When you pick up a copy of The Economist, the first thing the eye is drawn to is that iconic red name plate. How could you miss it? Every issue it sits there, flush left, and is so bright that it is unavoidable. Though the red is eye-catching, I don’t think that is the only reason they picked it. The color red is associated with passion, energy, strength, desire, and love. I think the color red is the perfect choice for The Economist because those words perfectly describe their audience. The people that pick up this magazine are passionate about a wide array of topics, and want to learn as much as they can so they can talk about what they read as much as they can.
That iconic read is used throughout the rest of the publication, and it acts as a nice piece to tie the whole magazine together. It is used in type, as a headline bar, dividers, etc. To juxtapose the bright red, however, is a light blue. While red is fiery and passionate, blue is calm and stabile. Blue is associated with trust, loyalty, wisdom, and intelligence. Light blue is used to hold the side stories of the main feature, and I think it was so smart to do this because though blue is on the back burner of red, it does not mean it does not hold equal importance. The blue is also used as a header, but to indicate when an article is already within a section.
As for the photographs, they all seem to be highly colorized, and I think that’s because they want to give the reader a break from the mundane text. In a sea of black and white, the colorful photos offer some sort of solace.
