Q case study

‘Q’ magazine is a popular monthly UK music publication which printed its first issue in October 1986. The founders of the magazine Mark Ellen and David Hepworth expressed their dissatisfaction with the standard of media being produced by the music magazine industry at the time. They decided to create their own text with what they considered to be a much higher quality of photography and printing.

In terms of other media, the magazine also hosts a yearly awards ceremony entitled “The Q Awards” in addition to its recently shut down TV and radio stations. This is evidence of the publisher’s efforts to appeal to a wider audience through the implication of other forms of reaching the viewer.

The magazine focuses itself around reviews and new releases, aiming itself at the more mature music listener. This is evident in its glossy printing, quality photography and writing, alongside its high profile feature artists (most notably: Artic Monkeys, Lady Gaga, Oasis etc.). ‘Q’ magazine makes consistent use of its highly established brand identity and design scheme, in my opinion being the one of the most easily recognisable and genre-defining music publications of our time. Through its constant repetition and placement of its iconic logo on most pages in the actual magazines and advertising ‘Q’ has anchored itself as the go-to magazine for readers in its audience range. On a most basic level I believe the logo itself is so effective largely through its simplicity. Its bold yet stylish typeface and bold colour are obvious denotations that capture the attention of the potential consumer. The magazines overall colour scheme is also interesting in its conventionality, a large number of music magazines in recent year have adopted a similar design. NME uses a comparable colour scheme in addition to the multiple other magazines using the same combination of black and red.

Conclusively, Q magazine is incredibly effective in its purpose which is evident in its popularity. Its highly established brand identity is also evidence of this.