Magazine Deconstruction

Kerrang! Magazine front cover deconstruction.

The masthead of the magazine is a bold block font to attract the audience and to also compliment the bold and unique style of music, featured in the magazine. The font is also a “broken mirror” sort of effect. The reasoning behind this is to give the magazine an ‘edgy’ feel and to give a loud and rebellious style to the magazine. Again, this compliments the style of music featured in the magazine.

The masthead is placed at the top of the page. This is because, conventionally, people read from top to bottom and also because when the magazine is stacked on shelves, the masthead can still be seen.

The coverline of Kerrang! Magazine is the name of a band, this indicates to the audience that there is going to be an interview on the band (funeral for a friend) or an article on them. The coverline uses a bold, simple font to attract attention. The colours; red, white and yellow, are a main colour scheme on the magazine, this add’s to the impact and style of the cover and also gives it a more masculine feel.

The coverline uses words such as “Darker” and “heavier” which compliment the type of music featured In the magazine

By writing the name of a band in a bold font will attract fans of the band.

The main image is a band which is featured inside the magazine. The band produce rock music, and rock music is what is mainly featured in Kerrang!, therefore the main image builds an identity of what the magazine is going to be like and what music is likely to be featured. The band on the main image are photographed in a way in which it almost looks like they are looking at the audience and the person viewing the cover; this will draw people in and build a connection with the audience. All band members are wearing black clothes to add to the ‘rock’ and ‘dark’ style of the magazine and also to focus the attention on their faces. The men featured all look between the ages of 20-30 which makes people who see the magazine understand that the magazine is aimed at a younger audience. The main vocalist is positioned in the middle providing a statement and a ‘leader’; This gives the audience a main viewing point.

This sell line shows the type of music that is going to be featured in the magazine and will also attract viewers who are interested in these bands. Again, it sticks to the main colour pallet and uses white font and blue bullet points.

This will draw attention to viewers interested in these bands and the word “free” implies that the magazine is a good deal. A lot of the sell lines end in a “!” such as “plus!” and “free posters” This adds an excitement feel to the magazine and also matches the name of the magazine “kerrang!”

This sell line also informs the reader of the type of music featured in the magazine. The word “plus” is written in the same font as “free posters” and also fits in with the colour scheme.

Just by looking at the cover you can tell the style of music which is going to be featured. The main colour pallet of blue, yellow, white and black gives the impression that it is more aimed towards a male audience. As well as this, the images on the cover mainly include men and the sell lines feature male bands. The magazine shows very little female characteristics which also shows that the magazine is aimed mostly at males.