3. The masthead is bold
Selling line.
and overall simple. The
qui
bright red colour and
thick sans serif font
This ‘&’ is quirky
makes the cover eye-
and original and
catching and appeals to
contributes to the
all genders.
magazine’s
Background is all in authentic
white, and that house style.
contrasts well with the
boldness of the red as Sans serif fonts, all in
well as the black and capital letters which
white picture. This use makes all text stand
of white space also out more. This use of
gives more emphasis a less complex font is
not only to the photo sensible because the
of Liam Gallagher but explanatory text is
to text around him quite small anyway,
too. so enables reader to
read it more quickly
Unusual and funny and clearly.
quote – will probably
interest audience and All text is lined up
make them want to and only 3 fonts have
read on. been used which
gives the cover a
more neat and
organised feel.
Cover line is bigger in
size than most of other Conventional bar
texts. This makes it code position in the
stand out and attract bottom right of the
reader’s attention. cover therefore it
does not take up
much space.
4. L an g u ag e
This cover uses a lot of colloquial language as seen by the
examples on the right (‘epic gigs’ and ‘massive summer’) in
order to attract a younger audience and make the text on the
cover more interesting via the use of informality. It also uses a
lot of direct speech and speaks personally to the reader via the
use of personal pronouns such as ‘Liam answers your questions’.
This is a good thing to have on a cover because it would
persuade the reader to open the magazine since they’d feel like
they’re being personally addressed to.
C o ve r P h o to
The main image is of ex-Oasis band member Liam Gallagher. This
instantly reaches out to a large audience of many ages as he is very
famous. The fact that he is wearing sunglasses and is looking away from
the camera instead of making eye-contact suggests that even though
there is an interview with him, he does not wish to be exposed too much.
The image is a studio shot in a medium close up angle, with very sharp
details and in black and white. It has bright studio lighting with a
cyanotype tone to it and in relation to Mise en scene, there aren't any
props apart from his glasses which makes the picture very simple but
powerful. any props or He is looking towards the right hand of the
magazine cover, where people would open up the magazine therefore
the fact he is looking towards that direction could incline people to
actually open the magazine.
5. E ye F lo w
The front cover has a layout which follows
the readers’ natural eye flow. They will
firstly be attracted to the masthead on
the top left at the page, then follow Liam
Gallagher’s picture of his face down to the
‘Plus’ section of the page. With this in
mind, it was a smart idea to have made
the ‘Liam’ cover line in a very large and
bold font because it may necessarily not
be the thing the audience may be
attracted to first.
7. Via using a quote from the Selling line
band as the main cover The masthead uses a
line, the audience feels grunge sans serif font with
directly addressed by the an element of chaos and
band, ergo this connection distortion to it. This may
may entice them to by the suggest to the reader that
magazine. the magazine is very busy
packed with information
as well as setting a genre
Main cover line in of rock to it. Unlike other
grunge font similar magazines (for example
to the mast head, in NME) where the masthead
a tilted format, very is bold and very simple this
unconventional and one differs in the sense
sets a tone of that it seems more
distortion to the rebellions and more ‘in
cover, like the your face’, which could
position of the lead also be reflected from the
singers head also. exclamation mark.
Unlike NME, Kerrang’s colour Appealing sticker.
scheme is a lot more complex,
with more colours such as Splatters persuade
white, pink, yellow, black and audience to buy
grey and it’s all overall a lot magazine due to the
brighter with more vivid words used such as ‘Win’
colours. This may catch the and ‘plus’… Suggesting
readers’ eye more effectively magazine is full of great
interesting things and
Extra pictures added on
gives readers
the front cover which
opportunities.
gives reader more to look Conventional bar code
at rather than just the position. Contrasts from
cover photo. the cover’s overall
business and distortion.
8. L an g u ag e
Like NME, this Kerrang cover uses an informal register to address it’s
Abbreviation
readers, with overall slangy/colloquial language which would appeal
to their target audience of a younger demographic as it’s the
vocabulary their familiar with (examples to the right). Even though
there aren’t any personal pronouns like in NME, this cover still
successes in making a direct link with the audience by saying things
such as: ‘Dave Mustaine get’s personal’ which makes the reader think
these are exclusive things they might not be able to read elsewhere.
C o ve r P h o to
The cover photo for Kerrang is very different to NME’s. Firstly
all the members in the band (Paramore) have direct eye
contact with the camera which will make the reader feel more
personally addressed, as if the band are looking straight at
them. Like NME the image is a studio shot but in a low angle
and has minimal props, as well as more natural lighting and
not in black & white. In fact, the picture is quite saturated and
the colours are all very vivid especially the lead singer’s ginger
hair which contrasts to the rest of the band’s black clothing.
This suggests she is the main feature of Paramore, and since
she’s very famous a larger audience will be appealed to buy the
magazine.
9. E ye F lo w
The layout of Kerrang also follows
the reader’s natural eye flow: from
top left of the cover to the bottom
right. With this in mind, this cover
enables the reader to firstly see the
masthead, then the main cover line,
followed by the main attribute of
the cover photo (Hayley, the main
singer of Paramore).
10. Ins p irations for m y own
m agazine cove r
• Use of stickers and splatters
• Black and white cover photo • Conventional bar code positions
• Bold contrasting colours for text and for • Follows readers’ natural eye flow
masthead (red colour especially) • Grunge font for mast head
• Conventional bar code positions • Studio low angle shot.
• Kickers and explanatory text all in capital • Colloquial language
letters • Model’s direct eye contact with
• Lining up of text – makes the cover neat camera
• Using a quote from famous band as a • Using a quote from famous band as
selling line main cover line
• Informal register
