OUGD505 - SB2 - Design Decisions - Colour

One of the final stage of the design process was to decide on what colour would be used thought the book along side black text on white paper. To ensure that consistency through the publication was ensured and that the book design didn't take away from the photography used through the publication the decision was made to only include one colour through the design aspect of the publication. This would ensure simplicity and therefore modernity, and it would also ensure that the focus remains importantly on the type and imagery.

Due to nature of Hip-Hop being a mainly male dominated industry It would be too easy to go with this over 'Gangsta" masculine aesthetic, and it would actual deter the publication in achieving its goal; to inform and educate as this masculinity could put some women off reading it, eliminating potential target audience. Therefore to combat this the deliberate use of a vibrant colour in order to act as a means of catching the viewers eye, outlined in the research stage was implemented to make the magazine as aesthetically pleasing and eye catching as possible. The decision was made to use pink for the feature colour of the publication as it fit appropriately with the vibrant criteria desired but also goes deliberately against the notion of over masculinity. This hopefully ensuring that the publication remains appealing to both sexes and appeals to the biggest target audience it possibly can. Also further reinforcing the notion of inclusion, not a publication for males or females, its a publication for everyone.

After much experimentation the decision was down to two last shade of pink. Even though I had outlined that I wanted the colour to act as a vibrant edition to catch the eye of the reader, if the colour chose was overly bright and vibrant it could take away from the purpose of the actual publication and its job of covering of information and so the decision was made to use the first shade as it was still vibrant enough to catch the eye of a potential viewer, something extremely important for a magazine, but not overly vibrant that it take the concentration within the design from the content.