Author: reffoldkeal2023

Colour is used in graphic design to add an aesthetic, or conceptual value to a text or image, to evoke certain wants or emotions from the viewer, and can be employed for a number of reasons, from marketing, to video games; Gold Rabbit defines the use of colour in graphic design “Colour is a universal language and a powerful communication tool. Of all the elements that make up a visual design, colour is perhaps the most vital and influential. Research conducted by psychologists and marketers have highlighted how colour can influence our emotions and perceptions.” (Gold Rabbit, 2020, The Importance of Colour in Graphic Design, Available Online: https://goldrabbit.co.uk/the-importance-of-colour-in-graphic-design/#:~:text=Colour%20is%20a%20universal%20language,influence%20our%20emotions%20and%20perceptions. [Accessed 03/11/2023]) Good Use of Colour I feel that this is an example of use of colour because the art is simple and made from stylized shapes, and it pulls the immediate focus onto the colour red, and evokes many ideas such as red for martyrdom, which has origins dating back to the execution of Mary Queen of Scotts, and her allegedly wearing a red petticoat under her dress as her head rolled across the floor. As stated by Natalie  in ‘On The Tudor Trail’ website: “Mary was dressed almost entirely in black with a long white veil, edged in lace that flowed down her back and a red petticoat.” (https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2012/02/08/the-execution-of-mary-queen-of-scots/) As the lady in the bright red dress is upon a vast black background, it is open for interpretation that she seems lost in something big, and upon closer observation, you can see the title of the book is actually fitting into the bottom of this lady’s dress, very neatly.  It is an effective utilisation of a bright colour, and i think the simplistic style of the shaded shapes, against a black background is eye-catching and effective, and contextually relevant to the book since the women who are kept as incubating slaves in this book are forced to wear, and be identified, by their bright scarlet dresses.  I also think that although the author’s name is in grey, which could be hard to see upon the black background, I think that it highlights the fact that this book is not about the author, but a much more important, political, and philosophical statement about the bodily autonomy and future of women.  Overall it is a striking book cover and the bright red draws the viewer’s attention straight away, and makes you want to read the blurb to find out what this book is about, which I think is an effective use of colour in graphic design; and also is parallel to the use of red as symbolism in the story itself.  Poor Use of Colour and Rework. My design process for recolouring this book cover was to highlight the horror themes to stand out more, and to be a little bit less ambiguous than the original, which just had a pink background. I did keep some of that pink colour but I wanted to incorporate it into a theme of flesh colours. I wanted the book cover to visually have weight to it, like a slab of skin; to attempt this I used a lot of skin tone colour, and additionally blood colours; As stated by Edward R. Tufte, he felt that the use of colour in graphic design should be “governed by good ideas”, and so I used a concept for my choice of colours in my redesig, and i want the viewer to interpret the theme of the horror genre through these abject colour choices. I also think that this colour theme draws from people’s real life experiences, as Tufte also stated that the colours used in graphic design should speak to people’s experiences with colour in nature. I think that everyone has had an experience with seeing blood and cuts on their own skin, and people know the connotations of these colours from watching horror films, seeing dead animals, and witnessing their own injuries; therefore i feel that these colours are connotative of blood and injuries to the flesh, and i feel that this is good graphic design for its intended purpose, which is a horror book cover.  I also changed the colour of the sheep to red, which seems contradictory to the title, but ‘black sheep’ being black seems obvious and played out, and so i wanted the sheep to be blood red, and i also turned the letters that the sheep is conjoined to, into the same blood red so it gives the effect of running or dripping blood, which again, is reference to the horror genre of this book, and draws on experiences of deep injuries, which draw large amounts of blood; i wanted to use these colours to draw the reader’s attention to the book cover, and to make it stand out.  Harvard References Glorify 2022, 20 Best Book Covers Of All Time, Available Online: https://glorify.com/learn/book-covers-of-all-time [Accessed 19/10/2023] (Gold Rabbit, 2020, The Importance of Colour in Graphic Design, Available Online: https://goldrabbit.co.uk/the-importance-of-colour-in-graphic-design/#:~:text=Colour%20is%20a%20universal%20language,influence%20our%20emotions%20and%20perceptions. [Accessed 03/11/2023]) Gooden T, 2023, Check Out The Delightfully Sinister Cover For Horror Novel Black Sheep- Nerdist. Available online: https://nerdist.com/article/black-sheep-horror-novel-rachel-harrison-exclusive-cover-reveal/ [Accessed 26/10/2023] Natalie 2012, The Execution of Mary Queen of Scotts, Available Online: https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2012/02/08/the-execution-of-mary-queen-of-scots/ [Accessed 19/10/2023] Tufte. E.R., 1990. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press. (pp. 81-93).