Kerrang Analysis

Front cover:  

This is the front cover of Kerrang. The main technique of Kerrang’s editors is to catch people’s eyes by using bright colours along with eye catching pictures to interest the reader. First of all the masthead is written in a large white font on a mainly black background. This is effective because it would stand out on the shelves due to the good combination of colours. Above the masthead is a strap line which offers the reader a further insight into the contents of the magazine and possibly entice them further into buying the magazine. To the right of the strap line is a pug which gives further information into the contents of the magazine. Below the masthead is the main picture which stretches the whole of the page, this would be used to draw in the readers either for their interest in the band pictured or because of the picture catching their eye. In the centre of the page there is a cover line saying ‘BIFFY CLYRO’ with a pull quote above it saying “Were not doing things to please people”; the Main text ‘BIFFY CLYRO’ would catch the readers eye because it is all in capital letters and would stand out more, the pull quote would add extra appeal to the actual article because it makes the reader believe the article involves strong opinions from the band and would therefore interest them. Below the main text is a cover line saying ‘Rock’s next superstars’, this could possibly add extra prestige to the band featured and therefore add appeal to the overall feature. Below centre part there are two separate cover lines on either side of the page; on the left there is another advertisement for ‘Biffy Clyro’ which adds to the coverage the main feature gets, but on top of this cover line lies another pug which offers a free four track download of 4 ‘Biffy Clyro’ tracks, this again signals the editors aim to give their main feature as much coverage as possible to ultimately increase the sales/popularity of their magazine. On the right hand side there is a cover line which advertisers a poster which is available inside the magazine, this would further entice the reader to buy the magazine, and this advertisement is made even more appealing by two small pictures just above the cover line to give the reader a preview of what the posters will look like. At the bottom of the page lies two more cover lines which add further appeal to the magazine along with catching the readers eye further. The left hand side cover line offers an exclusive ‘Tour report’ from ‘Bring me the Horizon’; the ‘Exclusive’ text is written in a fuzzy type of font which adds catches the reader eye further, the text is also written in white and red fonts on a black background which makes it stand out on the page better. To the right of the text there is a small picture of a band member on the tour which adds extra appeal to the feature/article. The right hand side cover line gives information on what else the magazine has to offer, the text is written in white and red fonts on either white or red backgrounds; the combination of these two colours is a successful one because they stand out on the page and would catch the reader’s eye. The text style is unconventional, it is written like it was written by hand which adds to the informal mode of address of the magazine and it also adds to the appeal. The magazine uses the route of the eye, first of all it goes across the masthead which further makes it stand out on the page, it then goes diagonally down across the page crossing the main picture, main pictures’ cover line, track download offer and also the bottom left cover line. This route mainly concentrates on the main ‘Biffy Clyro’ features of the front cover so generally advertisers them but also introduces the reader to the other things the magazine has to offer by placing the other cover line in the bottom right corner. The route then goes across the bottom of the page covering the bottom left cover line and also the cover line signalling what else the magazine has to offer, this shows that the editors are trying to signal to the reader they have other interesting things to offer apart from the main ‘Biffy Clyro’ article. This is further emphasised by the decision to place the bottom left cover line in the terminal area, this would mean it would be the last thing the reader see’s on the page and therefore the thing they are more likely to remember. The principle of thirds is also used. The primary optical area consists of the main picture and the main cover line advertising the ‘Biffy Clyro’ article, this adds to the coverage the main feature/article gets so would therefore entice more readers to buy the magazine, and because it was in the primary optical area it is more likely to catch the readers eye. The hotspots have also been exploited by the editors; the hotspots are places on the front cover where the reader is more likely to look and therefore more important things are placed in them. The top two hotspots focus on the main picture which gives the main ‘Biffy Clyro’ feature more coverage, also making it more appealing. The bottom left hotspot focuses on the track download offer for ‘Biffy Clyro’, this signals the intentions of the editors to give their main article as much coverage as possible. The bottom right hotspot is located on the poster giveaway cover line, this shows the reader that they have more to offer than just their main article and would ultimately make the magazine more appealing. The mode of address for this magazine is generally trying to be informal as seen by some of the text fonts used; the mode of address for the magazine is trying to appeal to a younger audience who is interested in rock music so the informality of the magazine would appeal to the audience and possibly other specific audiences which would ultimately make the magazine more appealing to their specific target audience and various other audiences making the magazine more popular.

