Fintan Cadden
AS Media
Magazine Analysis: KERRANG!
Front Cover
Producition
KERRANG! is produced by The Bauer Media Group, and the magazine is published weekly
Price
The magazine costs £2.50 every week.
Circulation
The magazine is circulated 24,207 times
Target Market
This magazine would be aimed at music enthusiasts, mostly of the rock genre, as they would like to keep updated and informed on their favourite artists and news, and stories all about them. This style of magazine is also aimed at the younger generation due to the page layout and design being simplistic and straight to the point.n Due to this the magazine is a niche product as it only aims at a small proportion of the population
Weekly Revenue from sales
From magazine sales there would be £5,050 weekly revenue.
Logo and Masthead
The name of the magazine is KERRANG! this also acts as their logo due to it being the most recognisable feature of the magazine, giving the magazine brand awareness. The meaning behind the name is that it stands for the noise made when you strum a guitar, this shows the audience that the magazine will be music based and particularly rock music. The Masthead is just the word KERRANG! with it always being in bold colours to stand out and with the font being rigid and edgy, showing the word being broken and cut making it recognisable.
Strapline:
The top Strapline shows an advertisment for the merchandise of a band, this is in bold colour and a strong font, with the bands name even bolder in order to draw the attention of the audience towards it and making it more visible. There is no Strapline at the bottom of the page, just at the top.
The Main Image and Cover:
The main image is an artist staring down the camera intimidatingly, this is taken from a photo-shoot, not a live action shot. His clothing is black and bold, this could link to the reader as it could show how they like to dress and act. The way he stands is aimed to be intimidating and shown as facing off the reader as he is staring at them directly. The front page is also covered with stories that appear inside the magazine, they also offer another promotion for the 'posters inside', this draws more readers into the magazine as they may be interested in other bands or something they like to keep up date on in the magazine. The photo is taken in a medium shot as it shows him from the waist up, this enables the photo to capture what he is wearing and also his face and emotions and the look he is giving off, which is an intimidating and threatening stare.
The Coverline:
The Coverline features an article on the Band 'EMO' and above, has a pull quote from the article about them inside, this causes people to go the article to find out what that quote is about, meaning they will have to go through the rest of the magazine to find what they are looking for. This therefore means more fans are willing to buy this magazine as it involves a band they are interested in and want to find out about. The Coverline has the largest font on the page meaning it draws in all the attention and is the part in which is first seen.
Connotations of typefaces, graphics colours
All the text is broken up or in loud fonts, which are used to represent the artist and all text is in dark or bold colours. The fonts are used to make it look handwritten at points so its not as formal which represents rock music as a whole, which is bold and there to be different from the norm. Everything on the magazine is in a san-serif font, including the headline and masthead
Language Features
All writing on the cover is in bullet point form, no long worded paragraphs, short and sharp to lure attention, and the quotes from all interviews are mostly relatable to the types of people reading, as well as what may interest them is visible on the cover and shown there to draw readers attention.
Comparisons to other magazines
The text is also in a font representing handwriting making it look less formal and simplistic.
The cover of KERRANG! is mostly different as it represents a different genre of music, so therefore aims at a different audience and is changed to suit that audience. As other magazines are aims at different genres which create a different mood to KERRANG! offers different types of music and atmosphere within their magazine comared to others.
Distinctive features about the cover
The background is white with black paint splatters showing boldness and also that the photo is takn from a photohoot and not a live action shot from a gig
Inside Analysis
Page analysis
In KERRANG! Magazine there are 63 page of which 12 of them pages are adverts
Type of adverts analysis
Most of the adverts in KERRANG! revolve around the world of rock. Most adverts are for upcoming rock gigs and events or merchandise for a variety of bands across the genre. This obviously appeals to the readers of KERRANG! who would be hardcore rock fans and would be likely to attend these gigs and buy and wear the merchandise on offer.
Article topics in the magazine
Most of the topic in the magazine are about different bands in rock, and stories to do with them. Also there are many novelty features which are to do with people sending in pictures of them enjoying KERRANG! and also rock gigs. There are no other types of advertising apart from other promotional magazines for different bands.
Double page spreads
Overall throughout the KERRANG! Magazine there are 11 double pages in total, the majority of which are about an artists story or an interview with them, although there still are some other double page spreads which are adverts and selling of merchandise. Each double page spread is different as it talks about different aspect with different bands, this stops it getting repetitive and boring, and aallows you to learn different things about different bands. This follows the house style of the magazine, with it being dark and eary, as well as being graphic.
Advertorials
In KERRANG! magazine there are no advertorials.
Magazines unified House-Style
From the front cover you pick up the house style of black, red and white. These can be seen as dark bold colours and can represent the rock genre that KERRANG! Promotes. This is continued and seen in both the contents and double page spread. This allows the magazine to stay consistent and similar throughout.
How does the house style speak to the audience
The house style of dark and bold colours speak to the audience who would be rock fanatics, these would be the colours they associate themselves with the most so feel relatable to the magazine. The target audience would be younger aged rock fans who are more interested in being different and bold compared to a more sophisticated magazine.
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