This document discusses and analyzes the color palettes used in various magazine covers, contents pages, and double page spreads. It notes how color choices appeal to different genders and impact contrast and attention-drawing. The author likes how some palettes use light and dark colors to make text and images stand out against backgrounds. They prefer softer pastel colors generally but note brighter hues may be needed for covers. The author indicates they will consider using color combinations and techniques seen in spreads they found effective, like one from Bromide, for their own double page.

2. Cover - Billboard
This colour palette is very bright and the colours
contrast each other a lot. These colours are
masculine colours that would appear more to males
than females. Although the background is blue, a
stereotypical male colour, having the clothing a
burgundy colour draws the attention of the female
eye whilst still being a masculine ‘feel’. Having the
dark background and clothing allows the text to
stand out more because it’s all white and yellow.
I like this colour palette but I’m not sure if I’d use it
myself. If I wanted, I would lighten the colours a little
bit, rather than having them so dark.
Cover - Merlito KPOP
This colour palette uses a lot of pink, a feminine colour.
Because of entire page being pretty much covered in
different shades of pink, this appeals to the female eye
much more than the male eye. It has a light coloured
background, mainly white, and dark text, dark pink and
black, to contrast this and making is stand out.
I really like this colour palette because it uses very few
colours but it seems like there are more than there is. I
might consider using this amount of main colours of my
cover.

3. Cover - Bromide
Cover - Singles
This colour palette uses a lot of bright colours but
because most of the cover is the black background, it
makes the overall cover seem dark. Although having the
dark the background allows the lighter colours, certainly
the white, to stand out a lot as they contrast wth each
other. Also, there is a mixture of mescaline and feminine
colours. For example, the use of a pink mast head is
feminine but the green is more of a masculine colour.
This allows the cover to draw attention from both genders
because they colours aren’t all stereotypically for one
gender.
I’m quite unsure about this colour palette. I like the range
of colours used to try and draw attention from both
genders, but I think that all these colours maybe not all
work together. It seems to me that the green and red
don’t really fit with the rest of the cover, at least not as
much as the paler colour just under the mast head.
This colour palette uses a lot of pale colours but
doesn’t give an overall sense of lightness due to
the darker shades of grey and the contrasting
shadows. The light background and clothing
allows for the dark text to stand out against it as it
contrast the lightness. The one line white text
allows it to draw a lot of attention. Although it is
lighter than the background, because it is a like
lighter, it is able to draw this much attention. Also,
this cover doesn’t seem to have a prefer of
gender. Although is has green on it, it’s not the
shade of green that is stereotypically related to
males because it’s a paler than the usual green
associated with males.
I really like the over look of the cover as it seems
really faded and beautiful. However, I think that
the green isn’t quite right for this cover. Perhaps a
different pale colour would have worked a little
better, such as a really pale blue, or maybe keep
the green theme but take out less of the grey in
the colour - more of the green hue.

4. Contents - NME
This contents page uses the classic combo of red,
white and black. This is a very common colour
palette across all types of pages. It uses the white
of the background to contrast the darkness of the
black and the brightness of the red, making all
three colours stand out. These colours don’t really
have a stereotyped gender for them, so this
comes across as multi-gender. But due to the
darkness of the black, it leans more towards the
male audience.
Although they work well together, it’s very simple
and a bit plain. But I like the way that it uses black
for boxes and the main text alongside the red for
page numbers and things they want to make
stand out more. Maybe I will consider doing
something like what they have done with the red
but with a different colour.
Contents - Singles
This colour palette uses a range of pastel colours.
Having the lighter coloured background allows the
black text to stand out. Her dress has a lot of pastel
colours on it and they contrast the background as
her dress is a lot brighter than the background. The
yellow bag draws attention away from the text and
the person because it is a lot brighter than anything
else on the page. Because of the colours used in
her dress, stereotypical female colours, it’s easy to
see that this is aimed towards females more than
males.
I really like this colour palette as it’s really subtle
with the colours but works really effectively
because of the contrast between the pastel, dark
and bright colours. I will consider this when thinking
about my colour palette for my pages, not just for a
contents.

