CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
to the Study
Colour
is one of the most powerful tools available to graphic communicators second
only to words. Teacman, G. and Orme, M. (1981).
Colour
is what makes newspaper and magazine appear beautiful and attractive to
readers. It is an established fact that colour placement add to aesthetic
quality of newspaper and magazine which make readers prefer one newspaper or
magazine to another, even before reading.
As an artist needs to know how to use a
brush, easer, canvas and colours, so does the make-up editor needs to become
acquainted with the tools of design especially the use and combination of
different colours to hamonize other design and makeup elements in a Magazine
pages especially the cover page which is the first call to readers. Teacman, G.
and Orme, M. (1981).
According to Arowosegbe O, (2006)
various colour add different meaning and effect to stories and adverts, it
tells more about the significant of the stories and the nature of the stories,
if a story as to do with accident or death some editor will always cast the
headlines with colour red and so on to reflect the content of the story. http://www.poynter.newsuniversity/colour/design-application.
Colour, headlines, diagram, photograph,
body type, white space, vacant space
between display elements, boxes including
a full box for a story (lines enclosing all of the story) all are powerful
tools of adding aesthetic quality to both magazine and newspaper while it also
use to make reading easy for readers.
Different colors have varying effects
on people. For instance, there are different responses to the two extremes of
the spectrum, red and blue. Red tends to raise blood pressure, pulse rate,
respiration, perspiration, and excites the brain waves.
Across
cultures, red has the fastest and most powerful effect on human emotions
(Aaker, Benet-MartÃnez, and Garolera 2001). Other associations attached to the
color red are heat, danger, power, passion, strength, blood, war, energy,
warmth, talent, violence, and courage. Red is used to stimulate people to make
quick decisions. Blue has a reverse effect. It tends to lower blood pressure,
pulse rate, and brain waves.
For
most, blue symbolizes truth, justice, passion, love, talent, and creativity.
Other common associations connected with the color blue are sky, cold weather,
water, and ice (Birren 1950).
The science of colour is sometimes
called chromatics, chromatography, colorimetry, or simply colour science. It
includes the perception of color by the human eye and brain, the origin of
color in materials, color theory in art, and the physics of electromagnetic
radiation in the visible range (that is, what we commonly refer to simply as
light).
One of the most important aspects of print production is
the ability to accurately reproduce colors on paper. Among some of the factors
that will affect this ability will be such things as the texture of the paper,
the paper’s color, whether or not the paper is coated or uncoated, the number
of colors applied by the press, and other such factors. But first it’s good to
understand some of the fundamentals of what “color” really is.
Color
is just a product of our mind – and our perception. We see different colors
only because our brain interprets the wavelengths and frequency of light
differently. And we only see color after the light hits our eyes. Close your eyes and the color disappears.
To
answer that, we can start with the dictionary’s definition of color: “the
quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the
object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and
brightness of the reflected light.” Now compare that to the definition of
black: “lacking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of
the rays composing it.”
According
to the normal definitions, black is not a color. In other words, if you take
away all light, and nothing is reflected, then everything is black. And without
light you can’t have any color since there’s nothing to see. At the opposite
end of the spectrum (no pun intended) you have total light.
The
research will therefore examine the influence of colour combination in
beautification of magazine pages using Tell Magazine as a case study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The
research examines the contributions of colour combination on the message
effectiveness and magazine attractiveness. It is obvious that colour separation
on magazines pages drawn the attention of readers to its contents. Magazine
without colour or colour combination i.e a mono-colour magazine will draw less
attention and will affect the quality and sales of volume of the paper. To this
end researcher want to x-ray how influential is colour to the readers’ eyes in
magazine.
1.3 Research Questions
¨
What
are the significance of colour combination in magazine production?
¨
In
what ways has colour separation enhanced message effectiveness of Tell magazine
on readers?
¨
Can
colour usage determine readers’ choice of magazine?
1.4 Purpose of the Study
¨
To
study the significance of colour combination in magazine production.
¨
To
examine ways in which colour separation has enhanced message effectiveness of
Tell magazine on readers.
¨
To
know if colour usage determine readers’ choice of magazine.
1.5 Significance of the Study
There is no gain saying
in the fact that a work like this that is relatively new to the field of mass
communication and print media in particular will benefit lots of people to
include the following:
Media Practitioners: This
work will benefit media practitioners especially those in the print media on
the need to be aware on how important are colour to draw attention of readers
to their content and to add aesthetic quality to the magazine pages.
Mass Communication Students:
Students of mass communication or journalism will also learn from how each
colour pass different massage to the people.
Advertisers/ Marketers: The work will also benefit advertisers
and marketers on the reason to go for colour while showcasing their project or
services because of the aesthetic value of colour.
Academic Work: The
work will also form part of the academic work while the future researchers will
find it useful when carry out research on subject matter that is relating to
this.
1.6 Scope of Study
The
scope of the study has been limited to Influence of Colour Combination in
Beautification of Magazine Pages with the use of Tell Magazine as a reference
point since it is not very easy to study all print media in Nigeria due to time
available for this work, lack of enough fund, the nature and geographical
structure of Nigeria and other considerable logistics. Despite the scope, the
findings from the study will be generalized.
1.7 Limitation
of the Study
It is not an overstatement that a work
of this nature cannot be carried out without some hard experience, however
below are some of the constraints to this work.
There are many limitations ranging form
not knowing where to start, not knowing who to consult or approach for
materials not knowing what next to write in various segment of this study and
not actually knowing who to put me through in achieving my work and others are:
- Stress from other academic activities is one of the limitations to the research work.
- Financial constraint to travel to different places.
- Duration for the research work is relatively short
- Materials that are available on this topic is relatively small as the concept is new or people are not written from that angle.
1.8
Definition of the Terms
Influence:
This is the power or
ability to affect belief, action, and interest of somebody.
Colour:
Color or colour is the
visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called
red, blue, yellow, green and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light (http://www.wikipedia.com)
Combination:
This means blending of
two or more colours together.
Beautification:
This means making contents
or something pleasing to sense of eyes. Or it is the combination of qualities
that delights the senses.
Magazine
Pages: These are pages
of magazine that contains varieties of contents ranging from political news,
sport, entertainment, features, advertisement.
Tell
Magazine: This is one
of the top magazines in Nigeria
known for accurate news report