Here is my analysis of Kerrang! Magazine, it includes a few of the front covers, contents pages and double page spreads.

1. Kerrang!
Magazine
Analysis

2. Front Cover
Banner-drawing attention to the
featured posters and Warped Tour
Mast Head, typically placed behind
the heads of the people on the
main image.
Main image featuring the more
commonly known artists
Puff-pointing out that they have a
lot of options so people check to
see if there are any they are
interested in
Main Sell Line-Illustrates what the
main feature of the magazine is, in
this case it’s the top 100 rock songs
Pull lines which make you want to
read on ‘I’ve done stupid things’
‘The Used saved my life’

3. Front Cover
 Kerrang! use a very standard basis and popular conventions on its cover. On
a great majority of their magazines they have the heads of the people
on the main image over the mast head as opposed to perhaps
underneath. They have also placed the main sell line over what would be
the lower body of the artists which implies that the main sell line is related
to those particular artists. This would draw the reader to pick up the
magazine if they saw their favourite artist. After considering other covers
produced by Kerrang! it appears that this is a favourable layout for them
although it has not been used on all of their magazines.
 Unusually on this particular cover the pull lines are small and tucked to the
side so they don’t really scream at the reader or draw any attention to
themselves. This could be because this is a special edition issue and
seems to be more focused on the main article which is ‘The Rock 100.’
However they are still effective as the reader will still want to know why
‘the used saved [his] life’ and why the ‘haters entertain’ him etc.
 Kerrang! seem to use limited cover lines and the left third tends to be used
up by other things. For example on this particular cover it is taken up by
the main sell line and image and the bottom and the top by pull lines.
While on other covers the left third is used up by previews of the posters
featured inside.

4. Front Cover
 Both of these covers show a similar layout to the first one, with the
main sell line over the artists on the front. However the blue one
probably follows the pattern more but the green on is more
recent.
 The colour scheme of the top one fits very well with the subjects on
the front because the person on the left is from the band Green
Day which fits well with the green back ground but also that is the
colour of their latest album so it is a sort of subliminal promotion
and people will automatically link the two. However this still links
with both of them because the article the sell line is referring to is
about the two bands (Green Day and All Time Low) playing a
show together.
 As I previously mentioned, the more recent magazine Uses the left
third to display the posters inside rather than cover lines or leaving
it pretty much blank. This allows them to use the space more
efficiently because now they have more banner space.
 There is one strict consistency amongst all of the magazines however
and that is the banner across the top and bottom of the cover.
While they don’t advertise the same things, the older magazines
seem to be showing the posters but then in the newer ones they
changed it to be on the left third. Personally I prefer the poster
previews in the banner as they make the cover look squashed
when they are down the side but this does give them a little extra
space to promote concerts etc. in the banner.

5. Contents Page
 This issue has placed the contents in a column down the right side
and has used the majority of the page for promoting a
competition. This could have been purposely done as it is on the
side that you see first as you open the page. This means that it is
easier for the reader to find the page they want without having
to fully open the magazine.
 Minimal detail has been used on the actual contents so it fits
compactly into the right hand side of the page. Not much detail
would be needed as it would simply clutter up the contents and
make it harder for the reader to find what they are looking for.
Also most of the main articles have been made apparent on the
cover and since the reader has already picked up the magazine
they don’t need further enticing to look at the magazine.
 The big space used for promoting the competition ensures that you
can’t miss it and Slipknot fans will recognise the band
immediately and possibly take an interest. Most of their
magazines feature a competition on the contents page which
increases the chance of people paying attention to it because
the contents page is very often the first page people turn to and
pay attention to. For example if they featured a competition on
a page midway through the magazine the reader may just skip
past it without even noticing it.
 They also include a note from the editor at the bottom of the page.
It’s not very long but it just gives the reader a small update for
example in this one he is informing the reader that the usual
editor is away and he will be taking over for the week. By
including this the editor is making the magazine feel more
personal because the editor himself is addressing the reader.


6. Contents Page
 This is an example of another contents page by
Kerrang! This one is in the same layout as the other
for example there is a competition which is the
main feature of the page, the contents itself is on
the right and there is a note from the editor at the
bottom.
 For the competition section they use bright colours
and fonts that are not often taken seriously (comic
sans) because this makes it obviously informal
which is important because the target audience of
the magazine would be younger people-teenagers
and possibly young adults.
 This is another example but from a more recent issue.
Here they have changed the layout, putting the
editor’s message on the right and the contents in
the bottom half of the page. Also, they have taken
out the competition and replaced it with an image
from one of the pages.
 Another difference between the two is that they seem
to have included more detail in the contents. Most
of the page titles have a short caption after them
whereas in the older ones they only include
captions in about half of them.

7. Double Page Spread
 In both of these spreads they have immediately related
the text to the photo which makes it more interesting
to look at and more intriguing. In the first one the
heading is ‘Smashing It!’ with a photo of the singer
punching what appears to be glass. In the second
they have ‘Bloody Hell…’ with a photo of the band
covered in blood.
 They also have a fluent colour scheme to match, for
example the band in the top spread mostly centre
their image around the colour black so the whole
page is black with a bit of red included to make
things like subheadings stand out. The second spread
is relating to blood so all of the writing is on a red
background.
 Despite them being double page spreads neither of
them actually have a large amount of writing on
them. Most of the space on the pages is taken up
by the main image of the band/ person and the
heading which leaves only about 2/3s of a page left
for text. This makes the page look full while it doesn’t
have an eye-watering amount of text.
 Another common factor between the two spreads is that
they both contain quotes from the article made
larger so they stand out. This will be inevitably what
the reader reads first and they, like the pull lines on
the cover, draw the reader in to keep them wanting
to read on. For example ‘I was 12 hours away from
losing my leg…’ and ‘I’ll never be satisfied’. They are
intriguing quotes and make you want to know why
he nearly lost his leg and why he’ll never be satisfied.