Textual AnalysisBy Michael Becker

DenotationThe magazine is called “Kerrang!”. There is a medium-long shot of twomembers of AC/DC and they are dressed as they normally would be andone of them has a prop of a electric guitar to emphasis they are a band.From the content on in the cover lines and the main article it is clear thatthe magazine is targeted to 15-35 year olds. The masthead consist of 3main colours and is in a conventional position. The magazine has 4 maincolours for its house style which are:- black, white, blue and red. It has aWebsite address, price, issue number and a dateline in the bottom rightcorner. It has cover lines going across the centre starting from the leftwhich covers parts of the image and the main cover line at the centreright which is again on top of the image at a slightly angle.

House StyleThe main colour scheme of the cover flows the convention of having 3/4main colours. For the this cover they used black, white, blue and red. Thereason for this use of colour is that they are good contrasting coloursthat stand out against each other and they work well with the design ofthe cover. They have also used this colour scheme as it matches the maincolours most often used in the masthead. Three of the four colours alsogo with what the main cover image is wearing. The colour scheme issimplistic and mature which is what the target audience want from thismagazine. The colours blue and red are used as popping colours to makecertain content stand out such as the red being used to make “AC/DC”stand out or the blue being used to make the “Free Posters” stand out.Overall the four colours are used well to make a good contrasting cover.

Target AudienceThe target audience for this magazine in my opinion is 15-35 year olds. Ihave drawn this conclusion from the topics covered in the cover linesand from other Kerrang! Magazine covers. Firstly they other free posterswhich is something really aimed towards teenagers as adultsconventionally prefer the content instead of posters as they wan theirrooms looking nice for potential “companions” hence why posters areaimed towards the younger half of the target audience. Secondly themusic genre they cover is very popular with the younger generationhence why they aim the magazine towards the mass market to collectthe most revenue. Finally it has an article focussing on the bands andtheir lives, e.g. “Red Hot Chili Peppers- Life Through a Lens”. This area isoften very popular with teenagers as they often learn about lifestyles ofcelebrities as they want to live like them.

MastheadThe masthead is the magazine name and this magazine is called “Kerrang!”. The Masthead starts from the left of the magazine and is positioned at the top of the magazine which follows the conventions of a magazine front cover. It is also positioned behind the main cover image and this has mainly been done as the magazine editors feel that their brand has enough recognition that they don’t need it fully shown for people to know who the magazine is written by. Additional the cover image is positioned in front so that the main content of the image isn’t blocked by the Masthead. They want the image to be the main focus of the cover as they want it to stand out. The colour of the master head is black with a white block which has a blue outline with another black shadow outline to give the Masthead depth. The black against white is used to make the Masthead standout against the white background and also to contrast against the main cover images colours though this wasn’t done on purpose as they’d use these colours none-the-less as this is their stereotypical look at they want to keep that. The blue is also used to match the rest of the magazine colour scheme of black, white, blue and red. The Masthead uses a serif font but with a modernised look. This is used to give the magazine a youthfully look but also to look modern so it looks like a attractive magazine as it stands out to younger people. The font also has a smashed affect to it which matches how the music genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll and Alternative and similar genres break the conventions of traditional music. The masthead is very informal looking for target audience.

Cover imageThe cover images for Kerrang! always focus on a specific group or person which is the focus of that edition and they often create the cover design around that. As this edition focuses on the band AC/DC the style of the band and what they are known for has influenced the cover lines and house style (e.g. very bold, intense and in your face…literally). The image is a med-long shot and has a very slight lower angle showing the members present and the band is always in your face as that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll. They have been dressed as they normally would the colours from that dress wear have been used in the house style e.g. the blue hat has been used to influence the colour scheme. In the image it shows AC/DC posing to look intimidating as Rock ‘n’ Roll should be.

Main Cover LineThe main cover line is “AC/DC – THE WORLD’S GREATEST ROCK‘N’ROLL”. Firstly they have used 2 main colours: red and white. Theyhave used red for the main important text and black for the lessimportant information. The red has been used as it stands out quite alot against the surrounding black and white and in addition to that themain text part crosses over the cover image so it needs to be red so itdoesn’t blend with the image. Another reason for it covering the imageis that the article is seen to be very important and once you’ve beendrawn in by the image you want to know what the article is about sothey have context and are more likely to buy it. The font is Sans Serifand is in bold as they want it to match AC/DC’s persona of being verymuch in your face and very bold and matching the genre of Rock ‘n’Roll. Additionally the cover line has symbolism of lighting blots for tworeasons: one AC/DC is a play on electricity as they are two differenttypes of current and the band uses a lot of imagery around lightning.Two their performances are often electrifying so its used to show thatthey really are “electric”

Cover LineThe cover lines are all to the left hand side which is a conventionalfeature of a magazine cover though there is only one real cover linefocused to the left as the magazine uses a bar at the bottom to showtheir content and if the “free posters” is a cover line though its doesn’treally have enough context as a cover line should. All the fonts are insans serif as they match the rest of the cover with the boldness fromthe articles. All the fonts are in different colours to contrast todifferent parts of the magazine and once you’ve been drawn in youcan see the additional content being offered.

PuffThe puff is used as almost a second main cover line as it bringsattention to another interesting article about another band. They haveused the colour red to contrast against the black and whitebackground

Additional contentThe dateline and all the surrounding features mentioned before havebeen placed at the bottom right firstly as there wasn’t really any otherlocation for them to be placed and secondly this is the conventionalposition and readers will know where to look for the additional infopretty quickly.