Kerrang
The masthead ‘Kerrang!’ was titled after the onomatopoetic word that springs from the sound made when playing an electric guitar; which links with the typical rock sound making the audience/viewer clear on what the magazine genre is and attracts the right audience. For this issue (Fig 1), the colours of the masthead are bright, with a red background and white font, the red suggests danger which links with the typical view of rock music which is rough and loud. The white suggests new, as rock is a new type of music genre which has increasingly become popular. The masthead is in capitals which links with the rock music genre which is loud and ‘in your face’ style which stands out. It is also bold reflecting on the heavy rock music genre and makes the magazine stand out against the other music magazines in the market. There is one key effect used in the masthead, which a breaking and cracking effect through the masthead which links with the loudness and roughness of rock music such as rock is typically linked with violence therefore the effect creates the stereotypical rock music. For this issue, the masthead is behind the main cover image, yet it is still noticeable and easy to see because the effect and font style is only seen on the Kerrang music magazine, making it unique. The official masthead of Kerrang (Fig 2) magazine is white front on a black background with the same style on every front cover. The black background gives the magazine a more rock style vibe; this shows a typical rock music genre.
Billboard
Billboard was first named ‘Billboard Advertising’ and was designed to record circuses, carnivals, amusement, parks, fairs, vaudeville, minstrels and other live entertainment. During 1930s it started publishing music charts and was renamed in 1961 to ‘Billboard Music Week’ and then again changed in 1963 to ‘Billboard’ to make the masthead more catchy and simple. The font is simple but is bold which stands out; it also links with the music magazine genre which includes several of genre categories which means the magazine has a wide target audience. The masthead is plain white which is simple linking with the reason for the simple name. But the colours red, yellow, blue and green contrasts to the white making it stand out. This also means that the magazine stands out against other music magazines leading to the magazine more likely to be bought. The effect of using different colours to fill in letters: B, O, A and D makes the magazine seem more interesting to read therefore the viewer will be attracted and will want to read the magazine.