OUGD504 - Brief 4 - Colour Development

OUGD504: Brief 4: SONY music / ONLY studio Brief

Colour Development

With the typography decided upon I started to look at a colour palette for the design. Similarly to the typography I wanted to keep the colour palette fairly minimal and ambient to represent the bands sound. I started by looking at their existing visuals to get a get feel for the bands visual collateral colour picking form these to experiment with different colour palettes which worked well creating engaging palette samples that would be engaging to the target audience. 

Taking a pastel blue from this photograph used within the bands previous EP I created an experimental sample using white typography contrasted against the black bands logo and supported by the pastel blue to add ambience and introduce colour to visually stimulate the user. I think the blue is effective in relating to the band as they use blues frequently within their visuals and collateral, it connotes a relaxed tranquil aesthetic that is representative of the bands emerging sound. 

Using further photography from the bands collateral I picked an off-white/dirty cream from this photograph to add sense of grungy minimalism to the aesthetic as I felt this was fairly representative of the bands character. There was concern that using white text may not be able to stand out against this background colour when reproduced on a smaller scale and could get lost within the frame. I like the colour and feel it adds a centurion element of texture to the frame however am unsure if it would stand out and grab an audience or become dull and repetitive when extended across a full digital platform. 

I found an image of the pressed vinyl from the bands album, the colour of physical vinyl was a pastel baby pink which I found interesting due to its subtlety and engaging warmth. I liked how this colour palette would have a direct link to the album, making the colour scheme of the digital campaign more relevant. The pastel pink allowed the white to pop making it stand out against the frame and would create an instantly engaging visual for the website. Although pink can be stereotypically associated with femininity, I feel this colour palette would appeal to the breath of the target audience with its subtle ambience reflecting the bands sound and achieving a direct link to the physical album itself. 

With an experimentation into the colour palette I asked a range of students who doubled up as the target audience which colour palette they found most engaging. I found that students agreed that the off-white may cause they text to be lost within the frame suggestions included changing the white text to a pastel blue or pink however felt the primary colour being cream may become dull across the whole digital platform. There was positive comments and support towards both the pink and blue colour scheme however students felt the direct link to the album caused the pink to be more relevant and approbate for the digital platform. When I asked if they felt this would be too feminine they responded positively with comments such as 'no I wouldn't say its feminine in this context' and 'no I agree that it reflects the bands ambient sound and doesn't feel girly'.

Based on this feedback I concluded that the most appropriate colour scheme to develop into my digital concept was the pastel pink. This will work well across the digital website as it is warm and engaging, allows the type to stand out, reflects the bands ambient sound and creates a direct link to the physical album.