GQ is an upper class magazine, mainly for men. It is basically the male equivalent of Vogue (published by the same company). The magazines follow the 'high class' 'well dressed' 'gentleman' style, and focusses mainly on famous and well known actors.
The main image is of Bryan Cranston, most well known for playing Walter in Breaking Bad. He is wearing a formal suit, which gives off an expensive and exclusive feel. He is looking right at the camera, which is popular in magazines, because it helps the magazine to stand out on the magazine rack, and it makes more of a connection to the reader. He has a serious expression, but he is slightly smiling, which makes him easier to look at. In his role as Walter, Bryan is known as a serious intimidating man, and this is reflected in his pose on the cover.
The masthead is GQ's logo, which is just their name in their typeface. They use this on every magazine because it is very easily recognisable to everybody. When people see the magazine in a rack, they instantly know what it is, because it is familiar, rather than actually needing to figure out what magazine it is. It is grey, which has a connotation of the whole suave gentleman style. All of the text on the cover follows the same theme (blue, grey, white and black) and the use of similar colours helps to bring the cover together, and makes sure that is all uniform. This works because gentlemen reading this magazine will probably want to be uniform, and look smart and organised. The colours used for the cover lines are rich, and not very harsh. This suits the magazine because this is the style that the magazine follows. It also shows that is aimed at the more wealthy audience. The colours compliment each other, and altogether culminate to make a very very appealing cover.
The cover lines match the style of the magazine. The main title 'Bad Man Rising' is bold language, and is the largest text, which means it should be the main focus of the audience. The language used helps to attract the readers, as they might see Bryan Cranston as a role model, and want to see what it says about him. The text under the main title refers to Breaking Bad, so this will help to make the magazine appeal to people who have an interest in Breaking Bad. Another cover line uses an alternation between lower and upper-case letters to draw attention to the more important words, such as 'BIGGEST' and 'BRITISH FIGHT'. The use of this language pulls the reader in, and makes them want to read more. The cover uses multiple things to attract a British audience. Firstly, the mast head has 'British' in it, to show that it is a British edition of the magazine. Also in one of the cover lines the words 'British Fight' are used, which relates the magazine to the British audience.
The magazine is mainly targeted at males within the age range of 25 to 45. This is because this is the age when men are most concerned with style, and fashion. It is also not aimed at younger people, because it focusses on expensive stylish items, and younger people won't have jobs, and so they won't be able to afford the things featured in the magazine. It is aimed at the higher end of the socio-economic scale, as once again, it features expensive items, which only well paid people could afford. It would range from Group A to C1 (although even that is stretching a bit far). People who are not concerned about fashion may also buy the magazine, as it features a lot of interviews and articles about famous people and actors, who they might like. The use of strong language helps to draw readers of all groups in, so it isn't just appealing to men of the groups that I have described.
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