Jack round

What you get on front covers

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Masthead

Kicker

Cover Line

Secondary Lead

Plug

Graphic Feature or Puff

Selling Line or Banner

Tagline

Feature Article Photo

Anchorage

Flash

Menu Strip

Bar Code

Date Line

11. Headline

Caption7.

Web-links?

Ears?

The masthead of kerrang symbolises the volume of the music in the genre smashing the masthead, this is further supported by the magazines tagline life is loud, which reinforces the loud chaotic lifestyle many artists in the rock genre live.

The headline in kerrang is always the name of the band, this is done to show that the band is the most important part of that issue, as the letters are not only bigger than the rest of the kickers, it is also in a different colour than the others.

The kickers although not the main story are still not simply camouflaging into the background, kerrang has still made sure that they stand out, this is to show that even though they’re not the head story they are still interesting to read.

Kerrang has continued to put the banner right above the masthead, they have done this as the readers eyes are instantly brought to the masthead when skimming through the magazines, so they are more likely to spot a story that seems appealing to them.

Kerrang regularly offers free posters to their readers, they do this in an attempt to bring them something their competitors do not, specifically rock orientated posters of past legends.

Kerrang also makes sure that the leader of the band is looking straight at the camera, even though the other band members, if they are even on the cover, normally look in other directions, not at the camera. That could be used to show that even though the other guys in the band may come and go the main performer, the one most people are interested in, will always be looking out for their fans.

The colours used in kerrang are loud, in your face colours that grab your attention whether you want them to or not. They have done this to keep in tone with rock as in spirit that is what rock is, a loud new way of getting the peoples attention.

The anchorage frequently tries to keep the readers attention as it offers an enigma to one of their favourite bands, this encourages people to find out what the section of the artist is it examining, their personal life or the bands future plans.

How front covers are conceived and laid out

Direct mode of address can appear ‘in yer face’, serious, warm…

Indirect mode of address can be mysterious, lively, sombre…

Creates a wacky, fun image, sharing an identity with the reader that offers the ‘independence’ of indie music.

Enigma – what are they getting up to now?

The colour scheme that kerrang has incorporated is one were every kicker has the same colour, and every cover line shares the same colour, this could be used to clearly make a difference between the two, they also continually change the colours used in every issue. For example one day it is a combination of red and white, next week it could be black and yellow.

The fonts used in kerrang are quite simple, they do not use the very fancy fonts as they would believe that it would not go in tone with a rock magazine. They do however sometimes change the type of font depending on the artist.

Depending on the artist many techniques could be used, for instance in a big rock band each members mode of address could be different for each band member, normally the lead singer is looking at the camera while the other band members are looking either just slightly away from the camera or completely in the staring at another band member. This creates a distance effect, as if the band does not really care if you’re there or not. Kerrang frequently uses an enigma as their anchorage, tis is to keep the attention of people who are considering buying the magazine.

The use of space varies from each issue, however you can see a certain pattern emerge. For kerrang the masthead is always at the top left going across to the right covering the entirety of the top of the page , even in the 90s this is how they have done it. They typically do not leave much dead space, only if the magazine is paying tribute to someone is there really a lot of dead space. The look that the magazine aims to create differs between issues, for instance green day is normally show as quite wacky, especially when compared to artists like slipknot, who go for a very intimidating style. The theme used in most of kerrangs magazine is intrigue, each issue gives the reader just enough information that they want to read more.

In conclusion I believe that kerrang has decided to go with these design styles to really emulate the feeling of the rock genre, as the magazine can have may different forms each week, such as subtle differences in fonts, colours and articles. This is very similar to the genre of rock, it has many different styles and quirks, but when you get down to the core it is all the same, it is a way of expressing yourself, I think the magazine does a great job of making each sub genre of rock accessible, by showing that really they are just slight differences.