an awful lot of work put into it almost to the level of perfection that Taylor swift has, Lana’s professionalism seems to be a lot more
forged and thought-out and I believe this is because Lana is more mature and has seen more of life and so much more a realistic representation in her media. Additional Information There is a use of the masthead from the front cover of the magazine this is just there to remind you that whatever you are interested in, in the magazine is their product and along with the website links pushes you to explore more. It also helps with identity of the magazine, it is used aesthetically as part of the house style. Colour Scheme Through the magazine there is a strong presence of identity and house style, it shows just how professional the whole magazine is.