Their primary audience seem to be mid teens - early twenties, since they use bands/singers that have been around for a few years that would be immediately recognisable to that audience, such as Arcade Fire. The secondary audience would be people in their mid thirties+, since they also mention bands/singers of another generation, such as Bob Seger, which would entice them into reading.
Sell Lines
The sell lines are on the right side of the magazine, which makes the cover look neat and in order. The subtle hints to the topics in the sell lines is successful in interesting the audience, and helping to persuade the audience into reading. The font also looks professional and is easy to read, and since it's white and stands out against the background it is much more appealing to the eye. Also, the topics help to identify the target audience of which the magazine is trying to attract.
Masthead
The masthead is large, in the top centre of the magazine and isn't covered by the main image. The positioning of the masthead, the font style and the bold red colour is a clear logo to the magazine, therefore giving a sense of familiarity. Also, with the use of a shadow effect on the title, it appears to stand out even more, drawing the audiences attention. Finally, the fact that the red isn't shown anywhere else on the front cover apart from the masthead makes the magazine look a lot more neat and professional looking, which makes it more appealing to the audience since the cover isn't overtaken by colour. The magazine gets it's name from the Muddy Waters song "Rollin' Stone" which is relative to the magazines theme of music, since it gets its title from a song.
Main Image
The main image is large and covers the entire front page, and helps the audience learn more of the content of the magazine as the subject of the image is Adele, one of the most famous singers at the minute, so that would already persuade people to buy the magazine. The image is a head shot of her, and she's looking out to the audience, drawing you into the magazine. Another feature that emphasises the image even more is that the editing of it is subtle yet striking, she looks sharper and as the background is plain and basic, she stands out a lot more. Also, the positioning of the image is a great way of drawing attention, since she's in the centre of the magazine, the focal point of the cover.
Anchorage Text
The anchorage text is in a fancy font which is in a bright plain colour which compliments the image, giving it a sophisticated, professional look. It's subject is short and simple, not giving you much information but enough to interest you, making the audience want to read it.
Skyline
The skyline is giving you information on this issue, telling the reader that its a special issue. Since it's a special issue, you're interested almost immediately. Then, it says next to it the reason why it's special, that it's a rock issue. This attracts fans of rock music to buy the magazine, however since Adele is the main image and isn't in that genre of music, it shows that the magazine caters for a mixture of genres. Finally, The text is clear and medium sized, and is white in colour, so it catches your eye.
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme of the magazine is black, white and red, which are maintained throughout the magazine, which makes these colours a familiar feature to this magazine. Also, these colours help to enhance images, since they are bold. The fact that on the cover they use red only in the title is effective as it helps to make the name of the magazine even more memorable and recognisable to their target audience. The colours are eye-catching and quite classic, which suits the magazine well, since it has been around for a while and is very well known, making it quite a classic magazine. Since there is a limited use of colour, it makes the cover a lot more attractive to look at and also makes it a lot more presentable.
Target Audience
The primary audience would be mid teens - early twenties, as some of the bands/singers mentioned are popular in the music industry today, such as Mumford and Sons, therefore the primary audience would be attracted to reading about them. The secondary audience would be people in their mid to late thirties+, as they mention older bands that were popular to that generation, like Madness. The fact that they cater for both young and old will give a sense of warmth to both audiences and will persuade them to buy the magazine.
Sell Lines
This magazine includes quite a few sell lines on the right side of the magazine cover. They are in bold, and black and red which is inkeeping with the colour scheme of the magazine, which makes it instantly recognisable. Although they make the magazine look a little cluttered, it also shows the reader that they are getting a lot of information on the topics inside, making them interested in reading the magazine. Also, the sell lines help identify who the target audience is for the magazine.
Masthead
The mast head in on the top left corner, and is just the simple letter Q surrounded by a bright red square, which is really eye-catching. The fact that the masthead looks more like a logo, stays true to the colour scheme and is bright makes it much more memorable and easily recognisable. Also, the placement of the masthead is different to some of the other magazines, showing originality to the audience. The fact that they don't cover the masthead gives a sense of pride of the magazine, and makes it look much more presentable and neat, which is much more appealing to the audience. Originally the magazine was going to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine, and also because a single letter would be more prominent, drawing peoples attention and also more memorable.The name of the magazine is therefore relative to the music theme of the magazine.
