Kerrang Contents Analysis

The route of the eye starts at the editor’s note and the
big feature they advertise and goes along to the
masthead and start of the contents column. It then
goes down through various images representing
articles, this emphasises the large content of the
magazine to the reader to make it more appealing and
so it seems better value for money. Finally it goes
across through more images and ends with an
advertisement for a subscription to the magazine in
the terminal area. This is the last thing seen and
remembered and so is a very effective advertisement.

The first hotspot is placed around various pictures

representing a review for a music festival. This draws
much attention to this and connotes the importance of
this particular article. The second hotspot is around
other images representing other minor articles, but
more importantly it is placed towards the start of the
contents column. This draws attention to a more
detailed and easier way to inform the reader of what
articles are where in the magazine. The third hotspot is
in between some more images of which represent
other various articles, this is simply here to draw attention to the bottom of the page and the other articles. The
last hotspot is placed at the bottom of the contents column, this is to draw more attention to it and so it directs
the reader more effectively.

There are many images used in the contents page. Each of these images represents an article, so they are mostly
pictures of musicians. Two of these pictures are of a musician holding a guitar; this represents the genre and so
relates to the reader. Other images are just of people wearing costumes for live performances to connote their
rebellion and rock interest.

The fonts used in this are all sans serif fonts in order for them to be clear and appealing. Most of the fonts are
captions to explain the images and the article title for the contents column, so just like the images the font is left
very simple as the language is too.

Very little language is used on the contents page as it is kept simple in order to just nudge the reader in the right
direction of their desired article rather than giving a full analysis. Many captions are used to explain the relevance
of the images to the article e.g. The Crooked Vultures announce UK tour dates. This is very simple language to just
give a short summary; this doesn’t spoil anything for the reader but yet gives all the necessary information. In the
contents column the only language is the band names that are associated with the article to just quickly appeal to
the fans.

A good range of colours are used in this contents page but yet is still left simple and appealing. The base colour is
white in order to stand out and contrast with any other colour on top of it. The other two colours commonly used
is yellow and black, both of these contrast with the base colour (white) and with each other so various titles and
captions stand out well to the reader. This is used for the title in which the text box is black and the font is yellow,
they reverse the colour to vary it and make it more appealing.

Overall there isn’t too much to say in this analysis and that is due to the contents simplicity, and that is how it
should be short simple and easy to read. After all its purpose is to direct the readers to various pages and the
instructions shouldn’t be complicated at all with as little information as possible but without being too vague.