Key Conventions

Kerrang has a niche audience that listen to the punk and rock music genre. The magazine is published by Bauer Media Group and is based in the UK.

MastheadThe masthead is directly at top of the top of the magazine’s cover. It is located behind the cover’s central image this is because the brand, Kerrang, is so widely known and is the world’s biggest selling rock music weekly magazine that its audience do not even need to see the full text to know it’s Kerrang.

FontThe typography of the masthead looks like a cracked mirror. It’s unique and easily stands out. Even the title of the magazine fits its genre and its audience since ‘Kerrang’ connotes the sound from an electric guitar chord or loud music. The other fonts that are used on the cover are playful and look almost like they have been written on a chalk board.

Use of colourMultiple loud colours (blue, yellow, white, and black) are used on the coverlines and puffs. Kerrang uses colours that stand and the magazine does not follow the three colour palate rule.

Mise-en-sceneThe mise-en-scene for Kerrang’s front cover suggests its very crowded and almost rowdy by the use of lots of different fonts and pictures which connotes also the genre of music within the magazine as it is stereotypically loud and courageous.

Central ImageThe models used for the main image are the popular pop-punk band All Time Low. They are used for celebrity endorsement and because they make music that Kerrang’s audience enjoy. The image is fun and all of the members are using direct eye contact to draw in audiences. Though none of the band members appear to be smiling, there is still a friendly and silly, childish feel to the band’s body language. The member of the band whose mouth is open is very clearly the lead member as the rule of thirds is used to outline him from the rest of the band, he is placed in front of them and is at a different level to the others.

The word ‘exclusive’ tells the reader that this certain article is only found in this magazine and therefore a reason why the audience will buy the magazine to read the exclusive.

CoverlinesThe coverlines on the front cover includes a large number of popular bands and artists within the rock genre e.g. You Me At Six and All Time Low. This is done so to capture the audiences so that they can clearly see the information about the artists that they like or admire.

Anchorage TextThe anchorage text for the central image is introducing All Time low to the UK, calling them ‘Pop-Punk’s new stars’ this creates excitement. Those who know and enjoy the band’s music are sure to buy the magazine and those who are fans of the magazine will be curious as to who this band is.