Main ImageThe main image is large and entirely covers the centre of the magazine, which would catch the attention of the audience and would be the main focal point. The main image is of Noel Gallagher, who is a very popular figure in the Rock genre, so this would immediately strike the attention of Gallagher fans, Oasis fans - which was his band before he left - and also Rock fans. The image is a full body shot, which is quite rare for magazine covers. He is looking directly out towards the reader, which gives them a sense of involvement and appeals to the reader. The image is barely edited, but since the background is plain, he stands out well.
Anchorage Text
The anchorage text is in a medium, basic font, which is easy to read and gives the magazine a professional look. It's topic is short and simple, not giving you much information but enough to entice the audience, making them interested and want to read it.
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme of black, white and red is maintained throughout the magazine, making these colours recognisable to the magazine. The colours also help the magazine to appear much more presentable, and giving it a stylish look. The use of these three colours help the other colours to stand out, which helps other important features in the magazine to be noticed. The green is used to promote the 'Albums Goldmine' which stands out as the colour isn't a reoccuring colour on the cover other than on the speaker beside Noel where it says 'Russell Brand murdered the Beatles!' the colour seems to be a way of grabbing the audiences attention, therefore persuading them to have a look at the magazine. The magazine looks presentable because it doesn't use a great deal of colour other than the red, which is bold and striking.
The magazines primary audience seem to be mid teens - early twenties, since they seem to promote bands/singers that are popular today on the cover much more, like Paramore and Biffy Clyro and this would be immediately appealing to this audience. The secondary audience would be eary thirties and above since they also mention bands/singers that are quite old, such as Ozzy. They cater for a mixture of age groups, and different styles of rock music which the audience would appreciate and be more likely to buy the magazine.
MastheadThe masthead is instantly recognisable to this magazine with it's ragged, cracked text which is well known to the readers of the magazine, and also very fitting to the target audience. The title is partially covered, which shows a sense of confidence and modesty, that they don't feel the need to show the title of the magazine for the audience to know which magazine it is. The name of the magazine 'Kerrang!' is an onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound that is made when playing a power chord on the electric guitar, this fits to the theme of the magazine and also is attractive to the target audience.
Main Image
The main image on the page is the largest and is certainly the focal point of the cover, therefore gaining the interest of the magazines target audience. Also, the fact that the image partially covers the masthead and is central on the page shows the significance of the image and it's importance in this issue. The main image is of the band Biffy Clyro that are big at the moment, which will get the attention of their fans, persuading them to buy the magazine. The icons that are in the image are also inkeeping with the colour scheme of the magazine- which is black, white and red- making it look much more presentable and appealing to the audience. Also, the fact that the image has been edited to make the contrast appear stronger makes the image stand out much more, and grabs the attention of the reader almost immediately.
The magazine is also successful in using smaller images at the bottom of the page, advertising posters. They don't use many images, therefore it looks neat. The use of smaller images will be effective in getting the attention of readers.
Anchorage Text
The largest text is the title of the band 'Biffy Clyro'. This will tell the audience the subject inside the magazine. The text below the title saying 'Unfold the puzzle of life...' has a black background and white text, which helps it stand out against the main image, therefore catch the attention of the audience. It also doesn't include much information, but enough to entice the reader into having a look inside the magazine.
Skyline
The subject of the skyline is advertising a free ticket giveaway to Download. This will be a good selling point for the magazine since they are advertising freebee's, which very few music magazines offer, therefore making the magazine much more appealing. Also, the white text against the read background and medium sized text will catch the readers attention.
Colour Scheme
The common colour scheme of red, black and white are maintained throughout, making it look crisp and neat, but also subtly catching the eye of the audience since the colours are bold and striking. The colours also suit the theme of the magazine, since common colours in the rock genre are black, white and red, therefore aiding in grabbing the audiences attention. The only text in red is the one that says 'Paramore', which is bold and stands out against the white of Hayley's top, and this is used to promote the band and grab the readers attention. The rest of the text is in white, against a red background, which will clearly be easy to read and will catch the eye of the reader, making it more attractive to look at.
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