Booklet Colour Scheme Development

Red and Black:

After selecting my final layout design, I began looking at colour. In my first design, I used the 'I Love New York' logo as inspiration using the same shade of red as the heart. From here, I created tint swatches of the colour at 75%, 50% and 25%, giving a graduation of tones that I could use together with the black text. I decided to use minimal elements of other tones in this design, by using a grey line beneath the subtitle. I found the original red too vibrant for the block of colour, using the second shade down. This was still bold enough to make the white text stand out. As the photograph was already slightly translucent it allowed some of the red to come through behind, giving it a tinted effect. I used the bolder red for the subtitle and the drop cap. For the water mark effect I used the second boldest red at a 15% opacity.

Orange and Blue:

Referring to a colour wheel, I wanted to experiment with complimentary colours. I chose orange and blue as they are modern and not too bright. Again like the previous colour, I made a graduation of colour swatches to give me options with the levels of colour I wanted throughout the design. I decided to use the 75% tint orange for the large colour block with pops of bright blue in the quotation marks, lines, watermark and drop cap. After seeing the result in the previous design, I decided to place a blue colour block behind the photo, giving it a contrasting blue tint.

Pink and grey:

Similar to my first colour scheme, I chose to pick the colour from a poster from the Drive film poster as I found the pop of pink vibrant and exciting on a darker/desaturated background. I also used the preset grey swatch as the darkest tone adding more tint swatches. For this design, I decided to reverse the colour by adding the brightest tone to the Baskerville title, quote and title and the lightest grey as the main colour block. The contrast between the light grey and pink still allows the information to pop and be read clearly. I kept the rest of the design predominantly pink with the bright tone being used for the drop cap and title, and the second brightest being used for the watermark effect.

Turquoise and Purple:

Like the orange and blue scheme, I used the colour wheel as inspiration and the complimentary colours green and purple. I chose to match a green with more of a blue tone to a purple with more of a red. Similar to the last colour scheme, I decided to use the darkest colour, being purple, as the text and title colour and the paler turquoise as the colour block. I kept the quote in white to stand out and the underline to the title to add contrast. Behind the image, I used a purple colour block but offset it to the side layering it over the blue and adding a frame to the photo. On the other page, I predominantly used the turquoise except for the line below the title.

After completing these mock-ups, I printed out the designs to see the colours on paper and finalise my decision. By printing out the colours I could properly assess the colours as they will appear in the final product. On screen the red appears very true, however, in print appears very orange not giving the bold statement I'd hoped. The orange and blue and turquoise and purple options lack contrast in print and make the text less readable than I hoped. I did find the pink and grey colour scheme more effective in print, with the pink bolder and vibrant as I'd hoped the red would have been. I like the popping and statement colour and feel it is modern yet has a sense of sophistication, in its combination with the grey. I've decided to move forward with the pink and grey design, applying it to the current booklet.