Rebecca Sims
AS Media
Magazine Analysis
General:
Bauer is the producer of the magazine 'KERRANG!'. The target audience according to the publishers website is aimed at young people. It costs £2.20 and is published weekly. The circulation of the magazine is informal to engage the target audience.
The Cover:
The title 'KERRANG!' connotates the music genre rock as it has a 'indie' vibe to its name. It connotes rock because for example the lines across the title could represent guitar strings and the letter 'K' is broken and smashed which could represent the increase of the bass and the vibrations.
The title masthead 'KERRANG!' has a vibrant style font. The cracks in the title give the magazine its rock feel to it and creates more empthasis. The colour of ths issue is white which contrasts well with the darker colours behind such as red and black. The title is bold and eye-catching, making you drawn to it like a magnet and immediately makes you want to find out whats inside, due to the eye grabbing title.
The strapline for this issue is 'Horizon VS a Day to Remember'. The word 'VS' is bolder than the rest of the text which implys that it is the most important part of the text and your eyes are automatically drawn to it as it is a different colour too. The red and black of the text stand out against the yellow background so there is a good contrast in colours.
The main image is of Ozzy Osbourne. it is a close-up of him, it looks as if he is screaming and he is pointing a finger towards the magazines viewers, therefore it implys the 'rock' theme further as his facial features look aggressive and shouting which people imply with and associate with rock. His clothes are dark however the colour purple from his glasses are very vibrant in contrast to his clothes. He covers half of the title 'KERRANG!' which suggests he is the most important person on the magazine and he dominates it. He is looking right at the viewer which suggests he is screaming at you to read his magazine.
There are 10 other pictures on the magazine surrounding the main image. They are there to show you what is inside and act as a sort of bribe to get you to buy the magazine, for example, at the bottom of the magazine it says "6 awesome posters!" and a photo of each one. If you see this it makes you want to buy it for the poster inside.
The cover lines around the main image promote articles inside. The cover lines suggesting that we go "inside the stars' Gaffs" automatically makes the reader want to buy it as it gives you that feeling that you are special getting to go inside your favourite artists' house and gives you that feel of importance as your getting to know stuff about them before everyone else. The fonts used on the cover are all bold sans-serif fonts which suggests the magazine is big and bold and important which relates with the music genre rock and appeals well with its target audience.
A sans-serif font is consistent through the front page and this suggests and implies the informality of the magazine which connects with the young target audience. The bold, vibrant colours and font all contrast each other. Exclamation marks are used quite often to give emphasis. The informality of the magazine is shown further, for example, they use a quote from Ozzy Osbourne saying "Get the F**K out of my house!" this just shows the informality of the magazine.
Everything is in capital letters which suggests everything is important and screams at you to read it, this contrasts well with the rock theme as that is what we imply with rock.