5. Contents - Sparkling
Double Page - Billboard
This colour palette is really simple as it uses only four main colours. It uses the lighter shade of pink as the
background and has the darker colours, pink and black, for the text. It also uses the white from her clothing
to make her stand out from the dark text and the light background. Because of the use of the different
shades of pink, it’s clear that this is aimed towards females.
I quite like this colour palette because it is very simple but is very effective because it comes across as very
dramatic.
This contents page uses a lot of pastel colours and
then bright colours for the pages and their contents.
The background of this is a crew colour so that all of
the other colours can stand out against it because
they all contrast the paleness of the cream. The
shades of pink used contrasts the cream because it’s
a lot darker. The white is used to outline the pictures
and the box background at the bottom. This also
contrasts the cream because it’s a ‘purer’ hue colour.
The brighter colours contrast the cream the most
because they contrast the cream more than the white
and shades of pink do.
I really like the idea of using pastel colours mixed with
brighter colours to make it stand out more. But I think
there are too many shades of pink. Perhaps just the
one shade of pink would be more effective than
having multiple.

6. Double Page - Bromide
This colour palette has a lot of different
colours in it, but the main ones are white,
brown and different shades of blue.
Although there are darker colours, three of
the tops, it uses white for the text and
places it over the darker parts. The
background of floor has different shades
of brown due to the shadows. This creates
contrast between the different areas
where they lay. Also, having different
coloured tops for all of them allows them
to each draw attention to themselves even
though most of them are very light
shades.
I really like this colour palette because it’s quite simple even though it uses many colours. I might consider
something like this for my double page rather than a cover or contents because it would be too busy for either
of those.
Double Page - Singles
This colour palette uses a lot of dark
colours but the overall look of the pages
isn’t dark because there is a balance
between the dark colours and the light.
Although the background is a dark green
and their suits are black, the amount of
white from the text and their accessories
balances out the darkness. In terms of a
male or female preference, there isn’t
really much of preference. Although the
main colour is green, it’s not a shade of
green that is stereotypically related to
males, but certainly more so than females.
I’m not too sure if I like this colour palette or not. The palette certainly works, but I don’t think I’d use something
like this. But prehaps I will consider the idea of using the same main colour for the clothing - in this case black
with different coloured details.

7. After looking at the covers, contents and double pages, I have found few things that I like, what things ‘work’
and common things I have spotted.
I have found the common notion that the background will always contrast either the text, subject person or
both. I saw that either a dark background is used with light text/images or a light background with dark
text/images. Although I have found exceptions, I found that they didn’t work as well as they maybe should
have. But the Bromide double page example shows a way to use light colours for both the background, text
and most the images. I also found that most pages will use bright colours. This is causes the audience to
notice them most whilst they are on the shelve. Although they stand out a lot more, I’m not sure I like them
as much as pastel colours. But I do like the Merlito KPOP cover, which uses a lot of bright colours.
Being a female, I prefer more feminine colours to masculine colours. Because of this, I prefer colour palettes
like the Merlito KPOP cover over colour palettes like the NME contents page. I also like more pastel colours,
but I know that they don’t work well on the cover, maybe I will consider using pastel colours for the contents
or double page. But I like the Bromide double page colour palette and the way it is used and I want to do
something like this for my double page. A colour palette like the Bromide double page appeals to both the
female and male audience, which I’m thinking of using as my target audience.
Possible Colour Palettes I want to use
I really like the colour palette for
the Merlitio KPOP cover.
However, I did think the pink was
a little too bright, so I made that a
little paler. Also, if I want my target
audience to be both genders, this
may not be an option because
males typically don’t look at
magazine covers with a lot of pink
on them.
I have taken this idea from the Singles cover.
I kept the cream and the white the same
because I think they work really well together.
But I did change the pastel green for a pale
blue. I also changed the grey to have more of
a blue hint in it rather than red as I think this
would work better with the blue that I have
chosen.
I have taken this one straight from
the Singles contents page. I
haven't changed any of the
colours as I think these three
colours work really well together.
Although I did remove the yellow
as I thought it was a bit
overpowering for the other three
colours.
I really like the colour palette for
the Bromide double page. I did
change the brown to be slightly
darker and the blue to be a bit
lighter. I think the three colours
work really well together without
there being much of a preference
in gender.