research front cover

The route of the eye on this font cover goes through the mast head which feels the whole of the optical aera and really stands out, it then goes through the main model 'lady gaga' face which stands out as this is the main image, it then goes through a cover line, and then  it goes through more of  lady gaga's body which also stands out as she's naked and the audience wants to know why. Finally it goes through the main coverline 'lady gaga's name' this is bigger than the actually mast head which makes it stand out and grab the attention of the reader, so they know what this issue of the magazine is about.

  The principle of thirds splits the front cover up. This magazine has used the principle of thirds well as in the optical area you have the mast head which feels all of it, in another section there is lady gaga's head filing up a whole section which makes it stand out as its spread out really well. The hotspots focused on 2 coverlines and lady gaga's body the main model so this is important as it catchers the readers eye. The principle of thirds break the magazine down and its used effectivly as the model (main image) is centered and on the left and right are coverlines which are tight to the edge. Along the bottom is the main article title of lady gaga.
The content included on this front page all relates to the genre because its a music magazine. 'Lady Gaga' has been written largely on the front cover because she's a music artist and thats who the main image is, so it all relates to the music genre. The other coverlines are about music, some are other artists some are about music these all tell the reader what is going to be in the magazine, the text is short and brief and only really mentions artists names this is because thats what will grab the readers attention and then they will wonder what is mentiond about them inside the magazine this means the audeince will have to buy the magazine to find out.
On this front cover there arent many different styles of fonts used its just the size that varies and also the format. Although the fonts dont change much they still stand out because their all clear and easy to read. some of the fonts are in bold and some are in italics this makes them all stand ou. the size of them also change this is to make the magazine look more intresting and draws you to it. The mast head is in a large bold  text because its the most important but unconventionally the coverline 'lady gaga' text is a lot bigger it covers the whole width of the magazine, having it so big makes it stand out above all the others and makes the reader look at it first, it then has a little bit of text explaining what the main article is about but its smaller as its less important and the reader may not read it anyhow.
Not many colours are used on this front cover but it stil stands out above other magazines, the masthead is written in white and backed in red, to make it stand out and catch the readers eye, and because its in the same place in every magazine it becomes regualr to readers who have read it before. The predominant colours used are red, white and black, the background is grey so these colours have been used because their bold and contrast the grey and really stand out. The colour scheme used is unusual though as red and black usually connotes danger but with danger becomes awareness and i think this is the desired effect the magazine was looking for they wanted to be different and stand out from all the others and i think they successeded

This front cover uses one main image, the image relates to the genre of the magazine as she is a major music artist but she also relates to the biggest coverline, this is why only image has been used to emphasis it more. The image is a mid-shot this enables the reader to see her face and also her body and on this particular picture is very bold as she is wearing little clothing which stands out. The pose lady gaga is doing is very bold, stern and harsh which relate to the colour scheme of alertness and danger.

'Q' magazine have done a great job to make the magazine appeal to anyone, its so plane but bold it doesn't signalise a gender, the genre of the magazine is music but i think it focuses more on indie, rock genres of music, the colour scheme and picture fit in with this really well.
Conventions used.

The masthead fills the whole optical area
Main image is central
Cover lines on the right and left
Colour scheme 3 main colours

Non conventional things.
no,bar code
no price
nocdate
no issue number