Magazine front cover analysis

Front cover magazine interview

The genre of Kerrang! Magazine is rock, which includes sub genres of heavy metal, pop rock, punk rock, indie rock, emo, rap rock and alternative rock.

 The colour scheme/ house style for Kerrang! Magazine is black, white and red which are unisex colours but aim predominantly at men. These colours are consistent on every page, and every issue of Kerrang! The connotations of red and black are danger, darkness and blood which are all associated with rock as people relate it to scary men who wear dark clothes. These relate to the images as the men look quite scary and rebellious with their tattoos. Although, there are a contrast of images as in the main image the band members from ‘Bring me the horizon’ look very smart as they are wearing suits where as in the 3 bottom images the men are at concerts singing.

 The structure of the magazine is very bold and outgoing. The font represents rock as it is big and in your face. At the top is a banner which consists of some of the main articles included in the magazine. This is at the top as it is one of the first things that the reader will see which will interest them, especially if it is one of their favourite bands. The headline is placed underneath the banner, in a font that is consistent in every single Kerrang! Magazine, and therefore it is a known font and headline.

 The main image is overlapping the Kerrang! title, and it covers the rest of the page. The image is a long/median shot, and the band members are using eye contact. This makes the reader feel intimidated, although their facial expressions aren’t scary. The band name ‘Bring Me The Horizon’ is in white, bold writing to really stand out above the image, making it clear who they are. Even though no pull quote is used from their article, the headline ‘Northern Uproar’ is presented underneath in red which is a contrast to the white font. There are 3 different stories from the magazine under the heading ‘K! Week of rock: poster special!’ which include the band name and an image of the poster. All of the images on this front cover are of men because it is much more usual for them to in the band and play instruments such as the electric guitar. Also it is mostly men who are the targeted audience where as women are the secondary audience as they still read Kerrang!

 There is also a banner at the bottom of the page, which like the banner at the top is a regular with Kerrang!, with a pug saying ‘Plus’. This is an effective word that would make the reader be drawn to it as they know they are getting more. Then 7 bullet point artists are listed in the same colour scheme to inform the reader of which other bands they can read about in this issue.

 Finally in the bottom right hand corner the barcode, issue number, website and date is listed. These are all conventions of a magazine and have to be included legally. The website also encourages the reader to visit it and continue to read Kerrang!