The document analyzes the cover of the Kerrang magazine. It discusses several key elements of the cover design including the masthead, skyline, main cover line, main image, cover lines, positioning statement, barcode, and color scheme. The masthead uses a unique font to stand out and be recognizable even if only partially visible. The skyline and cover lines briefly summarize additional articles to entice readers. Larger fonts are used for important elements like the artist name in the main cover line and main image to attract attention. Color and positioning are also used strategically to guide the eye to important elements and represent the magazine's genre.

1. Analysis of professional
magazine front cover
By Jacob Crossley

2. ‘Kerrang’ front cover analysis
Masthead
The Kerrang masthead is the largest font on the page. It has a
unique font so that it is different from any other font which makes
it stand out. It allows the masthead to be remembered because it
is unique. This allows the audience to recognise the magazine by
only seeing a section of the masthead. The font of the masthead
has a broken effect. This is used to reflect the genre of the
magazine. It does this because Rock music is loud and it's almost as
if rock music has been played and its shattered glass. The subject
can cover part of the masthead like in this issue because the
audience still recognises the masthead because of its font without
reading the whole name.
Skyline
The skyline is positioned at the bottom of the magazine
front cover and is a brief sentence about one of the feature
articles inside. It is used to inform the audience about
another interesting article inside. The “10” and “Metallica”
are in red and larger than the rest of the skyline. This is to
attract the audience. It is short but effective which means it
tells the audience the information without them having to
put a lot of effort in.

3. ‘Kerrang’ front cover analysis
Main cover line
The main cover line has a very large font size so that it stands out to
the audience. “Killers” stands out because it tells the audience who the
main article is about. The reader is interested in the artists in the
magazine so the artist name stands out the most in the main cover line
because this will attract the audience. The main cover line has its own
font as well. The main cover line has a brief description to entice the
audience to read on and find out more. In this magazine “Brandon
Flowers reborn” briefly informs the audience that the Killers article
focuses on this band member.
Main image
The main image covers the majority of the of the page so that they can be
easily recognised. This allows the audience to know what kind of magazine
it is based on the bands it is talking about. The Killers is a indie rock band
which signifies that the magazine is about rock artists. The subject links to
the main cover line so the image is of Brandon Flowers because the cover
line talks about him. He is posing in this image to show his rock attitude.
Even though the camera is not looking up at him the positioning of his
head makes him look like he's looking down at the audience. This makes
him look popular and cool.

4. ‘Kerrang’ front cover analysis
Cover lines
The cover lines are in a smaller font size than the masthead and the
main cover line because they are not as important. They are read
after these things to find out what else the magazine contains. The
cover lines have the name of an artist at the top in a different colour
so that the audience can quickly see all of the different bands.
Underneath that is a brief description in red that gives a bit of
information but it allows the audience to want to understand more.
For Manic street Preachers cover line the description underneath says
“Back to Blackwood”. It makes the audience want to find out what
they are doing in Blackwood and why they are there. The cover lines
are also positioned around the image of the smiths. They never cover
the face of the subject because it stops it standing out and makes it
harder to identify them. The cover lines are not as important as The
Smiths because there stories are not as important and the artist is not
as famous.
Positioning statement
The postioning statement is aligned at the top of the cover. There are two different
stories advertised in this positioning statement. The name of an artist along with a
small image of them is used. One of them is PJ Harvey and the other Dusty
Springfield. They are both about artists related to the genre of the magazine and have
a small snappy sentence to entice the audience to read on.
Barcode
The barcode is positioned in the bottom right corner of the cover because they are not
important. The price issue and date are also located there in very small print because they
are not used to attract the audience. This is because the audience is not interested in that.
The barcode doesn't show the genre of the magazine and is kept out of the way of the
important features.

5. ‘Kerrang’ front cover analysis
Colour Scheme
In magazine front covers the colour scheme is usually 3 or 4 colours.
In this Kerrang front cover the colour scheme is red, blue, black and
white. These colours are used for the background, coverlines and
even the subject. The same colours are used to make the magazine
cover nice to look at. 3-4 colours make it appealing and visually
interesting but any more than that would complicate the page and
make it harder to look at.
The clothes of the subject are controlled to fit in with the colour
scheme. The middle member is wearing blue whilst the others are
wearing the Union Jack flag. The colours of the flag match the colour
on the rest of the front cover. The red white and blue also indicates
what the main feature of the issue is about. In this case it signifies to
the audience that the artists are British and the magazine may
appeal to a British audience.
The background colour is white which is a simple colour. It is simple
to allow the artists and Masthead to stand out. It focuses our
attention on these things because there is nothing interesting in the
background. The audiences attention is purposely drawn towards
these things as they will attract the audience in to buying the
magazine.