Music- Magazine Cover Research.

The masthead is just the letter Q but it stands out because of the two colours. It is obvious what the title is because it's bigger than the rest of the writing on the magazine cover. The main picture is in the centre of the magazine, the colours are very dark with the clothes that Cheryl is wearing, her make-up however is quite light, and her lips are red the same colour as the majority of the writing on the magazine. The colour red contrasts the other colours which instantly makes you want to open the front page and start reading. The cover lines are varied in font sizes from CAPS LOCK to just normal, by doing this it's easy to distinguish what are cover lines, names and the title. This shows you the different sections of what is most likely in the magazine. Everyone knows that Cheryl Cole is a pop icon from 2004 to present, she's very popular and girly. However this cover shows a darker side to her which represnts the magazine e.g the cover line 3 WORDS CHERYL ROCKS!. The magazine Q is not a pop magazine for example the bands and music it talks about such as Muse, Vampire Weekend & The White Stripes these are popular things.
The main target audience is obviously aimed at people who love music, and want to find out what is going on in the "musical world". The fact that above the masthead the line " The UK'S biggest music magazine" is placed there bigs up the magazine to look the best on the shelf. Using such a famous icon instantly makes the magazine more interesting and most people would probably only buy it because it has her on the front page. It also gives the reader and sense of enthusiasim to read it to see what " CHERYLS DONE NEXT!" effect.

The masthead on this cover is covered up mainly by the main picture and a cover line. This works because it is a well known music magazine (Rolling Stones). So the missing S T O doesn't make a difference to fact that you can't see the whole title. The main picture of Zac Efron works well agaisnt the white background of the cover as he has a white t-shirt on and fairly tanned skin. The fact the coverline next to him is in capital letters and big saying " New American Hearthrob", and showing him with his abs out and his top lifted up to show his physique and his big Hollywood white smile makes him look and sound like the new face of the media. The audience of this cover is obviously aimed preferably at females. The colours are playful which suggests that the magazine is possibly aimed at younger people, rather than older.
The coverlines  for example,  "M.I.A SEX,TERROR & HIP-HOP" these three words are very strong and are normally associated with younger generations. They are at the bottom of the page to suggest that it isn't as important as the rest of the coverlines on the cover. The colours that are used are neutral and the braclet that Zac Efron is wearing is orange like most of the coverlines this makes everything match and go together. They have the kept the similar colour scheme which works it doesn't clash with the rest of the cover. Seeing a younger person on the front of a cover who is well known straight away makes you want to open the front page and find the main article straight away.

The masthead is the same size font and colour as the name "RHIANNA", however it is still easily distinguishable what the title of the magazine is as it has a website underneath of it. The colour scheme is mainly dark colours using black, pink and purple. Rihanna's make up is also dark colours using black and purple too, this shows the obvious colour scheme on the cover and on her face. The glitter encrusted parrott on her shoulder gives the magazine cover a sense of edgeyness. Her stance shows alot of attitude with her hand on her hips and how her face is slightly facing up rather than to the floor to show that along with he cover line underneath her name " YOU NEED PEOPLE AREN'T AFRAID TO TELL YOU WHEN YOUR'E F**CKING UP". This empahsises the fact that the magazine is obviously trying to be edgey.
There aren't very many cover lines on the cover of the magazine, but the big writing and famous picture on the front makes up for it. "THE STATE OF MUSIC TODAY" coverline is in capital letters showing that it is standing out and you eye wanders and see's this straight away underneath listing other very well known people bigs up the magazine and shows how popular the magazine obviously is for somebody that doesn't actually read them. By telling the audience at the top of the cover that they are introducing a new NME, and that this one is 4/10 special edition covers, they are obviously trying to state that they are making a new type of this magazine and they want it to be better and bigger than ever. Saying that this is the 4th edition of the this "new NME" and using Rihanna as their centre picture shows that they have thought about profit they would make off the front cover from people just buying it and who their targer audience is, which is obviously younger people although it could be aimed at the older generation too.