Speaking of the color of Vanity Fair, which color pops up the first?
RED
Red is the hallmark color of Vanity Fair. Most of the Vanity Fair issues are with a red nameplate. Red is a really eye-catchy color which can easily gain reader’s attention. A lot of magazines use red as their hallmark color like Time, The Economist, etc.
However, VF’s nameplate color doesn’t only stick to red. Here are the examples–
Any colors could be possible — Black, white, silver, purple, pink, blue. The color which can coordinate with the cover picture will be chosen as the nameplate color of that issue.
This one of Margot Robbie, for instance, the background of this bikini photo is the ocean. The designer of this issue chose a gradient blue as the nameplate color which perfectly blended in with the background. Margot was wearing a white bikini standing in the middle.
The main color of the cover remains only blue and black and white, the two basic color. This approach made the whole cover give people a sense of cleanliness.
The magazine also didn’t fully give up their hallmark color — red. Red served as small icons in small areas.
Inside of the magazine, the colors of the nameplate used on TOC vary issue to issue, however, they are all in gradient.
The choice of color here severs as a purpose of coordinating the picture as well. The main picture on the left has a big area of the ground color, on the right, the yellow cab’s yellow is the most catchy color on that page. So the title’s color is kind of yellowish, earthish.
Here’s another example — the background of the big picture on the lefthand side is pink, the color tine of the righthand side picture is blue, so this time, the nameplate color is in a gradient of pink and blue.
Inside the magazine, you can still find a lot of red elements. Section plates, drop caps or small furniture items. Personally, red is my favorite color, but using red in a massive area is obviously not a wise choice in design. Red is a color of strong contrast which means this color is so distractive. While reading a long article, black is a more popular choice for the texts. Have you ever read any long articles in red? I guarantee you that your eyes will get tired after reading the first paragraph.
So the combination of red and black is a perfect choice — red as a decorative color to highlight the parts want to stand out. Also, red and black is a classic color combination — will never get wrong.
Besides red, other colors are also used.
To me, I think the change of the drop cap color is a way to distinguish different sections.
This usually appears in the last few sections of the magazine.
