Detailed Research into Forms and Conventions

Kerrang magazine is a rock magazine aimed at young teens that enjoy all the latest rock music. They attract their audience using certain forms and conventions. The masthead KERRANG!  is a onomatopoeic word which connotes the sound of an electric guitar, which is an instrument often featured in the magazine and the fact that it’s in capitals shows its importance. The cracks in the title/logo look like shattering glass which portrays violence and it is almost as if the sound that the electric guitar makes has smashed the title due to the loudness.

The white and black create a strong contrast which stands out to the audience and the tattered edges represent the sort of clothes and music the readers may enjoy.

The colour scheme throughout the Kerrang magazine is red, yellow and black. The red portrays blood and danger which reflects back to connotations of the title ‘violence’. The yellow could be seen as a warning or caution to the readers and the black connotes something mysterious as if the music is unknown and unique. This relates to the audience because of their attitude and music interest.

There are many features that you will find in a Kerrang magazine and these are lists and interviews with upcoming bands/singers, new albums and songs also returning bands making their debut. There also will be reviews of music and bands in which they will focus on tours that these bands will be having. Another feature of the magazine is that there will be polls so that the public get to rate the music and a ‘Kerrang! Krossword’. Krossword takes on the K from Kerrang and uses it instead of a C for crossword showing the use of the icon K throughout the magazine and the use of alliteration to gain an effect.

It comes across as a ‘full on’ rock mag but more focussed on male rock stars, you are sort of shown as a hard rocker if you read this magazine. The language is informal and this shows it’s laid back and the audience will be reflected like this. The main focus of the magazine is the bands they show and they show them in full light, however represented to have a bad attitude with smirks on their face which suggests they know their music is good and have a ‘don’t care’ approach as they know people will like them.

The contents page is laid out pretty simply with all that is in the weeks issue on the right and then the main stories in bold on the left of it with pictures to grab your attention and interest you in looking at those particular stories. The contents page is all black and yellow with the white contrast this stands out and the yellow warns you of the content to which the magazine has.

The producer of the magazine is The Bauer Media Group and it is distributed by Frontline which is the UKs leading magazine sales and distribution company. This shows that it is niche and a mainstream magazine.