Analysis of KERRANG! Magazine Front Cover

The mast head of KERRANG! is black and white and has a ‘broken’ look about it. The way there are lines cutting through the letters create, along with broken; a destruction theme which suggests that the magazine is going to be quite rebellious. It is simple but has elements of excitement at the same time which gives a light and cheerful feel of the magazine; in other words it looks like an ‘easy read’.

‘YOU WANT TO EAT MY BRAINS?!’ and ‘NEVER CHANGE TO FIT IN!’ are both pull quotes. The capital letters combined with the explanation marks give a loud, quick, quirky and exciting feel; meaning that the articles are going to have a lot of character and defiantly a lot of energy just like the pull quotes, they are short and snappy.

‘NEVER CHANGE TO FIT IN!’ appears to be the more important pull quote out of the two because it is on the left third; so it is going to be one of the first things the buyer is going to see when it is on the shelf; so the team that made this issue would have put it on the left hand side because it is one of the most appealing things to the reader making it more important and appealing than the other pull quote.

The skyline is the banner across the top of the front cover that reads ‘Reading and Leeds 2010 mega review!’ it is an important announcement for the magazine because it is the skyline and the skyline tends to be information that ‘calls out’ to the reader. Reading and Leeds are areas that hold a lot of music events and most people who are interested in music know this meaning it is for a large variety of music lovers; whether they are extremely devoted or whether music is something they only listen to/ read about every so often.

The black banner along the bottom is a cover line listing what is included in the magazine; the highlights. There isn’t any information about the content; all it is stating is the band names; this goes to show KERRANG are confident that there readers will want to read the articles despite only knowing what band it is about.

The house style is black, white and yellow with a little bit of green. The main image relates to the house style in the sense that the model is wearing a green helmet and a black apron; this goes to show that the main image has been well planned and designed to relate to the magazine.

The main image is a mid-shot of Corey Taylor; wearing what seems to be nothing but a skull apron and a combat helmet. This suggests that the magazine is going to be quite crude in some aspects. Corey Taylor has his tattoos showing meaning the main image is carrying on the ‘wild’ theme of the magazine.

There isn’t much going on it the left third which is slightly unusual because the left third tends to be used to help sales of the magazine; this could mean that KERRANG are quite confident that people are going to buy there magazines and they don’t have to advertise them as much as less popular music magazines.

The lead article on the front cover is an interview with Stonesour’s singer Corey Taylor. It says’s ‘At home with...’ which suggests the journalist is going to delve into his personal life in the article. The main image relates to the lead article because it has a very homely feel to it. He is holding a spatula and there is a BBQ behind him which gives you the impression he is ‘at home’.

There are several flashes on the front of KERRANG; they contain a snappy quote or statement that is included in the magazine. A flash tends to be information in a box or a circle; it can be written information, a photo or even both.

‘OLI SYKES GROWING PAINS – NEVER CHANGE TO FIT IN’; both the written information and photograph are Flashes. It is on the left third which means KERRANG believe it to be popular and something the readers are most likely going to be interested in.

The flash on the bottom left of the magazine is a black and white picture of a member of the band 30 Seconds to Mars. The flash has abbreviated ‘30 Seconds to Mars’ to ‘30STM’ meaning that it only appeals to fans of the band because if the reader doesn’t listen to them and don’t have a general idea of who they are then they aren’t going to know what ‘30STM’ stands for.

The second flash along the bottom is a flash advertising Bullet for My Valentine. It states that there is a free poster inside and their upcoming tours are also inside. It is a very colourful flash; using yellow, green, black and white; it is a well highlighted flash.

‘Linkin Park and more!’ This flash makes you wonder what the ‘more’ is meaning the reader is drawn in by the picture of Linkin Park and left curious by the ‘and more’.

Some would argue that the ‘EXCLUSIVE!’ and ‘AT HOME WITH COREY TAYLOR!’ are flashes. I believe they are information inside a box.

‘NUTS!’ is a quick and snappy flash related to the KORN information on the bottom right of the magazine.

The barcode, issue number, date, price and website are all contained it the same flash... it is the only part on the front cover that is black writing on a white background.

Analysis of KERRANG! Magazine Contents Page

The contents page immediately follows the house theme of the magazine by using yellow, white and black colouring; however, instead of using green red has been used which shows a bit of variance but not too much that it doesn’t relate to the front cover.

The main image on the contents is a crowd at a musical festival; which obviously tells us it is a music magazine. As well as the image the masses of band names on the content page gives away the genre of the magazine and even though it’s less obvious so do the headings of the topics; ‘gig guide’ ‘album reviews’ these both show signs of music.

The big flash at the top right of the page stands out as one of the main articles of the magazine; it is paired with an image that takes up half the contents page. ‘Reading and Leeds 2010’ is the main feature of the contents page.

There are other repeated smaller flashes with ‘cover story’ written in them beside the cover story articles; this is for the ease of the reader.

