Kerrang front cover analysis

My third front cover i am going to analyse is a magazine called Kerrange. It is a heavy metal music magazine with Green day on the cover.

Colour

The main colours used are black and white with elements of red, green and silver. The colours contrast eachother, this makes the images and words stand out.The elements of red make the whole front cover more interesting and viberant, the green obviously relates to the name of the band which is green day. With all the combining colours it creates a rock, young fell to it that would target the young harcore rock fans, and also fits in well with the genre of rock. The green pug gives us an indication that it must be important as it stands out from the rest of the imagery on the cover.

Design

On this magazine front cover the image stretches across the whole of the magazine cover, with lots of writing on top. Usually the image is smaller and the texts surround the image. There is sruffy hand written writing surrounding the image giving infomation about the band Greenday, by using this unusual style it makes it more interesting to read then just plain bold lettering. It also emphasises youth and the genre of rock its trying to portray. Even though the image and the text is black and white you can still clearly see the text over the image, mainly due to the contrast of colours. The masthead is in a metallic silver, this clearly states the name of the magazine and stands out the most as its the only silver writing on the cover. The masthead also has cracks in it as if someone has punched it, this gives it a young, edgy stlye to it and attracting their core audiance. They have this cracked style for all of their magazines so they are keeping to their theme, however they dont normally use the silver colour for the masthead, only for this special edition. The strapline at the bottom is different from the previous magazines i have analysed, the bold red and the small font tells the reader that its important to read, as the only other things that are red on the cover are 'special edition' and 'legends' which you can tell is important and interesting to read. The cover line is shown in a hand drawn affect which also relates back to the sribbles at the top and also sticks to the theme of this front cover. The rough and unique style reflects the whole genre of music and also the band Greenday.

Images

The main image is a mid shot of the rock band Greenday. Greenday have been around for about 20 so they would attract the older generation who like rock music, however they are very popular and as it indicates on the cover 'legends' and could be why they are the main feature for the special edition. They would also attract the young generation aswell as they are popular, and their style and music relates to their target audiance.

Pose, style hair, make-up

Out of the three members of Greenday Billie Joe Armstrong (middle) is seen to be infront of the other two members. This is because he is the lead singer of the band and the most famous. His pose makes it seem he is closer then the other two as he is leaning forward, this makes his face larger and creates an intimate feeling and also eyecatching towards Billie. He also stands out because of his jet black hair, dark make-up and pale white skin. This type of style relates back to the target audiance of hardcore rock, also the contrast of his hair and skin fit in well with the contrast of the colours on the cover. Billie Joes doesnt have alot of expression compared with the other two members, it gives off quite a mysterious fell to it and goes well with the whole theme, whereas if he had a happy smile it wouldnt fit well and attract the target audiance. However combining three different looks of Billie with his plain expression, Tre cool (right) with his seriousness and Mike Dirnt (left) with his quirky funnyness shows all the different sides to Greenday and makes an interesting front cover, also eyecathing for the audiance. All the band members are wearing black leather jackets which shows the hardcore rock side to it and again relates to the target audinace, it also makes them look cool and relaxed which would target the younger audiance, even though they have been around for a long time and would also relate to the older adiance aswell.

How are words used on the cover?

All over the cover there is only text and infomation based on Greenday, with no other bands or indication on whats inside like what other magazines or previous Kerrang magazines have done. This could of been a risk due to the fact that readers instantly want to know what eles is inside, however because Greenday are so well known and loved by rock fans they would find it interesting to read. Even though there is not a lot of text on the cover the text that is there is short, sweet and makes you want to read more, for example 'untold stories' this would instantly grab the readers attention and makes it more powerfull. The large bold text makes it more eyecatching and would definatly stand out on the shelves, the boldest apart from the masthead is Greenday, obviously this would be the boldest as they are the main feature and that is what they want the audiance to see the most. The text that is behind the band is the songs that Greenday have written, which is a good technique to use because the target audiance and fans would instantly know this, it also convinces and shows more evidence that this band is infact 'legends'. The plugs that are shown on the page stang out due to its vibrant colour and makes you eye move over to read it.

Language

At the bottom of the cover the strapline clearly indicates that reader can ' win a Greenday platinum disc', the language is easy to understand and doesnt go on, its short and would definatly catch the eye of the readers. There is not a lot of words used, however there is no need as this special edition is all about Greenday so the target audiance dont want to have lots of text to read, but just simple powerful words. The puff in the top left corner tell the readers that it is a special edition, so seeing the text 'Greenday' they would know the contents of the magazine.

Overall impression

I think that the overall impression is that its very effective. With all the colours, text and image creates a loud and powerfull impression. I think they have achieved in trying to attract the core audiance older teenagers, and adults who like Greenday as they have been around for so long. Greenday were the perfect band to use on a special edition as they go well with the whole theme of the magazine special, and attract the main audiance. Overall this front cover creates a unique, intersting impression and every little detail fits in well to have a one of a kind outcome.