Analysis of a Magazine Front Cover

The target audience for this magazine would be people aged between 14-26 that are interested in whats going on in the rock and metal side of the music world. This is suggested by the vast amount of rock and metal bands named and pictured on the front cover. The bands that have been pictured on the magazine seem to be quite young, probably in their 20's, but certainly none above the age of thirty which reinforces the age range of the target audience. Another factor would be the price of the magazine which is set at £1.99 which is good price for the younger audiences that dont make that much. The magazine includes free posters of bands. This could be a sort of persuation technique as an extra way to grab the attention of its audience. The colour scheme of the magazine could be connoting danger, black and yellow is the colour of police tape whilst red is the universal colour of danger. This could contrast with the main headline "Avenged Sevenfold the worlds most dangerous band". The main picture has been placed with the front man in the middle and the rest of the band surrounding him, alot of light has been focused on him and less as it goes back, this sort of gives the picture that 3-D feel and makes the picture almost stand off the page. This and the addition of placing the picture over the masthead to really reinforce it. The picture has been taken using a medium longshot and places the artists eyelines in the upperthird of the frame, and was taken at a slightly low angle, perhaps to suggest and up and rising new band. The framing of the picture really keeps the eyelines of the band clear, by putting the rest of the articles at the bottom of the page. This is because eyelines are more important in a picture than seeing the full body, even with a medium longshot. The band has been equipped with chains and peices of pipe to reinforce the headline "the world's most dangerous band". This will attract alot of teenage attention because it almost seems rebelious that they are carrying dangerous objects and look tough which is what teenagers like.

The name of the magazine "Kerrang" in a way also has a reference to music. This is because the name is apparent from the sound of a guitar lead being plugged into a guitar whilst the amp is on, creating that "Kerrang" noise. This magazine to me uses a good layout and i will take note and base my layout on its design.

The target audience for this magazine would be people aged 30 upwards that interested in the more classic rock side to the music industry, as well as the odd bit of political issues. This is suggested by the ages of the majority of the bands named on the front such as "Mötley Crüe". The band pictured (The Eagles) again are a band of age and would obviously be aimed at an older audience that lived through there era of music. As well as being a music magazine, Rolling Stone has politcal articles with it as well, again this is evidence to support the target audience. The title of the magazine, Rolling Stone, could also suggest its target audience. Taking its name from a song called "Rollin' Stone" by Muddy Waters who was a very popular blues artist during the 40's - 60's suggesting its aim at an older age group. The price of the magazine is £4.50. Again this seems to suggest an older audience because people aged 30+ have a very disposable income. The magazine does not include a free gift such as a cd or posters. This again could be because of its target audience it doesn't need to include such things for its audience to buy it. The layout is similar to that of Kerrang in that the masthead has been placed in the very back, the main image layered over the top of that and the sell lines being the main focus and layered above this. The main image has been placed again with the eyelines of the band in the upper third of the page to suggest the power they have. The picture was taken with a medium longshot and a slightly low angle, again similar to Kerrang's main image. This again could suggest the bands power and how we are made to look up to them.

The main sell line has been coloured in a different font, the same font as the masthead infact. This could be a feature to allow the reader to see the masthead although covered by the main image if the viewer see's the main sell line. As well as having a different colour to the rest of the sell lines it has its own font as well. This magazine follows a similar layout to other magazines, although it has its own unique devices. This will perhaps benefit my designs.

The target audience for this magazine is given away in the masthead "Classic Rock". This is conoted by the names of the bands in the sell lines all being of the classic rock genre. By looking at the sell lines of the magazine i would say that the magazine is aimed at people aged 20-40. This could be contradicted however by the chosen colour scheme of the magazine and the inclusion of a free gift which is usually aimed at younger ages. The masthead is interesting as the word "Rock" is much bigger than the word "Classic". This could be perhaps to grab the attention of rock fans before they see that its a classic rock magazine, which could potentially earn them more readers. The main headline stands out alot more than the masthead as well, perhaps because any fans of Metallica will look at the cover and stop to look at the magazine. The font of the masthead is a very classic looking font, almost like an old western style. This is because the font matches the name of the magazine "Classic Rock" and helps to emphasise this.

Again, the picture has been placed center of the frame with the eyeline of the person in the upperthird of the frame. The only difference being is that instead of being a picture of the whole band its a picture of the singer.

The sell line "the 1000 days that changed them forever" is a very good sell line. It tells you a very basic idea of the main article but doesn't tell you everything. For example, it could have said "the 1000 days that changed their sound forever" but this wouldn't interest everyone, so leaving it as "the 1000 days that changed them forever" will make people curious about the article and make them want to buy it to find out.

In conclusion, the basic layout of a magazine is generally the same across the board, with the odd few differences such as font styles on mastheads and sell lines, size of the magazine and positioning of sell lines.