My zine, Color & Music, is an analysis on the impact that the album cover of a single, or album overall can impact the tone/vibe of the music itself. While the artist while writing the song might've not decided the color mood beforehand, the color of the album can effect the listener's perspective on the song. I first made 15 song playlists of songs that had the same album cover colors. The pages on the lefthand side of each spread are a compilation of some of the album covers from each playlist collaged and blurred in photoshop, with typography on the top that represents my predetermined associations with each color. Then on the righthand side, this is drawings I made based on the playlist itself while listening to it. I first made the color "blobs" underneath and then sketched figures overtop that I feel represented, lyrics, titles, cover design, and song feel overall. I specifically chose these colors because of the gender stereotypes associated with each color, blue with masculine connotation, green with more gender neutral connotation, and pink with feminine connotaition. As an observation, I noticed that blue and green, in terms of music did not follow any sort of gender stereotypes overall and had a more significant emphasis on emotion. In regards to pink, I noticed almost all of the artists were female, and if not, the song had a "bubbly" feel to it. I think in a way pink is empowering to female artists in the art and music industry and helps women embrace femininity that is criticized in mainstream media. I also think it gives an opportunity to help change the stereotypes around hyper feminine women and that they can be just as strong, successful and attractive as anyone else.
Overall, while the main purpose in my zine, was just for some fun color analysis and practicing some of my design skills, I did find interesting information about gender stereotypes regarding music and overall how music can effect the artist and listener.