COLOR

Color is an interesting thing to talk about here, as black and white are the only colors used outside of images. The exception here is the cover. The nameplate changes color depending upon the full-bleed image on it.

COVER

On the cover, the nameplate is always made to be in high contrast with the image on it. For example, one cover is a blue image with a pink nameplate. Another cover has a black image with a yellow/gold nameplate.

INSIDE

On the inside of the publication, color is used very differently. As I mentioned earlier, everything is black and white except for the images. I have been reading this publication for years, but I never noticed that every single image has a large amount of either blue or green, unless it is a photograph of a person (which they do not do very often at all).

I feel this is because a large majority of the photographs used in the publication are landscapes, meaning a focus of them is usually greenery, sky, or water. They seem to want to carry this aesthetic over in to interior shots as well, however. Pictures of food often have a lot of green in them. Photographs of the interior of a hotel will have a large amount of blue.

Even headlines and subheadlines are always black or white. I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that CN Traveler has an impeccable way of putting a lot of information on a page while still making it look very clean and elegant. I feel that must be in large part due to the choice to keep everything else black and white.

I also feel the blue and green colors emote feelings that match the aesthetic, branding and mission of the publication. Blue connotes calm and cleanliness while green is health and reminds us of the environment, all of which fit well with the message and voice of the publication.

Images are also a very important part of the publication, so it makes sense that they would not want to take away from them in any way. The photos themselves tell as much, if not more, than the words themselves, so CN Traveler does them justice by letting them speak on their own many times.