The main target audience of Q magazine is aimed at male adults, The reason for this is because on a lot of Teenage magazines have lots of other pictures on the front cover that are in the magazine, where as this magazine, it is more specific to its main article as it suggests that there is only one place to read this article about Kylie. I say this is more specifically at male adults because a lot of male adults see Kylie as an attractive woman and like to read and find things out about her too. Also pictures on a teenagers magazine are more placed randomly and tittled, just like posters on a teenagers bedroom wall(s) where as this magazine has more structure to it and more organisation too, as you would expect from an adult. This is very stereotypical.The main selling line of this magazine says "Britain's Biggest Music Magazine" The colours used for the magazine logo are red and white which has been linked specifically to its selling line as red and white connote Britain through its flag colours. This is also a form of Anchorage. The Selling line also tells us its mode of address as the word "Britain" suggests that it is speaking to a nation. The logo of Q magazine is in big, bold font, and also has a Shadow effect which has connotations of importance and it also makes it stand out from the white background.
The main image of the magazine is Kylie Minogue. Kylie was a good choice for the main image on the front of the magazine as Kylie is seen on this magazine as it signifies her as an ideal self for women as she gives a representation of how women should look and how they want to look; most important the image of Kylie on the front cover gives her an ideal partner status as it signifies that the magazine is aimed at men and men want to be with her. The reason why I say this is aimed at males because of her positioning. On the magazine it shows her fingers running through her hair and her hips out to the side, this has connotations of sexual desire and shows her there for male pleasure, which brings Laura Mulvey's theory up of the male gaze. Another reason why I say this magazine is aimed at male audience is through her costume and style. Her costume (Top) shows she is almost topless, therefore objectifying her as a sex symbol and creating an ideal partner once again. There is a slight low angled shot of Kylie on the front page, this connotes power and signifies her as the main focus of this magazine. Kylie is positioned in the final third of the magazine, the reason why this is done because if Kylie was position bang in the middle of the magazine then I would be hard to find space to encode text etc. By placing Kylie in the final third it allows text to fit on and also, without any major covering the image of Kylie it allows the audience to see her who figure, which makes it appealing to males, again as an ideal partner. The micro elements suggest that women don't care about their dignity and are just there for sex objects.
Cover lines are shown on this magazine. cover lines help the audience to turn their attention to what is inside the magazine itself and not just on the front page. An example of a cover line on this magazine is "World Exclusive" Words such as "world" is encoded to signify that Kylie is well known and popular all over the globe which helps sell the magazine to its audience. The word "World Exclusive" is in big font and in black colour. The reason why this is done is because the background is a white colour which makes the big black font stand out and grabs its audiences attention. Another cover line says "Kylie" this word is chosen because it is relevant to the image of Kylie herself, this is a symbolic sign which signifies to the audience who it is. The font is in big size which helps it stand out from the white space. The colour has also been used effectively too. the world "Kylie" is in gold coloured font which is a feminine colour. This has connotations of power, rich, wealthy and the best. The gold coloured text adds extra colour to the front cover and makes the magazine look expensive and worthy enough to read too. The gold colour text has also been used to represent Kylie as a woman, both as an ideal self and partner. We associate the colour gold as a feminine colour, as an audience we denote Kylie as a Woman, which is important for targeting its audience specifically.
There are many types of article in this magazine. There are article of different types of artists, from pop - Kylie Minogue to to Indie music - Arctic Monkeys. Articles are all about well known artists which suggests this magazine is all about famous people and the place be for reading about music. Having article about well known artists then it will increase sales. The colours on the contents page have been used effectively. Headings such as "Features" and "Every Month" are in a white font and a red background, this corresponds to the main logo if the magazine as this is also in these colours. Also the header " Contents" is in white coloured font on a black background, this corresponds with the selling line which is also in these colours. The colours used on the contents page are used also to re-enforce the house style of the magazine with the front cover. There is a lot of white space especially on the main image of Kylie and Paul McCartney, again this corresponds to the style of the front page. The image of Kylie and Paul McCartney is the biggest image on the contents page, this suggests that Kylie and Paul McCartney are in the main two article in the magazine, this corresponds to Kylie being the main image on the front page. The layout of the contents page is neat and tidy as everything is placed under headings, this makes it easier for its reader to find what every they want in the magazine. Also the background of the imagine is in a white colour where as Kylie and Paul are in black suit and dress. The fact that the heading/caption of this image says "Q Awards" it connotes that they are dressed for the award ceremony. The choice of artists to have as the main image of the contents page have been chosen well. This is because the two different artists from two different generations and also the type of music genre is much different too. There isn't anybody better than Paul McCartney in his generation as he was part of the worlds biggest bands of all time, "The Beatles" and Kylie Minogue was and still is one of the worlds biggest names in the pop music industry. Both of these artists have don't extremely well in award ceremonies picking up a number of awards. By having these chosen artists, the image connotes winners, champions, success. Both of these artists are either ideal partners or ideal self's as you can look at these artists as role models. 
This double page spread, follows the house style, with the red boarder, white space as the background and black text, which again connotes Britishness as this is a British magazine. Over on the left hand side of the double spread page, it uses drop capitals to start off the paragraph/article. Also the opening line is in bold text, making it stand out from the rest of the text, grabbing the audiences attentions.
A Cross Header – Fact File has been used in the main spread over on the left hand page. The fact file allows the audience to see other things about Kylie; this also breaks the text up too. The Fact File shows to the audience her web link to her fan website meaning that people can go on their and look at her blogs and comments and it also give a chance for the audience to give their own comment too. It also the audience to see the date for her new album release so that they audience knows when they can start to buy the album from. Also in the fact file it shows a few songs that can be downloaded, on of which is available for download from Q50. The fact file is in a banner which helps the text to stand out from its white background. The banner once again follows the house style of the magazine. The leading of this article is set out so it looks just like an article that you would find in the newspaper. This article is well structured as there are paragraphs as you would expect in an article. Text such as “After all that’s happened, her 10Th album is business as usual. No more, no less” This connotes her as a successful recording artist as is suggests that she can’t achieve any higher than what she has because there isn’t anything else for her to achieve as she has achieved everything available in the music industry i.e. number 1 singles. “No more, no less” sends a message to the audience that you won’t be disappointed in her latest work of art meaning her album. This helps promote/sell Kylie as a successful artist and sends out a positive response to the audience about her. The piece of text on the right hand side says “She is keeping her musical ambitions to herself” this connotes her as secretive and unique, in the fact that she does everything her own way. By-Lines have been used as on the left hand side page it shows who has written this article and the photographer of the main image on the opposite page. The same person has published the front cover, contents page and main spread – William Baker.
The main image on the right hand side has also been used to break up the text too, as the article would look boring with just text. Kylie is placed in front of a white background; this follows the house style from the front cover. Kylie is positioned with her head tilted back, her arms across her chest and her facial expressions has a connotation of secretive which is linked with the piece of text saying “She is keeping her musical ambitions to herself” which also has a connotation of secretive meaning that the words and action are linked together. Also with Kylie covering her chest up it suggests that she is more secretive as she is limiting to how much she is revealing her figure to the audience where as on the front cover she was revealing the whole of her figure, as it suggests that she wants the audience to look at her figure, where as on the double page spread, it is more direct about herself and doesn’t want too much information about her getting across to the audience. Through a male view she would become an ideal partner and through a female view an ideal self. The image of Kylie has been zoomed in to make it look big a powerful, which allows the audience to see clearly what her facial expressions and body language is like in greater detail.
