Kerrang! Magazine analysis

So… I am analysing ‘Kerrang!’ the rock music magazine. This is Novembers issue.

First of all it has a masthead. You can tell it is a rock magazine as the masthead font is broken and messy. The colour is also red which is a powerful strong colour which again connotes rock.The picture is in front of the title which makes the picture look more 3D. You can’t really read the masthead but somehow you can still know it is ‘Kerrang!’.

Kerrang! has no tagline, but it is a well known magazine so does it need one?

The central image is of the band ‘fall out boy.’ They are celebrities and are well known within the rock music genre and are relevant at the moment as they are making a big come back after a long break. Pete Wentz is, in the picture, pointing at the read and is almost saying ‘buy this magazine!’ As well as this they are all looking at the reader to get the reader involved in the magazine. You can tell the band are a rock band as they are wearing black and grey and have tattoos but are smiling unlike the usual grumpy rock band. The background on the image is white which makes the band stand out as a busy background doesn’t take the attention away from Fall out boy.

There is also a puff on the magazine. One of them is: ‘Win! Your birthday printed in the K! calendar!’ These puffs stand out as they are on a red or yellow background so catch the readers attention and promote the different elements in the magazine.

There are lots of different fonts used on the front page which makes it look quite busy and messy, but as this is a rock magazine it is expected.

There is a barcode, issue, price and date on the magazine. These are all located together on the front page in the bottom right corner. This location is out of the way and not intruding on the image.

The colours used on this magazine are: white, black, red and yellow. They are all relatively bright colours which draw attention to the magazine. The colours do vary throughout the different issues but the main colours do seem to be the ones featured on this issue. Changing the colours creates an interest as the reader is attracted as it is something different, but by keeping similar colours the reader immediately knows what magazine it is.

There are various coverline placed around the front cover. There are around 7 on Kerrang! These give the reader an idea of what else the magazine has to offer without the reader having to look inside on the contents page to find out.

There are also various secondary images to promote the the other features. These are linked to the the cover lines on the magazine.