Contents page

The main headline of the contents page is ‘Contents’ and this is written in a yellow font which is quite rocky so would catch the reader’s eye well whilst also appealing to an audience who enjoy rock music. Below the main headline the page is split into two; the top half shows some main articles and also some small pictures, the bottom half shows all of the rest of the smaller articles the magazine has to offer along with small pictures and the editors note, it also contains a subscription offer. In the top half the main background is a larger picture of the smaller ‘Bring me the horizon’ picture from the front cover, this would catch the readers eye because this picture is larger than any other on the page, on the right side there are two smaller pictures showing two articles, the editors obviously believe these articles would be of keen interest to the reader because the pictures have been made bigger and they are also nearer the main headline so would catch the readers eye more. The bottom half of the page has a separate headline ‘Kerrang! This Week’, this is aimed to show the readers what other articles the magazine has to offer. There are two different colours for this title, white for ‘Kerrang!’ and yellow for ‘This week’, both of these colours are placed on a black background, and this mixture of colours successfully catches the reader’s eye. The separate articles are written in smaller black fonts than the main article shown on the front cover and the top half of the contents page. The articles are split into sections headed by different titles written in bold yellow fonts on a black background which would help to catch the reader’s eye. There is also small pictures dotted around the bottom half of the page, one of these is to advertise a free poster which is inside the magazine, this would entice the reader to buy the magazine and therefore increase the popularity of the magazine. The other picture is a picture of an album reviewed in the magazine, this adds to the appeal of this specific section. On the left hand side of the page there is an editor’s note, this is used to create a relationship between reader and editor and build on the informal style of the magazine, the small picture of the editor also adds to the relationship trying to be built up. In the bottom right of the page there is a subscription offer, this is an attempt by the editors to drive sales, the white font on a red background helps to catch the reader’s eye and successfully achieve the editor’s aim of driving sales. The contents page uses the route of the eye, firstly it goes across the ‘Contents’ main headline which successfully introduces the page, it then goes onto introduce the main picture, this will get the reader interested in the article the picture is based on. The route then goes diagonally down the page covering most of the main picture, and the left hand side of the other articles the magazine has to offer, this helps to successfully cover everything on the page and bring the reader’s attention down to other articles the magazine offers besides the main ones. The route then goes across the bottom of the page covering most of the bottom article descriptions and page numbers, this gives them more coverage and adds to the appeal of the magazine, the route finally catches the subscription offer in the bottom right of the page, this offer is placed there because that location is also called the terminal area and things are placed there so they stick in the reader’s mind as they are the last thing they see on the page. Putting the subscription offer there will be beneficial to the editors because it will make the reader remember this offer and ultimately drive sales for the Kerrang magazine. Principle of thirds has also been used in the contents page. The primary optical area consists of a section of the top half of the page and a section of the bottom half, this would help to create a link between the two sections and make the reader aware that the main articles Kerrang has to offer are not the only ones and the smaller articles should be noticed also. Hotspots are generally used to give a certain spot on the page more coverage than another, in this case the top two hotspots concentrate on separate articles, the left hand side one focuses on the ‘Alice in chains’ article, this gives this article more appeal. The right hand side hotspot focuses on the main picture showing one of the magazines main articles, this shows the intentions of the editors to give their main article as much coverage as possible and ultimately make it more appealing. The bottom two hotspots are both located on the other articles Kerrang has to offer, this makes it clear to the reader that Kerrang has so many more articles to offer other than the articles mainly featured on the front cover and hotspots on the contents page. Kerrang’s editors have decided to place the picture of one of the editors and one of the main article advertisements in the left hand side dead area, even though dead areas are mainly used just to fill space, in this case they are not because they have placed two key things in them and by doing this given them more coverage. In the right hand side dead area there is part of the main picture, this is used just to fill space but lower down in the dead there is one of the other articles, this is not insignificant and thus it is unconventional to place it there but by doing so it is receiving extra coverage and therefore making it more appealing. As I mentioned previously the target audience for Kerrang is young people interested in rock music, I believe that the mode of address used in the contents page successfully appeals to this audience, for example the rocky style font appeals to the reader’s rock interest whilst the informality of the editors not appeals to the youthful nature of the audience.