The bottom right of the contents there is a advertisement from KERRANG to their readers about a special offer; they can get KERRANG magazines sent to their house for £6 a month! This advertisement follows the same colour theme as the rest of the page but it is ordered differently; for example; it is a black and red background with white writing where as the rest of the page is the opposite. They may have done this because they are showing it is still part of the magazine; just nothing to do with the content of it.

Instead of stating what’s on each page KERRANG have categorised their pages and have missed some out because they aren’t needed in the contents as hardly any reader looks in the contents for them. The features that are mentioned in the contents don’t have much explaining what they include meaning the reader will have to turn to the page to find out what it is about.

The contents page is almost mysterious because of the lack of detail. The fact it doesn’t say much about the articles in the magazine means the reader will have to turn to the page to find out more; the contents leaves the reader curious.

On the left of the page there is a picture of and a copy from the deputy editor of the magazine advising the reader on what the best articles are and how KERRANG doesn’t let their readers down; they give them the best quality interviews and music artists.

Analysis of KERRANG! Magazine Double Page Spread

The lead image of this DPS is a large photo of the band All Time Low. They are dressed in lab coats and are posing holding measuring tubes. The expressions on their faces all vary but they all give the same happy surprise expression on their faces. The image has a background of lightning strikes on a blue surface; this could be relate to the release of their album in the sense it’s going to be an ‘electrifying’ and exciting album.

The article is very much image led meaning the image overpowers the text. The text is written in 3 columns and it is position flush left.

The standfirst introduces the artical with a juxtaposition of ideas. It uses the term ‘concoct’ which is usually associated with bad things and it also introduces it by using the word ‘special’. This juxtaposition means that the surprise works in a roundabout sort of way.

The image immediately relates to the Standfirst which is ‘“It’s going to be a surprise!” All Time Low concoct something special for album number four...’ By reading the article it becomes clear that the surprise is all to do with their new album; the name; the style; the meanings of the songs. The article says how they are trying to pull back and go back to their natural style of singing as they had felt it got too controlled and fake. This is a surprise to the reader because

stereotypically they should be saying how they’re ‘reinvented the wheel’ so the fact they are sticking to the same style comes as a surprise to the reader.

I believe part of the reason why this image has been used is because All Time Low are experimenting with some new styles; which relates to the science testing in the photo.

I believe that it is the lead singer that stands out the most in the image because he has the clearest facial expressions and he is positioned quite close to the camera; he is also in the centre of the picture making him seem more important.

Zack Merrick (bass & backing vocals) is standing on the far left. He is also standing quite close to the camera. Zack isn’t standing side on to the camera.

The second on the left is Jack Barakat (lead guitarist and backing vocals) who looks as though an experiment has gone wrong (because of the black on his face). He is stood quite far back in the picture and the experiment gone wrong show’s that not everything in their record making went 100% to plan.

The third band member is Alex Gaskarth(vocalist and rhythm guitarist) who is the main singer. He looks the most confident out of the four. The article shows that he has the biggest part of the band considering he has to write songs, as well as sing, as well as sometimes play guitar.

The band member on the far right is Rian Dawson (drummer). In the image he is drinking the ‘concoction’ that they have made suggesting he is the risk taker of the group.

The pull quote in the Standfirst “It’s going to be a surprise!” draws the readers in because when anyone get’s told ‘it’s a surprise’ they immediately want to know what it is; so by having this as a pull quote automatically makes the viewer want to read the article because they hope they are going to find out what the surprise is.

The pull quote gives a sense of house style because it uses the KERRANG yellows and reds. Even the small advertisement flash keeps the same house style as well as not being part of the article; it gives an ‘I am part of the magazine but not of the article’ impression.

The Drop Cap of the article is a yellow ‘A’ with a red outline meaning it is also following the house style of KERRANG! Magazine.

The article has been edited to look as though it was typed on rough, creased and torn lined paper; this rough look is used to relate to the band and house style of the magazine. The magazine isn’t for the more sophisticated music lover but more for the wild fan.

The tone and register also follows the ‘unsophisticated’ style of KERRANG because it doesn’t use a high lexical register; meaning it is quite easily worded so the less able can manage to read the article with minimal problems.

The article refers to All Time Low’s old albums Nothing Personal meaning to understand the article fully you must know a bit of background on ALL Time Low.

The By-line informs us that the article was written by Tom Bryant and the photo was taken by Paul Harris. The photo was taken by a different person who wrote the article meaning the two managed to communicate well enough to piece together the two items and make the part of the same article.

In the copy the journalist uses approximately 15 direct quotes from the band and this is quite a lot considering it is quite a small article.

I believe that the band would like this article because it portrays them in a good light; it makes them seem genuine and down to earth; we learn that don’t want to be seen as ‘extraordinary’ they just want fans to stay devoted and they just want to please them by giving them what they want.

The article; in my opinion is aimed at all All Time Low fans and even those who don’t know a massive deal about them. It is most likely a better read for someone in their teenage years.