Colour Schemes

The colour of the background represents the ‘rock’ genre because the it is red. This red colour signifies a sense of anger from the magazine which relates to the genre. By seeing the main red colour, you would think that this fierce tone is exhibited throughout the magazine, via its text and images. The opposite colours, black and white, work well with the red background because they further emphasize the rock theme. Other magazines such as ‘NME’ also use these colours to connote to their audience that their magazine has a rock styled theme.

The very dark background colour connotes a ‘dark genre’, such as rock to the audience. This ‘dark genre’ is further conveyed by the bright red used on the page. This is because the colour red has stereotypically known to signify anger, danger and blood. This could link well with some of the styles of the bands/artists that may be included in the magazine.

As you can see, like the previous background, it has a black background to symbolise the rock/indie genre. However by using white and yellow on the colour scheme, this gives the page a neutralised effect. The two colours also vividly stand out amongst the background because they are very bright and catch the eye of the audience and draw them toward the magazine. The colour yellow has been known to symbolise happiness; giving the magazine an unusual effect by having the comparison between this and the black background.

The white background is very neutral and light for a rock/indie magazine. However it allows the text and images to be enhanced because they will stand out much more. The black banner and text will be complemented by the white background because they are opposite colours. The colour scheme still has the red to signify the genre, together with it being easily seen by the audience because of the white background.

With this colour scheme, I took a different approach by having a bright colour as the background. I chose to have the orange mast head and banner because it is the opposite colour to blue, making them complement and stand out against one another. Also the white cover lines and tagline are easily read because they are clearly seen by the audience due to the darker background. Taking everything into account, this colour scheme wouldn’t be suitable for a stereotypical rock/indie music magazine because the colours do not symbolise the genre.

The silver coloured background connotes a rich looking effect which could symbolise the amount of money that is involved in the music industry. The dark blue masthead, banner and cover line are all easily distinguished on the silver background because of the difference in darkness of the colours. This colour scheme won’t attract as much of an audience for a rock/indie magazine because it doesn’t use stereotypical colours that you would expect to see on a music magazine.

The background colour of this colour scheme is a gold mixture, portraying a very rich theme. This could be because of the amount of money that it distributed throughout the music business and the wealth of most of the artists. The use of the colour black on the gold background, allows it to be emphasized more because of the difference in colour density. This colour scheme would suit the rock genre. These colours are often used on ‘rap’ or ‘hip-hop’ music magazines so that the artists can show off their wealth to their fans.

For this colour scheme I decided to be experimental. The bright green background doesn’t work well with the purple and white used on the page. This colour scheme wouldn’t be suitable for a rock/indie magazine because the colours don’t signify anything to do with the genre. These colours would be more suited more a ‘eco-friendly/ recycling’ magazine.

This grey background has been altered so that it has a mixture of different shades throughout it and then merges into a red at the top. This gives it a chrome looking effect symbolising modernisation. The red banner creates a sense of repetition because it links with the strip of red that is merged into the background at the top. The use of red and black in the text signifies the rock/indie genre of music.

This adapted grey background creates a chrome effect similar to the previous colour scheme. However this adaption gives the background colours a ‘whipped’ effect, linking well with the tilted masthead. The use of blue works well against the chrome background because it is vivid and will catch the eye of the audience. The black and white cover lines and tagline are structured so that the white is against the black and the black is against the white, thusly allowing them to complement each other.

Summary

After experimenting with different colours for my colour scheme of my magazine, I have decided that I will be using a black background and either ‘red’, ‘yellow’ or blue’ as my secondary colour and white as my added colour. The reason for this choice is because the black background will symbolise the rock/indie genre of music. Also the ‘yellow’, ‘red’ or ‘blue’ are all bright, vivid colours which will clearly stand out and be enhanced by the dark background, thusly attracting the attention of the audience. Another reason why I think that these colours will be suitable is because the results from the question from my audience research questionnaire show that the majority of answers gave these colours.