Analysis of Kerrang!magazine

By Olivia Cotterell

Double Page

spreads

The genre (type of magazine) of this magazine is music and the subgenre is rock music. I can tell this by the layout and design of the magazine including the colour scheme, main images, main cover lines, cover lines, strapline etc…

The masthead to this music magazine is ‘Kerrang!’ in a large red bold font which has an edgy look to it by having parts of the letters sliced out. This font that they have chosen represents the genre of music this magazine is portraying, edgy and fierce looking. This will attract the magazine’s target audience because they will like the way the font look as a representations of their personalities and personal preferences in music. Also because kerrang is such a well known named magazine the main image covers some of the masthead because it isnt as important because the audience can still tell what magazine it is.

The main cover line to this magazine anchors the main image of Taylor Momsen. This is shown because she looks very pretty yet fierce and reckless in the main image just like the main cover line states ‘The pretty Reckless’. Also the Cover line is written in red which can symbolise blood and danger, this symbolises the look that this magazine is going for to target their audience. The size of the main cover line is very large so that it stands out off of the page for the audience to see almost instantly.

The main image (picture on the front cover) is a medium close up shot (a photo from the chest upwards) of Taylor Momsen who is a unique star to the younger generation of people. They have used the rule of thirds technique to take this image as Taylor’s eyes are slightly off centre so there is direct address with the audience and that her face isn’t covered by any cover lines or secondary images .In this image she has very heavy and dark eye makeup to give her that mysterious yet frightening look this will make this magazine stand out on the shelves as this is such a different and unique image. Her eyes are looking directly at the camera which is using direct mode of address to the audience because they feel as though she is staring at them. Also she has her finger in her mouth that is covered in blood (as this is a Halloween special edition) this edition of magazine could be a unique selling point for Kerrang because people may only buy it for the special edit. Therefore the model on the front cover looking as fierce as she does is a crucial selling point.

The colour scheme (colours that are being used throughout the page) seems to be mostly red with white, black and yellow. The main colour on this front cover seems to be predominantly red. Red is a very powerful and dangerous colour which could be why Kerrang has used it to attract their niche market.

The cover lines of the magazine are still in a medium font size so that they stand out off the page but not as large are the main cover line. ‘Black veil brides’, ‘New album? Andy spills his guts!’. These cover lines will attract the target market as they will listen to the type of music being displayed and written about in this magazine therefore they may want to know about new album releases because this is an interest to them. The cover lines are written in either black or white, these are still really bold colours which stand off the page but they arnt as dominant as the rod main cover line because they aren't as significant

Next to those cover lines there is a medium close up as a secondary image of an edgy looking man. He is representing the band that’s album is being released. Having secondary images around the boarder of the front cover is appealing to an audience because it is giving more visual information to them and they can see it almost instantly. They may see an artist that they want to read an article about which will attract them to buy the magazine. The way the man looks on the image is very dark and serious which represents the target market that kerrang is aiming towards therefore they might find him a relatable artist and buy the magazine.

In my opinion I think that the target audience for this genre of magazine are boys or girls aged about 12-25 (quite young) who are middle classed and love rock music. Personally I think that people of a younger generation would be interested in this kind of magazine and type of music because as people get older their taste in music may mature and change. I also think that this is a unisex magazine as there are male bands/artists on the secondary images of the magazine but a female as the main image, therefore I think that both males and females listen to rock music and would be interested in this kind of magazine. Lastly I think that this kind of magazine and music requires a certain taste and I feel as though it more for people classed people rather than high classed people as they may have a different life style and up bringing around music.

The barcode is placed in the bottom left hand corner so it is easily scan able for people. This also includes the price on top and issue number.

The title for this contents page is In a large bold white font, this stands out against the black background. Around the letters in the title there are little symbols of crosses, snakes, beer bottles, skulls etc… This gives the magazine a very gothic and aggressive theme too it which would symbolise their target audience of who they’re trying to aim their magazine at, people with a dark and edgy personality.

The main image on this contents page is a close up shot of a female model who is wearing a lot of costume makeup. She looks very spooky and clown like as she has very dark eye makeup and drawn on tear drops. The way the model has been presented is very significant to the magazines look and how they want to display themselves to their target audience. The picture itself has a very dark look to it as it is against a black background, again giving this contents page a very eerie theme to it.

The layout to this contents page is mostly of the main image taking up about 2/3 of the page . I think that Kerrang has chosen to do this because it will interest the magazines target audience by looking at the striking image. Then on the right hand side of the page is the contents information about the rest of the magazine and the page numbers.

On the right hand side of the page is the contents information. There are different sized fonts depending on the importance of the information. The information has been sectioned out and given titles which are in a bold black font and also highlighted in yellow. The description in more detail about the contents of the magazine are in a slightly smaller black font. These colour tie in together with the colour theme of the page, a dark and gothic look.

In the bottom right hand corner of the page are secondary images which are posters that the magazine contains. These seem to be mid shots of iconic stars of this genre of music. These stars will attract the target audience to the magazine as they will want to keep the posters that the magazine contains. This is a selling point for the magazine making it individual and giving more back to their readers. It also makes the page look more interesting and gives visual information to the audience.

