Magazine analysis: Kerrang!

Kerrang! is distributed worldwide and is published by Bauer Media Group.

Bauer Media publish over 300 magazines with Kerrang being one of its
best sellers. The colours on Kerrang! magazine throughout are
predominantly red, yellow, black and white with dashes of blue on the
front cover. These are all very bold, bright colours that make everything
stand out from the page itself, which creates an angst/edgy feel to show a
sort of rebellion from other magazines. At a glance the front cover is very
over the top and heavy but it works for their target audience. The double
page spread creates a party atmosphere with its background image of the
bands gig. The contents page has a more relaxed feel than the front
cover; it also has a white background which makes the print stand out.
The design of the front cover fits well with that style, the text and images
wrap around the background image and you can clearly read the
coverline. The main coverline is very dominant on the page and you know
straight away that this is the main article. Sans serif fonts has been used
throughout the magazine however on the contents page there is a serif
font on the headings of folios and also on the a letter from the
editor. The font used is also very bulky and heavy on most headings
throughout the magazine, especially with the coverlines on the front
cover; however the body text is very common looking. I think the use of
bold font is to grab the buyers attention and so that it stands out from
the other magazines on the shelf. There is no writing over faces, however
this is writing over the body of people and behind heads, also the
masthead is behind the image on the front cover. The images on the front
cover relate to the main articles, the images are also showing a sense of
ideal lifestyle that the readers of Kerrang magazine aspire to. On the front
cover of this issue are Black Veil Brides, a famous band amongst /metal
fans, which are the featured band. There is a picture of Black Veil Brides
on the contents page and also of another article. The image on the
double page spread is of the main singer of the band featured in the
article, it is places behind the main text however the subject of the image
is along the top of the page which is of the main singer of the band, Fall
Out Boy, is on a inflatable raft and crowd surfing.
For the front cover image the lead singer, Andy Biersak, is directly at the
front in the centre and the rest of the band are in a triangle shape behind
him. They are all wearing very dark, grungy clothing which is something
that their audience would expect. Andy is holding a phone with a pull
quote in large next to him saying Get me a beer, a tiger and batman,
this shows a resemblance to the film The Hangover. The language used
on the front cover is very attention grabbing and hard to ignore, this
effect is made by the use of sibilance and harsh sounding words. On the
contents page there are short sharp sentences for the article titles, I feel
this is to not give away too much about the article to keep the attention
of the readers so that they buy the magazine.

The words used on the front cover suggest the articles inside is exciting
and I believe the importance of the coverlines are determined by the font
size, they also suggest the readers interests by having a wide range of
different articles on the front for coverlines. You can identify the contents
of the magazine at a glance because of the use of bold colourings and
contrasts which make the words stand out. I believe the font size to be
big enough to be read from a distance whilst on a shelf of others and also
the layout to be effective as it is wrapped to the image so that it fits
around the image tightly. The front cover has two buzz words and a strap
line to try and draw the buyers attention; however some readers may
think that the front is too busy yet still effective. The words used on the
contents page are informal; there is a wide use of slang, which is what
their readers would expect. The size of the font is proportional to the
page and is not over the top, like on the front cover, also the layout of
the contents page is very clever and chronological this makes it easy to
follow and the headings help to locate different types of article. The words
used on the double page spread are quite informal yet still informative.
My overall impression is that the front cover gives a good indication of
whats inside the magazine with the use of images in the bottom corner.
The magazine is design for pop/punk/rock/metal fans, it represents its
readers by using angst style fonts, heavy text and bold colours. Most
music fans are addressed by Kerrang! as anyone who likes music would
be interested in this magazine. The magazine aims to give knowledge to
their readers and keep them updated.

Magazine analysis:

NME

NME magazine is published by Time inc. (UK) Ltd Entertainment Network,

they publish over 100 magazine and 60 of them are iconic brands and
NME is distributed all over the UK.

The cover of this magazine is a special edition as it is a fold out cover, it

takes up 3 pages. The colours used are red white and black; this keeps it
simple and can be consistent throughout the magazine, there are also
hints of yellow on the double page spread. This creates a simplistic and
also gives the impression of a rock atmosphere. The design of the front
cover shows how the words fit around the shape of the image, making
sure not to block anyones faces.
The font looks like it has been written on with a marker, this is due to the
fact Dave Grohl (lead singer of the Foo Fighters) is holding a board
marker in his hand in the image. Some of the writing on the front cover is
not like this though and is in a bold sans serif font. On the contents page
all of the text is in a sans serif font, with some being bold and some not,
also there is only one image on the page which is near enough centred.
On the double page spread the design is quite simple and it works as it
makes it feel quite old fashioned, the font used is sans serif except for the
main body text which is a serif font.
The image on the front cover is directly linked to the feature article
however it does also represent a person that their readers would like to
aspire to. The band featured on the front cover is the Foo Fighters. The
way the image is laid out is that the front man, Dave Grohl, is always
shown on the first page and the rest of the band are to the right of him.
Dave Grohl has a cheeky grin on his face and is looking mischievous; this
is done to make the readers feel he is getting up to something. The image

on the contents page is of La Roux who is featured in an article, I believe

this is related to the article. The language used on the front cover is very
explicit which will grab buyers attention; it is censored however you still
get a feel of how the band is. The language used
is very eye catching and is done this way to
shock people into wanting to buy the magazine.
However the language used on the contents page
is all quite informative yet informal; it addresses
the reader on a personal level, trying to get their
readers involved in the magazine.

The words used on the front cover are bold and

are there to make a statement, the coverlines
are scattered around the page, without any
order. They suggest that the contents are a bit
crazy but still normal. The size of the writing
doesnt determine the importance of the
coverlines like on some magazines, the layout is
messy but it works well for this issue. You can
identify the contents of this magazine at a glance as the font size is at the
right size and this magazine would definitely stand
out on a shelf. The words used on the contents
page are very toned down compared to the front
cover, they suggest the readers know information
about different artists/bands, from the use of just
a band list on the right hand side. The words used
on the double page spread are very explicit as it is
a previous article that they have re-printed for
this issue. I think this suggest that the readers
arent bothered by swearing and are quite happy
to see it and read articles about extreme things.
My overall impression is that the front cover gives
a good indication of whats inside of the magazine
and does this very clearly with the use of strong
language and bold fonts. This magazine is
designed to appeal to a young adolescent audience who like rock/poppunk music and I think this magazine represents that through the wide
variety of bands that are written about in this magazine. I think that the
type of readers that are not addressed are ones that perhaps dont like
the use of curse words and also do not feel comfortable seeing them, also
readers who arent into music or the types of music NME is promoting.