analysis of 3 Kerrang! covers and 2 Q covers

1. Analysing Music Magazines:
Front Covers
Sophia Leiper 12FG

2. Kerrang!
Examples of the front cover of Kerrang! Magazine. You will notice
that the colours used are usually Black, White, Yellow and Red.

3. Masthead
Kerrang! Magazine has had the same
masthead for many years now, so much
so that it has practically become their
logo. They use a base font which is
quite simple, bold and clear, but use a
shatter effect on it to make it stand out
more. The colours usually used are
white and black, as the colours on the
page are usually bright, to be easily
visible.

4. Main Coverline
The main coverline for
Kerrang! is usually in a large
font across the centre of the
page. This draws attention to
the text/article. As mentioned
on the first slide we see that
the colours used are those
that the magazine uses
commonly: red, yellow, black
and white. The font is usually
quite stylised. This is also
usually quite simple because a
lot of the band names that are
used are quite suggestive and
have meanings behind them
anyway.

5. Other Coverlines
Unlike most magazines, Kerrang! has its
other coverlines on both sides rather than
the traditional ‘left third’ and are usually
accompanied by an image of the main
singer of that band/the artist themselves.
They tend to be quite small. Above the
masthead, rather than a strapline, Kerrang!
usually has a competition and the artist it
relates to (see below for examples) in the
puff this is a common feature. It is a good
way to attract readers.

6. Strapline/Issue Number
This is a typical example of Kerrang!
Magazine’s barcodes. Here as well as the price
they have the issue number and website. This
is because the rest of the magazine is quite
busy and this is a clear space so the details can
be seen clearly. You may also notice that there
is not only the price in pound sterling but also
in Australian dollars. This is because the
magazine is now also sold abroad. Kerrang!
magazine does not have a strapline on it.

7. Language Use
There are a variety of language features that
are featured in the various issues of the
magazines. For example, quotes from the
artists, numbers as figures rather than words
and coverlines written as short statements and
not as sentences. Some may say that the
coverlines are quite short to suggest that the
readers are uninterested in the text but rather
the images that come with the magazine. The
words that are used tend to be quite reader
friendly, using colloquial words such as
‘awesome’.

8. Colours
The colours that are primarily
used on the covers of Kerrang! are
Red, White, Black and Yellow.
These colours are used because
they match the style associated
with the genre. The colours used
tend to be associated with
‘manly-ness’ which is commonly
assumed to be the target
audience.

9. Images
There are many images on the cover of
Kerrang! magazine. There is a main image
which is typically a mid-shot of one person,
however sometimes it can be a mid-shot of
the members of the band. The ones of
single artist are usually side on but their
face towards us, and the ones with multiple
people are again facing us. If they at the
camera it is as if they are looking at us. The
background is usually a plain block colour.
As well as the main image, however,
Kerrang! also uses many smaller images
that are relevant to the contents of the
magazine; inside Kerrang! they often have
pull-out posters and so there are usually
smaller versions on the front cover to
attract the readers.

10. Design
The overall design of Kerrang! magazine is
quite messy and unconventional, however,
they have been using the same style
successfully for many years now. All of the
images used on the front cover are relevant
to the articles/content of the magazine. The
design clearly works well because this is one
of the most well known rock magazines.

11. Target Audience
The target audience for Kerrang! tend to be anyone from about 16 to about 28
who have an interest in the style of music. Inside Kerrang!, there are often tour
dates and concerts near you, not many people over 28 will be able to attend
such events due to work and other engagements that will take priority.
Kerrang! have a ‘messy’ image to their magazine. Although well known, they are
not an upmarket magazine. Also at £2.20 per magazine it’s not very expensive.
This means that they try to get as much information as they can in the
magazine. This is another key feature because the target audience would want
as much as they can get for their money.

12. Q
These are examples of
the front cover of Q
Magazine.

13. Masthead
The masthead of Q is simply the letter in white
font on a red background. However, it hardly
appears fully/clearly. Most of the time it is
partially concealed by the main image or an
effect such as the shatter effect on the ‘Muse’
edition. The minimalistic masthead suggests
quality rather than quantity.
However, it was not always called this. Up until
the 200th edition it was called ‘Cue’ adopting
the idea of ‘cueing the music’. It was changed
because it was easily mistaken as a snooker
magazine!

