Case studies (1) + PRESS PACK

KERRANG!

These 3 'KERRANG!' magazines are all rock magazines from the 80s. 

FRONT COVER

The green magazine in the middle is from 1987 and the price is 90 p, which's worth is now around 1.80 pound. The front cover looks basic and amature, as the fonts are not easily readable. 

The masthead's colours are yellow and green, which suit the model's lightning and colours and the teasers. Under the masthead is the number of issue, the date and the price written in white with a small font. The reason these things are written with a small font is because if the price was written bigger, customers would first check the price to see if it's expensive or not. Now it doesn't seek as much attention so people will focus more on the front cover and the teasers. There are only two teasers and a list of 6 artists who appear in the magazine and information about a price to win written on the front cover. The 6 artists are all written in green under each other on the middle of the page, which will draw the customers' attention to it the most: also out of all cover lines these are the only green fonts. The two teasers are written in yellow as they both tell the customer something about an article written in the magazine. The white writing at the bottom and the top are both cover lines which offer the customer something. The cover line on the bottom speaks about a prize, the one at the top speaks about something that is given free together with the magazine. So every teaser and cover line is categorised with a colour. The font of the cover lines are barely readable which drops the quality of the magazine, yet they emphasize the fact that it's a rock magazine, which will draw the audience who want to buy a rock magazine their attention. Also the font sizes of all the cover lines are the same, so the audience will not get attracted to a specific cover line which is written in a larger font, which shows that the magazine creator has enough confidence from the buying audience. The fact that all the cover lines are placed on the left hand side of the page is because the magazines in the store are stacked side by side, with the left hand of the magazine showing, which also will draw the audience's attention. Also, as bar code's weren't used as much in the 80s there is none to find on the front cover.

The masthead 'KERRANG!' stands in front of the model, as he might not be too important to stand in front of the masthead or because his head does not reach the top of the page. The front cover exists of 3 colours, which are green, yellow and white. Also the model on the front cover has a green and yellow lightning over him. The slime dripping from the skeleton head is green and the lightning on his face is yellow, which suits the front cover's colour scheme perfectly. The cover model's shot type is a mid shot, which shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject. As this magazine is a rock magazine, the model looks scary yet like a rock star. His leather cloves, face expression, scary make up and the skeleton's head in his hand emphasize the fact that he is a rock star. His eyes are barely visible, but when you look close you can see he is looking in the camera lens, addressing the audience directly, looking from the corner of his eyes.

CONTENTS PAGE 

Weirdly enough there is no organised contents page. This is the first page of the whole magazine: after this page the articles start. There are no pages given, yet there are small writings written about the artists and bands which appear further in the magazine. Every issue that is published in the 3 magazines I own have used the same layout, content, colours, columns and captions. This can not be called a contents page, yet it does give the reader an overview of what is going to appear in the magazine. 
The colours used are grey for the background, white for the textboxes, red and yellow. The masthead 'mayhem' on this page is made of the colours red, yellow and black which are all found back on the double page spread. Except for the masthead on the page, all the big writings are all in a baseball-font, which don't suit the rock magazine as much as the font on the front cover, but it works. 
The gutters between the writings and the images are narrow which might bug the reader, but otherwise the writings wouldn't have fit onto the pages. 

The big image on the left page has captions on it which are placed around the model, which might draw the readers attention, as not only the writing, but also the colours are outstanding and more different and eye-catching than the other pictures on the page. 

All the writings in the text boxes under the images apply to the artists and bands above them. Yet the most writing on the grey background are about tours and concerts, not about what is going to appear in the magazine, which the public might be more interested in. 

DPS
I have chosen this double page spread because I have found a couple of mistakes I want to point out.
The model lays down horizontal on two pages, which gives the page a different lay out. It is a wide shot where it shows the whole model, only it's right foot is cut off the page as it didn't seem to fit. The light comes from above, which proposes of the sun's light as she is laying down on a roof. Also she is slightly covering her face with one hand. The only colours used in the image are black, white and orange, with blue on the background.
The thing that would have bugged me as the audience is the choice of colour in writing. The colour red does not fit enough to the picture, as the contrast between the colours of the picture and the writings do not go with each other. Also the pink and red writing clash with each other. The red writing on the blue background also do not read comfortable, which is the same case with the part where there are white dots in the blue background. It would have been better if the blue or white background were another colour, so the editor could have made the writings white or black so the reader could read it more easily.
There are three different fonts used on this page: the title, the preface and the text. The font of the title makes the article look chic and elegant, especially with the woman laying on the bottom of the page. Also in the text the same font is used for the initials across the text, but in pink, which again, is a colour clash and it would have been better if it was another colour.
Also the huge amount of space between the text and the model which is a waste of space, as there could have been placed more text.


LANGUAGE
The language used on the front cover is persuasive and it attracts the audience. The elementary sentence at the top which is at the same time an imperative sentence which gives a command, makes the customer wonder why to hold his head up. Is there a new album coming out? Did something happen to a artist?
Further on, the front cover only includes simple sentences with not too much information, yet enough for the reader to understand what it is about.

The language used in the magazine is formal and simple, easy readable yet interesting enough to hang on on it. As seen on the picture, they have changed words such as 'continues' to 'kontinuez' to make it look different. It suits the theme of the magazine (rock), as I personally think it really suits the genre.
The article the photograph I have taken is a feature article which is told in first person, which is written in persuasive language, which encourages the reader to read on. A lot of declaratives and short (and minor!) sentences are used within the articles in the magazine, which are simple, shot and easy to read with statements and facts in it. Also a lot of puns are used, which the writers probably have used to play on words and use comic connections between words.
The writing refers to a young audience who are interested in rock. It might be college or university students, but also older adults who go with the hype at that moment might read this magazine.


PUBLISHER
The magazine KERRANG! is published by the Bauer Media Group which is a multinational media company which is headquartered in Hamburg (Germany). This privately owned company was founded in 1875 and it operates in 16 countries worldwide.
H Bauer publishes many brands, which include 'Bella', 'Take a Break', 'That's life!', 'TVChoice' and 'Total TVGuide'. Also it publishes the magazines 'Q' and 'Kerrang!'.
They have their own radio and the Bauer Media Group has a 50% stake in the British television company Box Television (the other half is owned by Channel 4), with television channels such as '4Music', 'The Box' and 'Kerrang!'.



PRESS PACK - MEDIA KIT
This is the only information that is on the internet about Kerrang magazine.
The magazine is read almost equally by both genders, which is because the only theme in the magazine is Rock. The front cover does not contain any gender-aimed images which will attract both genders to it.
The age it is read by is mostly 15-24 which is mostly because the youth wants to stay up-to-date with fashion and music. The older people get, the less they read Kerrang magazine, which is seen in the image.