KERRANG! Magazine Front Cover Analysis
By Jac Colton
Analysis
MastheadThe “KERRANG!” Masthead is very big and bold so that it stands out amongst other magazines. The font used is unique and was created for and only for KERRANG! Magazine. Regular readers of KERRANG! (The Target Audience) will easily recognise it due to its design. This creates branding as on all KERRANG! Magazines, this unique masthead font will be used. The font is onomatopoeia for the sound of a guitar (an instrument most commonly used in rock and metal music). The font is also cracked, making it look like it was shattered the loudness of the music and making it look more aggressive (a stereotype for rock and metal fans).
Analysis Continued Main Image (With Direct Address) The Main image is of Vic Fuentes (lead vocalist of Pierce The Veil) directly addressing the Target Audience, this creates a bond between the Target Audience and the magazine, increasing the likelihood of someone from the Target Audience buying the magazine. He is also making a “be quiet” sign with his hand. This is significant as the main coverline is titled “100 Secrets Behind The Songs” its almost like he's telling the target audience through action that he is keeping quiet and “keeping the secret” until the target audience buys the magazine and reads the main article. BarcodeThe barcode is required part of an magazine as it allows the shop to know when a product has been sold. It is at the bottom of the magazine so it does not get in the way of the important parts of the magazine
Analysis ContinuedMain Coverline (with Mise-en-scene) The main coverline is big ,bold and is in the centre of the front cover so that is stands amongst the other coverlines and magazines. It relates to the Mise-en-scene of the main image as in the background of the image are names of loads of different bands and artists who appear in the magazine. This shows that tee target audience is people who like all types of rock and metal music there are bands and artists of different genres featured in the background of the main image (e.g Guns N Roses: Classic Rock, Paramore: Pop Punk, Slipknot: Heavy Metal)
Analysis ContinuedFreebiesFreebies are used to convince people to buy the magazine. Poster are usually an easy andcheap freebie to add into a magazine. They also advertise the contents of the magazine as most of the time, the posters will be of bandsand artists who are featuring in various articleswithin the magazine. Use of ColourThe colour cannot be seen on this scannedversion of the magazines front cover but it does not make it any less important. The maincolour for this particular issue is green, whichlinks into the main article as Vic Fuentes is the Lead Vocalist of Pierce The Veil (and Pierce The Veil main colour for posters, artwork, album art is Green). The BLOODSTOCK Preview header on The top right of the magazine is coloured in redwhich links in with the bloodstock name asblood is red. Finally there are yellow borders andpatches (most notable on the footer featuring Blink 182). This links with the branding as KERRANG’S main colour scheme is black and yellow.