In my opinion the target audience for this magazine would obviously be people that enjoy listening to rock music. I think that although there are females as the main images of the front cover and the contents page, the posters and secondary images are of male artists. This could suggest that this genre of music is more dominated by the male gender therefore more males may enjoy this music than females (although females will like it too). The music type is quite loud and aggressive which in my opinion usually represents men more than women. This magazine’s target audience is most likely aged between 15-25 year olds because a younger age than that this genre of music may be a bit aggressive and as people get older their music taste may mature. I also think that this genre of magazine/music is more aimed towards middle classed people due to different upbringings and their society (middle classed society may be more versatile in their music tastes).

Page numbers on this contents page are in a chronological order but they do vary. This is because the stories in the magazine will have different adverts, posters and other things in between. So therefore the page numbers are in order, just not one straight after each other.

On the right page of the double page spread is a medium close up of Taylor Momsen, who is also the main image of the front cover. Because she is the main image on the front cover, this is the main object that catches the audiences eye, the fact she is on the front cover may even be the reason why they bought the magazine because they like her as an artist. The fact she is on the front cover shows the audience that she is going to be a big part of this magazine issue and that there will be an article on her. This image anchors the text as the title ‘scream queens is written in a gory and scary way’ just like the face she is pulling on the picture, her emotions are representing the article that is written. A very controversial image, a girl who you would expect to look innocent and young yet is wearing very heavy and dark eye make-up and looking very dramatic and scary. This gives the article and the magazine a very unique look and feel to it.

The title of the article ‘scream queens’ is written is a gory bold red font (looking like dripping blood). This genre of music magazine is all about scary and outstanding behaviour just like how the title is presented. This gives this page a spooky look to is again attracting the audience. All of these different characteristics all come together to create this one spooky and heavy look to the magazine itself. They all represent and fit in with one another.

The colour scheme to this article is red, black and white. Because black and white are such neutral colours, it really makes the red stand out on the page as a dramatic colour. The colour red can represent blood, danger, anger and many more topics… This is also the main colour on the front cover of the magazine, again being dramatic so that it stands out off of the shelves. Keeping this scary theme throughout the magazine.

Underneath the pages title, is a paragraph about * *, this writing is in a medium sized font with a black and red colour scheme. The red writing could mean * * and the black * * (check magazine). This writing has been laid out in a form of a paragraph covering most of the width of the left page.Underneath that body of writing is the start of the article (which continues on in further pages).This piece of writing has been set out in two columns giving the writing a more structured look to it.. It starts off with a drop cap (a larger letter at the start of an article) which is also in a bold red font, but the rest of the article continues in a lot smaller of font in black writing. CHECK AT HOME

I think there has been a good use of space across the double page spread article, with a mix of different types of writing and images. The image gives off a lot of visual information as the audience can see what kind of artist Taylor is plus it makes the page more interesting to look at. Also the writing on the left hand page has been written in different formats and colours which also makes the page look different rather than it been too structured and boring for the audiences eye. Giving their audience enough information to keep them interested and want to carry on reading the article on the following pages.

The overall impression I get about this article is that this band is very different. Like the way they page has been laid out, the font and the use of colours in the text and especially the main image and Taylor’s facial expressions. This is what this genre of music magazine is all about, standing out from the crowd and being a rock band. This is the kind of thing that the audience wants to read to keep them interested and entertained which the stories of the bands they love.

This double page spread article is giving us the article that the audience has been edging to read. After seeing the front cover and then the contents page giving a limited amount of information on this story the audience has now got what they have been waiting for.

I think that the target audience for this article is a unisex, 15-25 year old working class individual. Although I think as a whole the magazine genre’s target audience is usually dominated by the male gender, I think this article in particular could be interested by either sex. Females may look up to Taylor as a role model and are intrigued to find out more about her career and stories that she has to tell. Also as the article is about Taylor who is around 22 years old, people of a similar age group would more likely be interested in this article rather than people from an older generation. Again I think this article would be more popular with a middle class set of people as I presume they would enjoy this style of music rather than other classes.

There are many ways in which these three pages link together. Since Taylor Momsen is the main image of the front cover of the magazine, Kerrang has written a double page spread article about her. This is a convention of what most magazines do, this links together the front cover and the double page spread. Because she is the main image on the front cover of the magazine this shows that she is famous in this industry of music. Therefore this could be the main reason why readers have bought the magazine, to read the article about her. Also on the front cover of the magazine, there are cover lines giving the audience an insight as to what is going to be included in the magazine. So the following page in the magazine (contents page) gives the audience slightly more information about the contents of the magazine in more of a chronological order so that they can see whereabouts in the magazine where they can find these stories which appeared on the front cover. Which leads to the contents page showing the audience what page numbers to find the double page spread on, which helps the audience as they may want to find the article quickly as a priority. All three of these pages have a similar colour scheme running throughout. They all contain a lot of black colours and tones to them giving them a dark and heavy look to the pages (just like the magazine genre) . Especially the front cover and the double page spread, they both have white backgrounds, dramatic, large, red and bold titles and also containing the same artist as their main images. As the images are so similar you can tell that they have been taken and used from the same photoshoot being taken for this magazine.There are many links between these three pages to make the magazine flow and the genre be displayed in different yet similar ways.