Double Page Spread

This double page spread generally is in presented in dark colours with little paint splash effects dotted around, this gives connotations of a rock nature because the little paint splashes are signs of recklessness and a care free attitude which is what rock is about. This would already appeal to Kerrang’s specific target audience of youngsters interested in rock music. First of all the main headline of the double page spread is placed on the left hand side page and is unconventionally a pull quote from the person interviewed, Jerry Cantrell. This gives the reader an insight into the personality of Jerry Cantrell and possibly makes them more interested in the magazine; it also adds informality to the article. Below the headline is the main text; placed in the middle of the main text is a separate piece of text from the writer introducing what the main theme of the interview is going to be about. This helps to make the reader more interested on what the actual text is about. It also helps to build up a relationship between reader and writer, this adds to the informality of the overall magazine. The rest of the main text is set out with the question asked by the writer in a bold font and the answer given by Jerry Cantrell in a smaller font. The colour of the font is white and this helps to stand out against the dark green background. On the right hand side page there is a large picture of Jerry Cantrell, this is very conventional of a double page spread to have a large picture of the person being interviewed filling up one whole page. The picture helps to build up a relationship between the reader and Jerry Cantrell especially because Jerry Cantrell is looking directly into the camera making it seem as he is looking at you. Lower down there is another pull quote from the interview, this again adds to the informality of the article and also gives the reader an insight into what the interview is like and possible entice them to read the whole of the interview. The clothes Jerry Cantrell is wearing could also attract Kerrang’s specific target audience, he is wearing a black leather jacket with a silver chain which is stereotypically what a rocker should look like, and this would successfully appeal to a youngster interested in rock music. This double page spread uses the route of the eye; it firstly goes across the headline which is a quote from Jerry Cantrell, this successfully helps to catch the reader’s eye and it also introduces them to the personality of Jerry Cantrell well. It then goes across to the large picture of Jerry Cantrell, as I said previously the picture helps to build up a relationship between the reader and Jerry Cantrell and the emphasis on this picture can only strengthen this apparent relationship. The route then goes diagonally down the page crossing some of the main picture along with the main text; this draws the reader’s attention towards the main text and could possibly make them read it. The route finally goes across the bottom of the page crossing the rest of the main text and the bottom of the main picture of Jerry Cantrell. Interestingly nothing is placed in the terminal area, this is unconventional because the editors usually place something there to give it more coverage and keep it in the readers mind; but the editors decided against it this time. The principle of thirds is also used in the double page spread. Firstly the editors have decided to place part of the main text and part of the main picture in the primary optical area, this is possibly done to try and create a link between the picture and the text. Secondly the top two hotspots focus on two things, the left one is placed on the introductory statements from the writer, and this simply introduces the reader to the whole article. The top right hotspot is on the face of Jerry Cantrell, this helps to strengthen the relationship between the reader and Jerry Cantrell. The bottom two hotspots are also used, the left hand side hotspot focuses on the main text and the right one on the pull quote. This is done basically to give these two things more coverage and ultimately make them more appealing to the audience. Dead areas are generally used to fill up space on the page; this is the case on the right hand side dead area because it is just an insignificant part of the main picture. But on the left hand side dead area it is not the case, because unconventionally there is the main text, but on the other hand it could give the main text more coverage and therefore possibly make it more appealing. The mode of address of this magazine successfully appeals to Kerrang’s specific target audience which is youngsters interested in rock music. For example the paint splashes around the page and the dark colours would appeal to this type of audience along with the clothes Jerry Cantrell is wearing. All of these things make up a mode of address which will successfully appeal to Kerrang’s specific target audience.