Annotating an exsisting magazine front cover

The Task
For this task I have taken a front cover, contents page and double page spread that relate to my chosen genre. With these I will annotate all key features of the front cover to give me a better idea of what to do when creating my front cover, as I will be aware of what works and looks good and what could be changed and isn't as effective or will not be as affective with my front cover and target audience. 
The Research
I have used the front cover of Q magazine as I think it is a very successful publication but also has some aspects that will link to my chosen genre of pop. Underneath are photographs of my annotations on and about the front cover. Some of the key pieces of information that I picked up on and analysed was the colours used throughout. This is because there was three main colours and one bright one to attract attention. For me the main colours used were red, black and white this could be due to the fact that the Q logo is always printed in red and white and black is also a very common and reoccurring colour used for text print and other aspects such as a background through out the magazine. The bright colour used would be the yellow due to the fact that no other yellow is present on the cover and it stands out against the black background, this is a good way to catch the target audience's attention as well as ensuring the magazine stands out to a prospective buyer. Another aspect I will mention that has also been annotated below is the use of the word 'exclusive' on the front.This will attract audiences because it connotes something new and exciting that no one has seen before of heard before from this band or person. This is a clever way of attracting people as it will appeal to the aspect of people wanting to know something new.

The Conclusion
From this task I have learnt some of the key  features of a magazine that need to be present on the front cover of a magazine, for example a barcode will need to be placed on the front cover to allow a consumer and a potential buyer to purchase the product. I have also gained a better understanding of what should be consistent through the front cover for when I am planning and designing my magazine and the front cover for it. Another reason doing this task has been beneficial to my end project as by looking at pre existing pages and studying how the front pages has been laid out and how the different features has been included is interesting as it allows me to be able to get a clearer idea of what works, what parts I like and what I don't as well as my target audience's opinions as the magazine I make will be focused on them and their needs and wants.