2. NORTH EAST ASSOCIATED COLOURS
The North East Region has only 3 main cities which include Durham, Newcastle
and Sunderland. As these have the biggest population I am going to focus more
on appealing to these places specifically however in doing so this will help to aid
and appeal to the entire region.
Before picking my colour scheme, I think it is important to know what colours are
associated with the region and with the target audience. Hopefully this will help
me to represent the region better through my magazine but also to represent
and relate to readers. I have decided to do research into what colours are
associated with the 3 main cities, why they are associated and how I can apply
this to my own magazine.
I was inspired to conduct this research due to my findings when analysing the
colour scheme of The Vibe in my previous post. The Vibe uses a red and white
colour scheme throughout all of their products which links really well to
Sunderland due to the link of the football strip. I then decided that I want to add
my own regional twist to my colour scheme and therefore I want to find out what
other colours are specific o my region. Although red and white is a good
scheme, I don’t want my products to look too similar to The Vibe as this is also a
regional culture magazine and therefore one of my biggest competitors.
3. SUNDERLAND
• Sunderland is typically linked to the colours red and white due to its football
strip. It also has a strong link to the colour black due to the adopted
nickname “The Black Cats.”
• I underwent an image google search for Sunderland and this was the result.
As you can see, the majority of images are red, white and black which can be
used to represent the audience. There also links to the colour blue specifically
due to key landmarks such as the Tyne river and seaside location which are
features I wanted to include in articles within my magazine therefore will fit to
a colour scheme well.
4. NEWCASTLE
• Newcastle is also associated with the colours of it’s football club which is
predominantly black and white. This is made evident through the football
logo and strip. The logo also consists of secondary colours such as blue and
grey.
• When you do an image search for Newcastle, there is a key focus on the river
landscape which further suggests blue is a significant colour.
5. DURHAM
• The football strip for Durham is blue with a red logo.
• When you do a google search for Durham, a lot of results come up
with the river, the cathedral and scenery such as trees and forests.
This implies Durham has a strong link to outdoor colours such as
blues and greens.
6. SUMMARY OF REGIONAL COLOURS
Sunderland:
Newcastle
Durham
After doing this research I have found these
are the colours most associated with the 3
major cities of the region. Obviously I can’t
use all of these colours for my primary
colour scheme as that would be too
complex and overcrowding. Instead, I’m
going to combine the most frequent
colours used to create an overall regional
colour scheme. As I have already decided
that black, white and grey will be used in
my scheme, I only need to decide between
green, blue and red. As green is the only
colour featured once and that was only by
7. LOCATION COLOUR IDEAS STAGE 2
By combining the most frequently associated regional colours together, I have
created this scheme. Personally, I really take inspiration from the use of black, white
and grey because I think this monotone approach looks professional, complimentary
and will definitely help different conventions stand out from one another. I do like the
idea of using red and blue however I feel these specific colours are far too bright. The
brightness makes the scheme look quite childish and this is not an impression I want
my magazine to give. I also think that the scheme looks male orientated and would
not appeal as much to females who I don’t want to alienate. Also I personally don’t
think the colours red and blue compliment each other well as a primary scheme
because they are both so bold they clash too much. If I was going to use a black,
white, grey, blue and red scheme, I would probably alter the colours so that the final
outcome looked more like the following.
I will now have to choose between either a red, white, grey and black scheme or a
blue, white, grey and black scheme.
8. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: FINAL 2
VS
Strengths:
• The color blue was apparent in all 3
major cities of the region and therefore
has the biggest overall representation of
the region.
• Light, pastel shades are very mature and
relaxing.
• Gender neutral due to the light shading
• Matches well with black and white.
• Is unique and unlike any magazine color
scheme that the region already has.
• Black and blue were voted most popular
favorite color in my target audience
survey.
Weaknesses:
• Blue is sometimes associated with
males.
• Color could be seen as quite cold and
therefore not inviting.
Strengths:
• Representative of the region, specifically
Sunderland
• Very bold and bright – can connote danger
which will attract attention to the magazine.
Weaknesses:
• Red, white and black is the same color
scheme as Vibe magazine and therefore
shows no individuality and personality. As
Vibe is one of my main competitors this
could be a major issue.
• Not representative of the majority of the
reason – in my research I didn’t really find
the color red linked to Newcastle or Durham
which are major cities in the region.
• The colors are very bright and therefore
could be seen as childish or immature.
Conclusion: As you can see, there are a lot more strengths that support my blue color scheme than my red color
scheme which has a lot of weaknesses in comparison. Due to this evaluation, I have decided I am going to use the
blue, white, black and grey for my primary color scheme. I think the main turn off for the red and white was that it
is Vibe’s scheme and I want my magazine to be original and unique. I also think blue is a lot more representative
of the region in any case.
9. POTENTIAL TARGET AUDIENCE COLOUR POLL
Potential target audience is obviously extremely important therefore their
opinion is extremely valid in my planning stages. In my survey I recently
constructed, the results showed that black and blue were the most popular
colours and therefore I think this scheme is a lot more successful than the
red one. In order to 100% conclude that I have made the right decision for
my primary colour scheme, I decided to create a poll which I uploaded to
my magazine social medias for 3 days. Both my poll and survey results can
be viewed on my potential target audience page of my blogger.
The results from both my poll and survey conclude that blue is the most
popular colour scheme. Due to this finding, I now have full confidence the
following scheme will be successful:
