The target audience is the audience that a product is aimed towards.

The target audience for

Kerrang is middle class males ages 15-24 who enjoy and are fans of rock music. This is a niche
market as is it aimed towards people with specific interests.
The masthead is the title of the magazine. Often the masthead is placed at the top of the page
near the main heading. However, on this page the masthead is only placed into the article titles,
which makes it less noticeable and so challenges conventions. Despite being less visible, the
masteah is still part of the brand identity which is the features that are specific to that magazine.
This creates recognition and memorability.
The main heading is the title of the page, and in this case simply says Contents. This makes it
very clear to the audience that this page is the contents page. The font used appears to be
handwritten, which makes it seem more personal to the audience. This heading is positioned inside
a black puff, which may be because rock music has connotations of the colour black, and so this
would appeal to the target audience. The text itself is white, as this colour contrasts strongly with
the black, making it stand out more. Capital letters are used as this makes the heading seem more
important.
The subheadings are the titles used to separate the article titles into categories, making the
content more organised. They are also placed against black backgrounds. However the font used
for these texts is yellow. This brighter colour still contrasts with the black but is brighter and
therefore more effective for catching the audiences attention. Yellow also links to the halloween
theme as it has connotations of sickliness.
The article titles are the names of the articles included in the magazine. They are black, as this
again links to the genre of rock. They are written in capitals as this makes them seem more
dramatic. They are designed to attract the target audience who will be fans of rock music, and so
the majority of these titles contain the name of a rock band or artist. This will attract fans of these
artists and will therefore appeal to the target audience.
The main article title is the biggest article title on the page. It is written in the same yellow as the
subheadings. This separates it from the other article titles and shows that it is more of a main
feature. The text size is also a lot bigger than the other article titles, making it more of a focal point
on the page. It is very vague and doesn't really tell the audience what the article is about, which
creates the element of mystery and makes the reader want to know what it is about.
The main image is the biggest and most prominent image on the page. It is positioned directly
behind the main article title, which shows that they are linked. This image also doesn't give the
reader much of an insight as to what the magazine is about and so adds to the mystery. Mise-enscene includes costume, lighting, posture, makeup, props and setting. This image shows Frank
Iero covered in blood, which links to the theme of halloween, and also to the rock genre as rock
holds connotation of horror, and so this will help to attract the target audience. A close up has
been used for this image, which means that only his face is in shot. This clearly shows the
audience his facial expression, which is quite creepy and so also links with the halloween theme.

The other images are the smaller images and all of the other images used are all related to other
articles mentioned on the contents page. They are photos of other artists and this will attract fans
of rock music, thus attracting the target audience. Borders have been placed around some of the
images, which helps to make them stand out more against the background. Captions have also
been placed in some of the images, which explain what is happening in the image and so will help
to draw the target audience to the articles they are linked to.
Page numbers are included on the contents page as this makes it easier for the reader to navigate
through the magazine. They are red, which links to the halloween theme, as the colour red has
connotations of blood and gore.
A letter from the editor is a letter written by either the editor or a writer from the magazine
speaking directly to the reader. This has been included, and it tells the audience more about what
to expect in the magazine. This seems very personal for the audience as the editor is speaking
directly to them.
The date and issue number are also included on the contents page, as this helps to reader to
know how recent the content in the magazine is.
Columns are used to separate the text and position the content on this page. The columns are all
roughly the same size which makes the page seem more organised. It also implies that all of the
information in the columns is all equally important. This is probably why the main article title and
the main image are not included in the columns.
The rule of thirds is where the page is split into thirds both vertically and horizontally, and then
important features are placed where the lines intersect to make them stand out more. This has
been applied here as the main image and some of the article titles are placed here, and so they will
be more noticeable for the target audience.
The colour scheme is the set of colours that are consistently used on the page. It is similar to the
colour scheme of the front cover. It contains a lot of black, white and yellow. The yellow links to
halloween as it appears to be sickly and disgusting, and the black and white is used as these
colour are neutral and contrast each other well. This is part of the house style, which is the
features that are consistent throughout the different issues of the magazine and therefore help to
create recognition.
The language used seems very conversational, which will attract the audience more as it seems
more personal. The mode of address is the formality of a text, and here it is quite informal, which
makes it seem less sophisticated and therefore helps to attract the target audience as the target
age range is quite young and will stereotypically be less sophisticated than an older audience.

Issue number
Date

Main heading

Main image
Letter from the editor

Main article title

Selection of images

Article titles

Subheadings

Page numbers