The masthead 'KERRANG' is the brand of the magazine and is titled in the centre of the top of the magazine.
The KERRANG Logo (Rock style font of KERRANG). This connotes the rock genre of the magazine. It shows the importance of the brand as it is a widely distributed magazine and is well recognised.
Strap line "New Chemical Romance songs revealed" is an announcement to the reader which lures the reader to read further into the article inside.
The main image links with the headline as it includes some of the rock heroes. All the rock legends in the image are looking straight at the reader. This invites the reader of the magazine to further read into the magazine. Each rock legend is wearing a different style, which shows the individuality of legend.
It is placed on top of a basic background, allowing the image to be the focal point of the magazine.
The different clothing in the main image represents the hybrid of genres KERRANG includes and influences style over the audience.
ROCK’S GREATEST HEROES- theme of the magazine, is the main headline which portrays the main story of the magazine, and the genre of what the magazine consists of. The shots of the people in the background are full body shots, with a slightly closer shot of Kurt Cobain leaning in towards the audience.
The magazine contains a strap line above the masthead reading "New My chemical romance songs revealed. This announcement reels the readers in to the new information within the inside of the magazine.
Images of preview of included posters are advertised down the side. Along with other artists displayed around the page. This presents to the audience other artists who will be featured in the magazine and other content/ news.
The hybrid of genres is presented on the cover where the posters include a mix of bands from different genres to appeal to a mass market audience.
Posters and news and
happenings in the rock world are promoted as content within the magazine. ‘Exclusive! Bert McCracken joins Black Veil Brides!’
This promoted exclusive article provides the reader a reason for buying the article as it is unique and the article can only be found within that magazine.
The colour scheme consists of a yellow, red and white appearance with an earth like background, which shows informality through the use of clashing colours. However there is no apparent house style as the main article includes a colour scheme of blue and yellow.
The font and colours varies throughout the page, attracting the reader to different headlines. The fonts consist mostly of that of san-serif, showing the informality of the magazine, however the main headline is a sans-serif font. This elaborates on the old school style of music legends it is advertising.
The cover uses rhetorical questions such as ‘Going to university? Get this! The ultimate student guide.’ This incises the student guide as it interests the reader to find out what this student guide consists of. It takes the cover to a more personal level.
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This KERRANG magazine looks similar to other KERRANG magazines as it usually consists of its logo expanding width ways across the top of the magazine. It also consists of a main image as well as others to the sides of the page visually advertising what the inside has to offer. There also posters being offered inside on issue 1488. However compared to rival magazines like MOJO, it is a lot more informal as it appeals to a different audience. On the August 2006 edition, MOJO offers a free CD inside which KERRANG doesn’t, however doesn’t offer posters. Rather than the bands, which KERRANG advertises to be inside such as Slipknot, Blink-182 and Green day and so on, MOJO appealing to a different audience includes Queen, The Beatles and other slightly older bands.
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Mojo also has a different style and colour scheme as it is dark and the main image is desaturated with an increased contrast.
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The pages on the MOJO magazine are thicker and less flimsy than the KERRANG pages, and consist of more pages due to its monthly publishing routine rather than KERRANGS weekly routine.
The genre of the magazine is the branches from rock, hence the main headline being 'Rock's greatest heroes'. However there is many different forms of rock from punk (Blink 182) to heavy metal (Slipknot) making KERRANG a hybrid of genres. KERRANG published it's first issue in 1981, so the mix of music generation spans over at least 20 years, and is evident as there are artists such as Nirvana to Black Veil Brides.
Barcode advertises the issue number, price and a link to the brand website at www.kerrang.com
Front Cover
Cover Comparison
The typography of the masthead is a single colour to create simplicity and to make the masthead bold and easily visible. The masthead has loud streaks to symbolise sound and the rock genre which is the primary genre.
It includes a exclamation mark to also emphasise it is a rock magazine and is loud and exciting.
The masthead is all in capitals to increase the size of the masthead.
The burnt edges of the letters in KERRANG creates and interesting typeface which represents madness and the rockstar life style.
The page furniture includes design elements of boxing for each feature on the page. Arrow boxing is often used for the posters and the 'Evanescence' and 'Halestorm' cover line. Circles and box where it appears the page has been turned are also used to break up the page layout.
There is a pull out line "These people changed our lives to grab the readers attention and to lure them into the article.
