Upon initial glance at this music magazine masthead, as a member of the general audience I am instantly attracted to the main body which is essentially the letter 'Q' itself. This creates a provoked thought response reaction in the mental state of the reader, ultimately we are intrigued by the solitary performance of the lettering. Why is it there? What is its purpose? What does it stand for? and most importantly what does it mean? These multitude of questions that envelop our thoughts can be linked back to a famous theory of Structuralism, in essence the work of Barthes and his infamous 'Five Codes', one of which is the Heumeuntic (Enigma) code. This theorises that bodies of texts we perceive as an audience can be left open ended, with no clear conclusion or justification about meaning or purpose. I can relate this directly back to the 'Q' masthead in discussion, it can be noted that the editors have took clear notice of this vital assumption for media language and incorporated it effectively to provoke a preferred reaction from the reader, crucially getting them to consider the meaning behind the lonely letter as to what its enigma or hidden meaning is. I feel the code ties back to the nature of the magazine itself as 'Q' is largely unconventional, focusing upon a unique subculture of music (indie/alternative rock) but also how it incorporates newer more modern artists (such as those in rap or submissive pop groups) therefore giving it a very universal approach to the content of the product as it just doesn't focus on one genre exclusively. In this respect I can imagine the audience will be intrigued into deciphering the underlying meaning of the use of a single worded letter, but also distinguish how individual the magazine itself is compared to others of the same category, that is too personified through the 'Q' as it is a hugely unconventional title. Yet it is this aspect of the company that makes them so successful so drawing inspiration from this piece I believe the use of an unique masthead would be appropriate to gain instant audience attention, as it is this appeal that will cause people to purchase the product in the first place. Regarding my own magazine publication, I am intrigued most throughly to use this 'enigma' perhaps in my final task as the thought of creating a mystery behind my magazine may aid me in gaining a higher ratio of potential readers then what I would averagely obtain just by incorporating conventional techniques (such as a large masthead, bright colour scheme etc), moreover this has convinced me to consider applying this as it could generate a hype or 'buzz' about my product surrounding the overall meaning behind that 'mystery'. For the masthead therefore I could potentially use a single letter like Q, despite this I would feel like there was a notion of plagurism in my work, for that matter it could benefit me more by highlighting a single letter over the remainder of the body - this could shortlist a desired response where the audience are considering the importance of that specific letter through the obvious enigma. In an overview the 'Q' masthead is very simplistic in design and composition, only two basic primary colours have been used to display (red and white respectively). It seems almost mediocre in standard yet this palette personifies well across to the audience, the most noticeable aspect is how bright, illuminated and therefore appealing it is. These tones allow it to not be overlooked easily as the intensity of the colours draws the eye line of focus towards the title itself, giving 'Q' the advantage of dominating over other magazines when displayed on a retail market shelf, which will understandably ensue it is noticed despite the competition behind it. Red and white to me connotate for conflict or a debate - red can represent the opposing force whilst white highlights a calmer more relaxed opinion. I feel this intensifies the distribution of different music genres throughout the production, how different types (indie, rock, pop) are all competing for that same approval from the reader (these would be represented by the red) and how the editors attempt to create harmony amongst them by conforming unity between the sub groups within (indicated by white) To me I interpret this as being a necessary editorial technique to my own product, that the use of colour should reference to some meaning or message, suggesting the palette has been selected for a reason and wasn't just to make the magazine look 'pretty'. In regards to my own magazine publication I feel it would be necessary to employ a appropriate colour scheme that orientates itself around my masthead, my selection should connotate some underlying meaning as it is the palette moreover that provokes particular emotions and responses from us as audience memebers. I am more drawn to displaying red, white and black tones as my main overlook with one other unique yet slightly unconventional colour that will allow my magazine to be recognised above all its competitors, essentially this will be employed on the masthead as this is the element we can relate to when referring to a product over all other aspects.
'NME' like the 'Q' masthead above has conformed to a standard term of using letters to consolodate meaning and interest to its intended audience, this is undoubtly to pursue public approval as the 'mystery' shrouding the meanings of the letters comes across as exciting to the readers as they may wish to discover the true purpose of them. Despite this in the NME case they are used as a simple abrieveation rather then to generate an enigma surrounding the product, typical of what 'Q' would chase. These intentions can be identified by the wording underneath the masthead itself which reads 'New Musical Express' . In this respect the product is therefore directly informing the reader the content of the magazine and what they can anticipate to be hidden inside. The heading 'New Musical Express' provides vital information to me that the analysis of the articles will revolve around more up to date, recent music of this generation rather then focusing on a mixture of old and new (essentially what 'Q' does), moreover its a convention that instantly targets the desired audience in question - NME clearly aims to focus upon a younger, more student orientated public then an older range of readers, this is why the employment of that extra sell line if effective in the sense that it is prompting attention from a specific niche reading community as it is informing the potential community what this products content will entail. It then gives an opportunity for the population to debate between whether it suits their interests (so they will purchase) or wont (so they will choose to ignore it). I am intrigued by the use of this kicker, with me witnessing their presence in Q magazine also (where it embodies 'Discover Great Music' respectively), this major convention of many industrially standardised written publications could be vital to the success of my product as I feel it would give more of an insight to my target audience about the content within as it would be generating and acting as a preview to them in some respects in anticipation of the genre of music to be bestowed upon them.
Although it was slightly unconventional in a sense by selecting to gain insight from this specific masthead (due to it being a product which consisted of multiple categories such as music and exclusive celebrity gossip), I related quite efficiently to the dark, scarlet overtone that has been applied to this particular title. The palette of red that has been selected is so dim that it takes on the quality of a more burgundy shade, the use of this tone is striking to the naked eye almost instantly. As an audience we normally generate expectations about the colour red such as it representing danger or love, in the case of this masthead however it has been employed as an 'alert', the boldness instantly grasps the readers attention, drawing us to gaze upon it as against other paler conventions that would be included on the page and the choice of an unusual font style makes the title overly attractive and unique in contrast to the other elements. All of the mastheads I have deconstructed for this post have included red as a primary colour, this emphasises to me that it is a nationally important shade to gain the desired audience appeal from whatever genre is being advertised, with this mentally stated to me I am now more then previously expected persuaded this will be an essential colour to incorporate as a critical foundation to grant myself that necessity of reader interest.This represents the 'wow' factor we all anticipate to recognise in a publication - red signifies so many emotions (love, anger, terror) and is associated for its attention grabbing properties due to its striking overtone, this makes it an appropriate candidate as seen in the trio of mastheads to use in my own product to enhance the structure of my titles body. The use of a drop shadow has aided in enhancing the visual appeal factor of the 'Rolling Stones' significantly, as without it the style of font itself wouldn't be overly dramatic - from what I perceive it is very thin, fancy and displayed mostly in lower case which normally would not draw the emphasis of a traditional bold, upper case, highly enlarged title. The use of black behind the red is used as a clever technique to ensure the masthead is more bold then what it has been perceived initially before, as without it I can't imagine the style of font itself would have as much of an impact on the reading audience. Considering my own task, I think maybe this editorial standard of a drop shadow may be required as an extra incentive to illustrate the masthead more thoroughly to my intended target audience, i want them to be able to instantly identify my publication on the shelf and be attracted to it on their initial first glance, which I feel the drop shadow would help most highly with as it will emphasise each individual letter on the cover, allowing them to stand out in an orderly fashion.
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