Kerrang! Front Cover Analysis

This is a front cover of an edition of the 'Kerrang!' magazine. The genre of music this magazine deals with is hinted at with the font of the masthead and the mise en scene of the magazine. The masthead and name of the magazine conotates anger, anarchy and rebellion as the font of the masthead has cracks in it, indicating smashing. Also Kerrang! has an exclamation mark at the end of it this indicates violence and anger, or to signify the fact that word should be shouted. Other written media language is also made to stand out from the background picture, for instance the story preview right of centre is made to stand out, the main part of it 'Green Day' is nearly the same font as the masthead and the other words around it are a mix of green and black, this is obviously it denote the the fact that the main story is about 'Green Day'.

Another important convention of a front cover is the main picture, this picture conventionally covers about two thirds of the splash. This picture is no different, conventionally the picture ties in with the main article in the magazine and is the main selling point. As the picture on the splash is the first thing that the audience sees and also usually the factor that helps decide whether they buy the magazine or not. The picture on this front cover is of the lead singer from a band called 'Green Day'. He himself is a very well known musician and most people who like the genre of music that Kerrang! deals with will know who he is. He is stood with a guitar which signifies further that it is a music magazine that deals with the genre of rock. There is a light behind him and this maybe suggests he is in the spotlight and was performing when this picture was taken. The dark clothes and dark eye make up he is wearing also suggests the genre of music that the magazine deals with is rock/heavy rock.

This front cover also follows another conventional feature of a music magazine, which is the other minor stories have a place on the splash. With smaller pictures and captions in a smaller font, this feature lets the audience know what else is inside this particular edition on the magazine. On this front cover the theme of white and yellow runs through the font and certain words are in yellow, in other places a caption is outlined by yellow. This shows the continuity of colour used, and makes the magazine look professional and well finished.