Q Magazine: December 2009
Pages 1 & 2
The first two pages of the article featuring Lily Allen consists of a large photograph that takes up the majority of the second page and a third of the first page. The first page contains four elements that make up the top third of the page which explain that the article is one of Q's regular features 'Cash For Questions,' that it's about Lily Allen and a short description of what's "revealed" in the article. There is a tag on the top right hand corner which informs us that Lily Allen has won a Q award for "Best Track." At the bottom of the description there is also a credit to the writer and the portrait photographer of the feature. This is separated with a line from the article which then begins with a drop cap which stylizes the article. The font chosen for the article's title and the drop cap is sans serif and is designed to make an impact but also speaks about Lily Allen's personality. She is straightforward with her answers to the questions and tells us that she is a down to earth musician who doesn't need an impressive font to make an impact. The colour scheme, like the rest of the magazine is red, black and white, but also contains a green banner across the top of the pages to fit with the image on the second page. There is also Q's logo atop the right hand corner of the second page and the date, issue number and Q logo again at the bottom left and right of the first and second page, as well as the magazine's website at the bottom right of the first page and a website where readers can subscribe to Q at the bottom left of the second page. The logos, links, date and page numbers are repeated on almost every page of the magazine.
The image is of Lily Allen sitting besides a large pool in a presumably tropical location. She is sat laid back in a chair next to a table which has a pot of tea, a tea cup and a Q award atop it. Three things that are thoroughly British and seem out of place in the setting, much like she may feel. The table is also lined with magazines and newspapers which have fallen onto the floor as Allen sits in a relaxed but somewhat bored position with her glamorous high heels kicked off and looking like a classical movie star. This is suggesting that she is bored with the fame she has achieved and is sick of her life constantly being associated with the press' retellings of her exploits. She is staring directly at the camera to engage with the reader, a tool magazines commonly use to get you to read the article.
Pages 3 & 4
The third page is divided into three columns with the article filling most of the page. In the top left there are three candid photographs with the first image of Allen as a school girl being overlaid with two white-bordered images of Allen with Kate Moss, another celebrity who is infamous for her own exploits and an image of Allen exposing her third nipple on the Friday Night Project, a Channel 4 show that she guest presented once. These are accompanied by a red boxed caption detailing what each photograph depicts. In the middle of the article, the second and third columns are bridged by a large quote which states, "I once stole a CD off Kriss Akabusi's daughter," which shows that she went to school with other famous people's daughters (she is British actor, Keith Allen's daughter) and that she has always been rebellious, just as she is now. There is also a cut out photograph of Kriss Akabusi at the bottom of the page indenting the article with a caption that jokingly mimics Akabusi's response to the event mentioned, "Facking tea leaf!"
The fourth page is divided into three columns again with a candid photograph of Allen and her father atop the first column with the article being spread along along the bottom of the second and third columns. Another image of Allen from the photo shoot from the second page of the article takes up the top two thirds of the second and third columns in which she is depicted standing by the pool, looking bored with her life again, and holding her Q Award by the top of it, making it look like a handbag almost, it's a desirable accessory which suits her long, flowing white dress perfectly. This is overlaid with a red circle "sticker" in which comedian Al Murray has his say on Allen winning the award. This is part of another feature in which he "presents" the winners of the awards to the reader for this issue.