Jude White
AS Level Media Studies
Presentations of the Artist
In this issue of 'Q,' Aphex Twin (Richard D James) is initially presented with an air of mystery, which fades as we move through the magazine. On the front cover of the magazine, James is shown holding an intimidating mask over one half of his face, which suggests that he is hiding something from us, but the part of his face we can see is smiling, suggesting an informal tone in the article. Moving to the contents page, James is photographed against the same studio backdrop, and this time he covers half of his face with his own hair, still leaving a sense of mystery. When we first reach the DPS, his entire face is in shadow, but as the article progresses, some more playful, informal images are used. However, James still childishly distorts his appearance in each one, suggesting we still do not understand him completely. The final picture of the DPS shows James standing alone in a dark room, the light facing away from him. This suggests he has revealed all he wishes to, and the reaminder of his personality will remain 'in the dark,' so to speak.
Q House Style
'Q' uses many different techniques to establish a coherent house style. These involve using fonts, colours, graphics and layouts to create a cohesive product; one would be able to recognize a page as being from 'Q' magazine, just by seeing the page alone.
The Masthead
Q magazine's simplistic, iconic masthead is recognizable in an instant, and unlike other magazines this masthead never changes in any way, including colour. Where NME may change the masthead's colour for a special edition, Q does not seem to do this at all. The bright red colour of the box here helps to set up the simple red-and-white colour scheme used throughout the remainder of the magazine at regular intervals, although not exclusively.
Red, White and Black
Immediately set up by the masthead, this colour scheme is used at recurring intervals throughout any given issue of 'Q', to ensure that the entire product feels grounded and part of the same publication.
Certain elements, such as graphics and page numbers sporting the magazine's masthead, are employed to ensure that were a page removed and used somewhere else, people would know that the page was from Q magazine. These elements also give Q a sense of consistency in branding across issues.
Brand Identity
