Color Psychology

Before I begin sketching, I want to know what colors I should be working with, according to what fits with the genre conventions and, also, their meanings. Color is one of the most important aspects of this project because it basically sets the tone for my magazine. Since Feminism is so broad and there are so many different types of Feminist magazines, ranging from fiery and controversial to feminine and subtle, the colors I choose would have to make it clear on what part of the Feminism spectrum L'Fém would fall on.


First, researching the genre conventions I looked for the general interest Feminist magazine genre that I had decided on. Below are the three most prominent examples that I found. Ms. and Bust both have bold colors, but Make/Shift takes a more neutral approach. Therefore, my own magazine can go with many ranges of colors.

I mean, my magazine is called L'Fém, a play on the French word for Feminine, so, of course, the first color I thought of was pink. But is pink too feminine? According to Color Psychology, the meaning of the color pink can vary greatly depending on the culture and context. However, since L'Fém would be produced in the United States, the cultural implications are that pink means feminine. I also found this helpful chart on the https://www.colorpsychology.org/:

I like all the positive implications of the color pink, but the physical weakness and emasculation? Those are the stereotypes that I want to break with my magazine. But in using the color pink would that be seen as purely feminine, with no other meaning behind the color?



Unsure of pink, I decided to look into the meaning of the color red. According to Color Psychology, the color red attracts the most attention out of any of the colors. That's good aesthetically because it would add a pop of color that I could use to draw attention to the title and/or cover line(s). This is another helpful chart that I found on https://www.colorpsychology.org/:

Like with the color pink, I like the positive implications of the color and this time I even like one of the negative meanings behind it: defiance, because that's what I'm trying to portray with my issue on women's fashion. However, anger and aggression are definitely not what I'm looking to convey in my magazine, so that's unfortunate.

Since I like aspects of both pink and red I'm going to try to blend the two colors to create a new color when creating my magazine. More updates soon!

-Jenn

"Make/Shift ISSUE 19, SUMMER/FALL 2016." Make/Shift, makeshiftmag.com/. 

"Ms. Magazine." Feminist Majority Foundation, www.feminist.org/research/zines.html.

"Pink Color Psychology and Meaning." Color Psychology, www.colorpsychology.org/pink/. 

"Red Color Psychology and Meaning." Color Psychology, www.colorpsychology.org/red/.