Kerrang - Front Cover - Analysis

Kerrang is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock and metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent. The magazine's first issue was published in June 1981 and has been covering all kinds of musical genres ever since.

The masthead is large and white, being partially overlapped by the image of the artists who are featured on this cover, similar to the front page of the Dazed Magazine. This extenuates how well established and known Kerrang! is and that you don't even have to see the full masthead the recognise the magazine. The font of the text looks shattered and edgy which reflects the music genre that the magazine covers. The magazine can apply to both genders as the colours are gender-neutral.

The main image of the magazine is a medium shot of the musical duo Twenty One Pilots (frontman Tyler Joseph on the left, Josh Dun on the right), which is presented in a central layout on the front cover. The duo are presented as cool characters with the coloured hair, piercings and sun-glasses. Their facial expressions suggest they are confident with calm and controlled attitudes.

In contrast to Dazed, Kerrang features multiple artists on the front cover, with American rock band Green Day on the skyline in white bold font over a red background with small images of the members of the band on both sides. On the left side of the main featured artists, there is a text in white reading Frank Iero who was a member of the rock band My Chemical Romance. This choice to feature many artists on a front cover suggests the editor is attracting the fans of all these bands and artists to pick up the magazine.

Kerrang also advertises music festivals such as Reading and Leeds at the bottom of the page, even including some of the artists and groups who will be playing at the festivals. The use of bright, bold colours such as yellow, black and red on this front cover make it more appealing to readers who pick it up. The cover lines also offer posters of popular bands.

The barcode and price for the magazine are positioned on the bottom left of the front cover. This placement is traditional for most print products as they don't get in the way of the images or text. The date is also with the barcode to inform the readers if the issue is up to date.