Colour In Magazine

Introduction:When designing pages in a magazine

editors are very careful in what goes onto the pages. One way that dramatically improves the look of any page is the

colours used. The colours can help reflect on the mood of the readers, bands on the page, or just make the page look generally

a lot nicer than a plain white page. The colours used all depend on the desired

affect they want achieve.

Why they could choose a certain colour:

• Who is their target audience:Depending on who the audience is the colours used can vary from black (gothic styled readers) all the

way to bright pink or neon colours (normally girls or energetic people). For example a gothic styled person is not really going to want to want to see a lot of pink and bright colours because that would normally go against their style of clothing etc.

• What is being presented on the page:The next factor is what is on the page itself. Depending on what is being shown on the page, the colours

can change no matter what. If a band wanted to send out a message about their new album, they could base the background to be the colour of their album. Not only would the background have a meaningful colour but anything that the editor would want the readers to see would be coloured in such a way that it would be hard not to notice and therefore be seen by all readers.

• What do they want to portray:The last factor is a mixture of the first two but also the editor’s choice. If they want to portray a sad

song in a music magazine they would put colours that symbolize that feeling like blue. In effect the editors can have a slight effect on how the readers feel while reading the article.

BlueThe colour blue symbolizes a whole bunch of things. • With the sky and sea being blue, normally the colour

symbolizes calmness and tranquility, this is shown in travel adverts where they use water in pools to show relaxing times.

• As well as tranquility it also represents cleanliness and

technology. The colour is used in loads of adverts to help portray the idea of smartness in technology ads.

The use of the colour blue in music magazines is normally used in covers where it is a calm singer. As the colour suits calmness and relaxation it tends to work well with that kind of genre.

OrangeNormally associated with energetic activities

and warmth orange is normally a very welcoming colour.

The use of it in magazines would help portray the effect of bands. Normally more electronic bands and loud music the colour can help the reader feel happier and feel more welcomed to the magazine, like Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Red• The colour represents things normally represents

danger and excitement. It also is a sign of blood and symbolizes war and with it being such a vibrant colour is used on saftey signs.

• The use of this on magazines can help make features and adverts stand out considerably more than if they were in white. As its such a strong colour it also is used in backgrounds to emphasize genres of music such as rock. This is because rock bands are bands that are known for being dangerous and shows the intensity of their music

Green• The colour normally shows nature, youth

and fortune. The colour is used on notes where they symbolize money.

• In magazines it would be used to show the starting of new bands in articles. With it meaning wealth and youth it normally used a lot more in the magazines aimed at the younger generations.

Yellow• Colour of energy and happiness it is used

normally to help motivate people and cheer people up.

• Magazines wouldn’t use this colour so much in big amounts. The reason is that it is a very obvious colour and can distract the readers from other features and parts of the magazine.