Post 4- colours and fonts

By Katie cook
Why is Font and colour important?
• Font and colour are important for a double page spread because
these are visual features that the audience see. The colour scheme
is an effective feature that the editor decides on to catch the
readers attention by sending a message in a form that they can
understand. The colours are selected carefully depending on target
audience. They usually match this to the stereotype that the group
of people come from.
• Font is also effective in the same way because different type of
writing will attract different audiences. Font is important in giving
the intended message about the audience and the genre of the TV
listing magazine.
• These two elements of the magazine are very important for the
masthead and the taglines as it will match what they say.
 Serif and sans serif
• Serif- serif fonts are easier to reader at smaller
sized font. Therefore, this font is conventionally
used as body text for the article.
• sans serif- sans serif fonts are more modern
looking and usually emphasise a piece of text as
this font is bold and has straight edges. I think
that this font would be better suited to mast
heads and cover lines.
 Difference between fonts
Clear Spaced Modern Looks like a child's
handwriting
Quite bold but not
as bold as some Comic Sans MS Curved edges
other fonts
Old
Elegant French script MT
Thin letters Flows- no spaces between
each letter
Looks like a well educated
woman’s hand writing

I choose to compare these two fonts as they are completely different styles of writing, therefore this will
allow me to compare theirs advantages and disadvantages of using either. For example, if I was to use the
comic sans MS font then I think that this would make my magazine look as though it is targeted for a
younger target audience as it is a very modern font and looks like a younger child's hand writing. However,
the French script MT is more sophisticated and elegant suggesting that it would be used to target more
towards the elderly higher educated people which may use this sort of writing so it would appeal more
towards them because I think if you was to show this writing to someone a lot younger they would find it
harder to understand this style of writing as it is older fashioned and not as common any more.
 Types of fonts
Arial black Broadway
Stencil Eras bold ITC

These fonts are effective as they instantly grab the readers attention due to the
boldness of the font and the emphasis on the text. Therefore, they are
conventionally used on movie posters and for titles in magazines. However, fonts
like these should be used for headlines and mastheads due to these being features
you want people to read before anything else.
 Hand letters
Examples:
Bradley Hand ITC
Adobe fan Heiti STD B

• In a magazine there may be the use of an editors letter

addressing the audience, it is usually quite short and uses
anchoring. In this section a hand written font may be used
as the difference in hand writing creates meaning for the
audience. This is effective because if the font looks like
hand writing then it looks as though it has came personally
from the editor showing that the editor really does care
about the audience who reads the article, showing the
editors interest and opinions on what is included in the
magazine. To do this they may use a font like Adobe fan
heiti STD B as I think this font looks a lot like handwriting.
 Size
• Size is a key element to do with the text. SIze is important
especially on the masthead. The masthead is one of the most
important features as it tells the audience what the article is.
To enable them to achieve this they adjust the size of the
masthead. This is part of code and conventions as this is
done in all magazines , they make the masthead the biggest
font on the page as it is the first piece of text they want you
to see. The bigger the font the bigger the importance of the
text. The masthead will often be at the top of the page as
well as they use rule of thirds to see where the readers eye
automatically looks at first. The second biggest font will be
the subtitle and will anchor to the main image as this is
another element which has a lot of importance.
• The main body of text is usually the smallest as this should
be read last.
Blue- An intellectual and Calming colour.
Positives- intelligence, communication, trust,
efficiency, coolness, reflection.
Negative- coldness, lack of emotion, unfriendliness.
Blue is the colour of the mind and is essentially
soothing; it affects us mentally. Strong blues will
stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft blues will calm
Colour
the mind and aid concentrations.

Red- physical
Positive- physical courage, strength, warmth, energy,
stimulation, masculinity, excitement.
Negative- defiance, aggression, visual impact.
Red is a powerful colour. Not the most visible colour, it
has the property of appearing to be nearer than it is
and therefore grabs our attention first. Hence its
effectiveness in traffic lights. Its effect is physical; it
stimulates us and raises the pulse rate. Red is strong
and very basic. Pure red is the simplest colour with no
subtly.

Yellow- emotional
Positive- optimism, confidence, self-esteem, strength,
friendliness, creativity.
Negative- fear, fragility, depression, anxiety, suicide.
Yellow is the strangest colour psychologically. The right
yellow will lift our spirits and our self-esteem; the
colour of confidence and optimism. Too much of it, or
the wrong tone in relation to the other tones in a
colour scheme, can course self-esteem to plummet,
giving rise to fear and anxiety.
The colour scheme is very important because colours can
represent a person, their mood and emotions. The colour
schemes in magazine are used to attract their target
audience. The colour scheme helps to show who the
magazine is targeted at in terms of age and gender. By
combining primary and complementary colours is can make
the page seem brighter making it intense and difficult to
read. If the brightest colour of the pair is darkened and set
to a lower saturation then it will be easier to read the text.
 What is Importance of the font and
colour together?
One key importance is when connecting the font and colour scheme together they
should work and look right together. If the wrong colour is used with the wrong style
of font then this could be crucial for the magazine. It is important to make the right
decisions because if the wrong decision is made then it may be difficult to attract the
target audience that you want and people might misunderstand which target audience
you are aiming at.

Bad decisions:
Pushing perfection to the limit- This does not look right at all because as the genre of the
documentary is stereotypically for a female audience, so dark colours like this will not
tell the audience that the target audience is female based. Also, the font looks very
masculine, which again does not fit the image I am trying to create.
Good decisions:
Pushing perfection to the limit- I think that this looks a lot better as the font is
bold and thick letters so it stands out to the audience and will instantly grab their
attention before anything else on the page. Also, the colour is more female based and
red is a colour which stands out over many other colours. Moreover, I think this colour
would be suitable as my documentary is about beauty and red is a colour commonly
associated with beauty.
Colours that do work!