Great Color Balance in NAELA Magazine Cover

I was sent the file of a magazine cover today by my client to add to his website and I was struck by the great cover. Every graphic element works well on this cover. At first, I thought it was the great photo of my client, but then I realized that there was much more involved that made this a great cover.

Everything works together to make it a really great design. The color balance is great. It starts with the orange background. It is dramatic, yet understated at the same time. It's not a bright loud orange, rather it's a woody kind of orange with a very warm feel to it. Then there are the vertical gray lines that break it up. Then there are those things on the wall, whatever they are, but the great odd geometrical shapes and the colors of these shapes make the background very interesting.

The color chosen for NAELA News is perfect, with a burgandy background and white letters. Burgandy, as the boldest color on the page, is the only color that I think works here and creates a nice balance because there is so much going on on the right side of the page. It also creates a great color balance because every color on this pages matches with burgandy, and it makes a bold, assertive statement. It's nice that burgandy is used for some titles on the page.

The bottom color - the golden mustard yellow is a great color choice, and the burgandy and white letters work well on it, and it's a perfect balance for what's going on on top.

I think what might be the subtle finishing touch, and what may be the colors that dictated the colors for the rest of this page, are the colors in my client's tie. I think it pulls it all together.

This cover is one of the best examples of color choice and balance that I've seen.