The fontThe font in the cover is quite varied and is easy to read, due to the use of block capitals in clear contrasted colours against their backgrounds. All text on the cover is in block capitals with the exception of “sex. drugs. violence” the effect this creates is that it stands out, but not in the sense of an overwhelming presence as other magazine conventions stereotype, it stands out because it’s small compared to everything else present. In order to add a unique genre twist to the font a veteran typewriter font was used on the band posters advertised inside the magazine.Other font effects such as italic or underlining words are not needed because the colour scheme and layout of the page highlights important; words and titles. A variety of font styles are used and all when combined create a house style for the audience to expect in the magazine.

Masthead“KERRANG” a very impactful and powerful title as well as being a practical word that’s relatable for the target rock audience. Kerrang being: The sound of a power chord on an electric guitar; this familiar sound rings out to guitar players who are the main target audience of the magazine. The impact of the word is also carried in the font used that has cracked the wording like glass, as if the word has been smashed by the impact of its own sound. One important thing this masthead tells us about the readers and the magazine itself is that branding isn’t the subject of the magazine, it’s the artists themselves, this is shown by the fact that the main image covers so much of the masthead.

The Selling LineThe selling line of the magazine isn’t even fully visible telling us that it’s not that important to the audience, the main image covers almost half of it up and is therefore much more important than a line of text designed to draw in an audience. This displays a tone of arrogance across the cover, creating an assumption that if you were interested in Rock music you’d already be subscribed to the magazine anyway, the magazine doesn’t need to try and catch new readers with such methods, they’d rather do this with their good content.

ExclusivityThis issue of the magazine does not appear to have an exclusive sell point in this issue, this could indicate that the magazine is released regularly and that fans may not find appeal in the magazine attempting to be exclusive in every issue. The focus of the magazine this issue appears to be on the band’s lifestyles as indicated by the sub-heading sex, drugs, violence. This knowledge may be appealing enough to an audience that the magazine does not need to try and draw them in with the use of exclusivity.

The Main ImageThe main image is a wide-long shot that is also deep enough to capture the entire band and present the band with a focus on the front man of the group. The main image features weapons and intimidating facial expressions in a direct mode of address toward the reader. The effect this has is almost as if it’s scarring off those not in the target audience, and making those within the target audience feel more engaged with the topic. This creates a more personal and understood tone for the reader.As mentioned in other paragraphs, the main image is defiantly the subject and main appeal of this magazine cover, this is demonstrated by its overwhelming presence on the page and literal coverage of the masthead and sell line. The main image also tells us he theme of the magazine’s content (lifestyle), and the specific sub-genre focus that the magazine is looking into; rough and dangerous bands.

The Colour SchemeThe colour scheme in this cover are quite complimenting as they brings out the exotic tinge in the yellow/orange banners and the main image tagline. The magazine has used the colours as a sort of key that depicts the importance of each tagline and cover line. It also brings importance back to the masthead, being the only black font on the page, it stands out and the contrast of that and the main cover line works to highlight them both on the cover.

PricingThe price of the magazine is located above the bar-code and is easy to locate. The price is quite low indicating that there is good content but not content worth much more than £2.00 of the audience’s wallet. This tells us that the audience is not looking to spend too much money investing in this magazine and that the audience can be quite tight-pocketed with their expenses, possibly indicating they don’t earn much. Pricing seems even better when you consider the poster special freebies in the magazine that readers will likely use.

Social media linksThere are no social media links on the cover. This can tell us about the lifestyle of the audience, although there is an official Kerrang website, the target audience would be expected to know this anyway and may even be offended to have such an obvious fact printed on their magazine’s front cover. It also tells us that this magazine’s target audience is much more likely to share their magazine experiences in person rather than on social media with friends and the magazine acknowledges this.