14. Main Coverline
As with most magazines, the main
coverline is the largest text on the
front cover. They tend to stretch
across a while section of the front
cover, but sometimes is on the side.
Two of the examples given have
quotes alongside them. This is used
to entice the reader.

15. Other Coverlines
The coverlines on Q tend to be quite short and
to the point and are usually on the edges of the
cover in small font. This is so as to draw
attention to the main coverline/image used on
the magazine. The coverlines are not only
phrases, but are usually artist names . This is a
useful device as it grabs the attention of
possible buyers; people will not pick up a
magazine that has names of artists that they do
not recognize.

16. Strapline/Issue Number
Q has two straplines. ‘The
UK’s Biggest Music
Magazine’ is one of them,
although the use of ‘biggest’
is sometimes interchanged Q magazine has the price, issue number
with ‘greatest’. This is used and website in the same box as the
as a banner at the top of the barcode because it is easy to read; if it
page, against a black were elsewhere in the magazine it would
background and with white be hard to notice amid the bright colours
writing. The second that is and images.
sometimes used is ‘Discover
Great Music’ this is usually in
the same red square as the
Masthead and again in white
font. These suggest that Q is
the best available.

17. Language Use
Q uses a variety of language features
such as quotes and numbers as figures
rather than the words. These are used to
grab the attention of the reader.
However, Q also tends to use quite a
casual choice of words such as ‘nutjobs’
and ‘barmy’. These make the magazine
seem more reader-friendly. Another
feature that is sometimes used is rhyme.
‘Barmy Army’ is used to add humour to
the article, but as with the casual words,
makes the magazine more reader-
friendly.

18. Colours
The colours used for the font tend to be black,
white an olive green. These are commonly
used in Q magazine. Although sometimes you
see grey used.
Even though these colour are dark, they make
an impression on the reader that the magazine
is of good quality/high standard.

19. Images
Q usually only has one
main image on the front
cover. This can vary from a
long shot to a medium
close up. Unlike a lot of
magazines, however, the
main person in the main
image doesn’t always make
eye contact with the
reader, they are often
standing to the side and
looking away.
On the example of the
Muse edition, however, we
see that there is another
picture. This is an
uncommon feature for Q.

20. Design
Q magazine is normally quite clearly laid out
with the main image in the centre of the page,
not being concealed by coverlines. They do
not follow the convention of ‘left third’ and
instead have their coverlines all around the
image. The design work well as it is easy to
identify the articles and in turn whether or not
you want to purchase the magazine. The
minimalistic layout of the magazine allow us to
believe that it is more a magazine of quality
rather than that of quantity; it is a more
upmarket magazine.

21. Target Audience
The target audience for Q is the ‘older generation’, people in their 30’s and 40’s
of both sexes. the founders of the magazine, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth
felt the older generation of music buyers were being neglected.
Although now, many editions are about more modern music, most are still
about old ‘classic’ albums. The fact that the magazine is aimed at an older
audience means that it can afford to be a little bit more expensive.
Also, many people of this audience would rather have a large article with facts
and truth rather than lots of smaller articles about hot gossip etc.

22. Comparing the Two…
Overall, we can see that the two types of magazine are completely different. Where
Kerrang! puts as much information as possible onto its cover, Q tends to be
minimalistic.
This could be associated with price, Kerrang! at £2.50 is the cheaper of the two but
includes less information and more advertising for concerts etc. Q, on the other
hand is more expensive but has in depth articles and less advertising.
The age group that the magazines are aimed at plays a lot in the role of how the
two magazines are arranged/priced. Younger audiences, for example, are less likely
to spend more money for a magazine even if it has a lot of articles. Another key
feature that determines the audience is the content of the article. Q tends to use a
lot of ‘older’ music and musical references whereas Kerrang! uses newer, more
popular bands.

23. In my Opinion
As a teenager myself I prefer to read Kerrang! I find that Q caters much better to an
older audience and as this is what they aim to achieve then they are clearly
successful as they achieve 64,596 Total Average Net Circulation / Distribution Per
Issue.
Using what I have learnt in this analysis I am able to understand more about the
genre of magazine that I want to design.
I shall be using Kerrang! as a template and hope to produce a similar style of
magazine.