Chloe Emberton

Front Cover Analysis- Kerrang! (Issue 1341- 4 th December 2010)

Masthead Cover-Star’s

Splash

Splash

Banner

Cover-line

Freebies Date/Price/Bar code

Target Audience and need

Kerrang’s target audience is 16-25 year olds and specific towards rock music fans. However in recent years, the age of the audience has dropped and it is more 14-18 year olds who tend to buy and read the magazine, it appeals to a specific niche audience because it concerns topics and themes that are relevant to people who listen to and are interested in rock music and its background. This audience of rock fans is made up of 60% males and 40% females. Kerrang aims itself more at a male audience because it appeals to them by using content such as hard rock and metal iconic male bands on the front cover, the female readers are targeted by the use of male bands on free pull out posters and feature interviews.

House Style

Kerrang’s house style is very effective because of the bold font and images used consistently. Kerrang uses a significant colour pallet for each of their magazine issues, the main colours are white, black, yellow, red and green. These enable the magazine to be eye-catching and it allows certain cover lines to stand out. These basic colours are continued throughout all the pages creating a dark and moody ambiance. Like the background, the clothing worn by the featured band/artist are usually dark but also casual, this may form the image of the magazine being relaxed and casual, this can be seen by all the images used on Kerrang’s front covers. The angle of the image on the front cover is most likely always a

Chloe Emberton

close up shot or a low angle shot, this is used to attract the audience causing a sort of eye contact to form through the photo or to make the audience look up to the cover-star.

The Guttenberg Design Principle

The Guttenberg Design principle is ‘the rule of thirds’, which is considered when taking a photograph and laying out a magazine front cover in this case. This magazine front cover uses the rule of thirds as in the primary optical area there is the name of the magazine, ‘Kerrang’ which will stand out to the viewer of the magazine, and then following is the strong fallow area where the viewer will see the main image, which is a band. In the weak fallow area being advertised are posters which are free inside the magazine, and then in the terminal area is the bar code.

Main Image

The main image on this magazine front cover uses symmetry as the band members are standing either side of each other. Through the way they are stood and their gestures the audience can tell what kind of genres are talked about within the magazine and the genre of the band itself which is rock. The image catches the audience’s attention as the band is pointing towards the camera which makes it look like they are pointing at you when you look at it so therefore this can make you want to buy the magazine more and it’s almost like they want you to buy it.

Masthead

The masthead of this magazine is ‘Kerrang’, it is san serif which shows the audience that it is an informal magazine. The bold black font used makes it stand out against the white background, and through them being binary opposites it shows more that this magazine includes different kinds of genres. The effect used on the masthead makes it look like the magazine is representing rock more because of the ‘smashed’ look that it has, the effect makes the masthead look quite original and it gives it more of an edge.

Lead article/Model Credit/Coverlines

The lead article in this magazine would be the one which features the band on the front cover, the splash ‘Matt Tuck and Oli Sykes vs. the world’ stands out amongst the other Coverlines on the front cover as it is highlighted by a yellow border, from this it tells the audience that this would be the main topic within the magazine. The audience can see the Coverlines on the front cover which are on either side of the magazine, they are highlighted by a red border however are in a much smaller font as they are not the main talk inside the magazine but are still being advertised on the front cover so the viewer can see it and this might make them want to buy the magazine more.

Chloe Emberton

Front Cover Analysis- Vibe (August/September 2010)

Masthead Splashes

Cover-star’s

Coverlines Splash

Banner

Date/Price/Bar code Splash

Target Audience and need

The target audience for vibe magazine would be people aged between 16 and 34 who are listeners of R&B, Hip Hop and rap. It targets people who are interested in the music, the background and the artists themselves. The magazine targets both male and females, however, it targets males a bit more because they are more interested in the rap and R&B sections than females so they consume this magazine more. It is most likely that the males who consume this magazine are more interested about the rappers that are talked about in the magazine and the female consumers would be interested in articles about the female hip-hop and R&B singers and any of the posters which have the male performers on them. This magazine also targets an international audience because people all over the world would buy this magazine and listen to the different genres of music which are all included within the magazine.

House Style

The house style for ‘vibe’ magazine mainly consists of black, grey, red and white, these are bold colours and the arrangements allow each to stand out, which gives the magazine a rich and classic look. The use of these colours is carried on throughout the magazine which carries on the classic look through to the end. ‘Vibe’ can be identified as being a serious magazine whilst also being considered sleek through the use of the colours. Likewise, the sleek and serious look is also captured through what the artists/bands wear on the front cover as they look very smart and sophisticated; this is especially shown through the front cover I have chosen.

Chloe Emberton

The Guttenberg Design Principle

The use of the ‘rule of thirds’ has been used for this front cover because in the primary optical area is the masthead which would immediately be captured by the audiences eye, also in part of this area is a part of the main image, then following the design principle going through to the strong fallow area the viewer would have looked at all the artists included in the main image so would straight away know the main topic of the magazine for that issue. In the weak fallow area is the bar code, which has been cleverly put there so the buyers wouldn’t really take a look at the price so if they liked the look of the magazine they would just buy it straight away. Then going through to the terminal area the viewer would be able to read what some of the articles will be about in the magazine as the splashes and banners have been placed in that area.

Main Image

The main image for this magazine issue is unsymmetrical as all three of the artists are standing one behind another. Each of the artists are standing straight and have a very serious look on their face and are all dressed very smartly, all three of these things indicate that the magazine is very serious yet sleek. The artists in the image are wearing jewellery, for example, watches and rings, which also indicates that their genre is rap and R&B, as these genres like so show off what they have.

Masthead

The masthead for this magazine is ‘vibe’, the font is san serif which suggests that the magazine is informal, however, it is very bold and fills the whole of the top of the magazine and also stands out against the black background, it is very simple but also effective. The way that it looks and how the font is very edged and tidy ties in with the fact that the whole magazine is classy and sleek.

Lead article/Model Credit/Coverlines

The lead article on this front cover would be the one which is about one of the artists featured on the cover: ‘Diddys commission, welcome to the dark side’ is the lead article, this is shown through how it is in a larger font and is more bolded than the other Coverlines, the phrase used ‘welcome to the dark side’ stands out as it has a white border around it, from this the audience knows that this would be the lead article inside the magazine. The Coverlines are placed in-between the primary optical area and the weak fallow area so they are noticeable to the viewer, they do stand out a bit as they are written in white and placed onto the black background. These tell the audience which other artists are included within the magazine, so the buyer would also have to read them to find out if any other artists they like will be talked about inside the magazine.

Chloe Emberton

Similarities

The similarities between the two magazines, ‘Kerrang’ and ‘Vibe’ are that they are both

Differences

The differences between the two magazines are that they are both selling to a completely different audience, vibe attracts a mature and older audience and on the other hand Kerrang attracts a younger and less mature audience, this is shown through the main images on the magazines. Vibe magazine is a much smarter and classier magazine, whereas Kerrang is a more laid back and niche magazine. The front cover of the Kerrang magazine is quite busy and is advertising a lot of things that are inside the magazine, the shapes that are used on the cover stand out a lot more compared to the Vibe front cover as it is less busy and much more sophisticated.