Music Magazine Cover Analysis

 

The choice of colours used for the magazines front cover fits in with its house style which is black, white, red and yellow. The colour red and how it is splatted over the cover is a connotation of blood and death which intentionally links to the music genre ‘death to pop punk’ as it symbolises the heavy music that part of the magazine contains. Not to mention the brand identity of the magazine particularly the mast head compliments Kerrang’s house style as well as its bold typography. The promo in the top left hand corner is positioned within the header of the cover gives the reader an insight into what artists some of the articles feature and the promo is a persuasive technique to get them to purchase the magazine; the header further ties together with the pug in order to advertise the promo further. The second promo on the cover is advertised to suit the magazines target audience as these particular festivals are in the same category of music genres as Kerrang.  The main cover image is a mid/social shot on an eye level angle to emphasise the passion the band put into their music and to directly grab the target audience e.g. you me at six and pop-rock fans. The order of the band members in the main cover image positions the lead singer at the front with a closer angled shot on him to underline his importance in the band and to further gain the fans interest. The gaze of this image is also on eye level for the same reasons as the eye level angle shot. The devil horns that the lead singer of you me at six is wearing in the cover image is a connotation of the band’s music genre and what they may portray through some of their lyrics, not to mention this intentionally links to the play on words of the colloquial language positioned over the image ‘come on over to the dark side’. The anchorage ‘You Me At Six’ is just below the image to make it clear as to who the band are for those who aren’t aware. The secondary images on the cover also reflect what bands and artists feature inside this particular magazine and the size of the images highlight the size of the article compared to the main cover image one. A Pull quote is used in the bottom left hand corner of the cover ‘we know a lot about Jean-Claude Van Damme’, to give the target audience an insight into the article inside. To fit in with the magazine layout the barcode is placed in the bottom right hand corner and on it, it presents the issue No. of the magazine, the price and the date which keeps the cover tidy and layered but still provides the reader with the information they need.