Magazine Colour Schemes

Colour Schemes on Magazines

After plenty of research on magazine covers and double page spreads within the music magazine industry, I have noticed that a lot of the larger distributions in magazines use colour schemes on their layouts. This is because they normally have up to four colours, usually three, that represents throughout the magazine. They would also be stereotypical. By this, I mean that pop genre magazines may have funky colours in the background or surrounding certain words, or even have the words coloured in these certain colours. As well as this, if a magazine was meant for a female audience, it is more than likely that the three colours used would be bright, or 'girly'. Furthermore, the colour scheme may be chosen down to the main character(s) in the centre of the cover. 

The main point of the colour scheme is to make the magazine unique and stand out. I will apply this theory to my magazine cover and double page spread which I am creating. I believe that the colours on certain magazines represent a certain stereotype for each one. By this, I mean that the colours used make the magazines trademark. On the other hand, as I researched the colour schemes on the magazines created by 'Vibe', I noticed that the colour schemes on one of their magazines, would be different to another one of their magazines. This tells me that there is no 'tradition' to each magazine concerning the colours.

I will attempt to use a maximum of four colours within my magazine cover, contents and page spread. This is because I have found that the major music magazines do this. This gives me the idea that I could use the theory on mine to make it stand out a lot more. I feel as though if I was to use more than 5 colours on my magazine, it would be too over decorated and not look as good as what it could be. As well as this, if I was to use only 1 or 2 colours throughout my magazine, it would be looked upon as boring and not so attractive.