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Red to blue? Colour theory 101.

I stumbled across a topic here started by Jude about title screens, and it struck me by how all of them, while striking in their own right, had some shade of blue there.

So, I was messing around with Photoshop again today, and I decided to make a new title screen, for the fun of it. It just struck me then how truly striking the title screen was simply because I had used various shades of blue.

BEFORE:



AFTER:



Naturally, you're probably going to look at the blue title screen longer... ^^

Now even though the subtitle of the game is 'Red Dawn', should it mean that all my menus, windowskins and such should be that shade of crimson? I mean, it's not a glaring shade by any means, but blue ( I think everyone has at least one shade of blue as their favorite colours, mine is cerulean ^^ ) simply stands out more.

So, red to blue? Yay or nay? Please comment! ^^

Posts

Pages: 1
Oblic
Once a member of RMN, always a member of RMN!
1937
I like the blue better. Mostly because it's much easier on the eyes. It's just naturally a more calming color. Plus, the blue background seems to be more detailed than the red one! YAY for blue!
This is interesting theory, and the blue one indeed looks better, but if the game is called "Red Dawn", I'd go with red.
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
I agree with Oblic that the blue blackground has better detail than the dark crimson one, although that shadowed ribbon-like thingy near the top left hand corner of the screens seems to have disappeared altogether in the blue version.

Also, the blue background provides better contrast for the diffuse bright yellow menu options. Since you kept the dark crimson background close to the game title and the ribbon-like thingy for the menu choice cursor, I donĀ“t see changing the other background as an issue if it makes the title screen look better. Perhaps, I would have more of an issue if the subtitle were 'Crimson Dawn'. So yay, I say!
You don't have to change because blue is a prevalent choice.
Besides, I find the shade of crimson would fit your game much better. I'm not talking about just the title Red Dawn but overall, the theme, the story, etc.
I would definitely stay with Red if I were ya.
Okay, so I saw the separate post with the blue screen first...

Um, the red one actually looks good, it's not an eye-searing shade of red (looks more like rust/brown to me). The thing is, the blue one shows more detail which makes it 'prettier', I guess. Maybe if you lighten the red to show the bg details?
Everyone does blue these days.

See: This

Maybe try red along the lines of "a red sky" as it's "Red Dawn"

like these?
Oblic
Once a member of RMN, always a member of RMN!
1937
author=ashen_heaven
Okay, so I saw the separate post with the blue screen first...

Um, the red one actually looks good, it's not an eye-searing shade of red (looks more like rust/brown to me). The thing is, the blue one shows more detail which makes it 'prettier', I guess. Maybe if you lighten the red to show the bg details?


I agree with this. I think the biggest reason I like the blue one is the depth of the detail. It's also much more vibrant and contrasts much better with the fonts.

I'm not a huge art buff; I just picked the one that I thought looked better! ;)
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
author=ashen_heaven
Maybe if you lighten the red to show the bg details?


Perhaps if you showed us something with lighter tone of red, it still might be better than the old title screen ... until then, I would stick with my recommendation.
author=NewBlack
Everyone does blue these days.

See: This

Maybe try red along the lines of "a red sky" as it's "Red Dawn"


If you put up a backgroundless .PNG of your logo I'll draw this!

RED 4 LYFE

I mean yeah if I wanna get all ARTISTIC about it the blue version you did is much more eye-catching, but a subtitle of red dawn + the fact red seems to have become something of a "theme" color means I'd much rather see working with the reds some more. Colors are a nice way to build an identity, and it's cool when said identity can stand out even a teensy bit in the deep blue title screen seas.

Of course at the end of the day the title screen is the thing briefly seen before mashing on "new game" or "continue" (who even clicks exit? what a useless button) so I wouldn't sweat it either way.
Ok, so here's the red version, with the same amount of detail. Now what do you say? :)



The whole reason I deviated away from blue from the very beginning of my game was that everyone uses it ( I was using a shade of brown before, for my very, very early demos ), not only because the title was 'Red Dawn'.

I really, really like the red version better now. ^^
Oblic
Once a member of RMN, always a member of RMN!
1937
This seems to fit much better. The blue IMHO is still a bit... "prettier?", but this is truer to the theme of the game.
Hm. The blue still looks better to me, but go with the light red one. If only to be different.
i wonder if all media will combine into a single entity known as the "happy giver" it has no single purpose, just a bunch of businessmen and psychoanalysts just decided to come together and create the most enjoyable object through science. every single element made on this device is the result of polling everyone on earth on what they like on their happy giver, the ui elements are blue, the physical case is a pristine ipod like white, the sound effects are carefully made to not be annoying but be satisfying, the menu system is made for both stupid people and smart people (or stupid people who think they are smart, there are a lot of those), and everything done on this thing takes no effort or energy. the ultimate design.

be glad your title screen isn't a "happy giver" anymore
So, I'm assuming it's Nay for blue, and Yay for Red? Regardless, I'm going to stick to the red colour scheme. This was just an experiment, after all. I checked that title screen topic again, and boy do designers love blue.

Plus, I doubt the happy blue scheme would suit my game.
Blue is generally a more soothing color on the eyes.

Of course, I'm talking completely unsubstantiated internet science here, so I'll qualify this with personal experience: staring at red for too long hurts my eyes.

A red title screen is great, but please don't do the in-game menus in red. There is such thing as taking a good theme too far.
author=PentagonBuddy
author=NewBlack
Everyone does blue these days.

See: This

Maybe try red along the lines of "a red sky" as it's "Red Dawn"
If you put up a backgroundless .PNG of your logo I'll draw this!

Y/N? (I am super fine with not drawing anything, but could I know one way or another?) Painting skies just makes me jizz my pants, so I'm not gonna pass up a chance for that. Edit: And yeah I mean paint as in actually paint with watercolors, a nice red sky would take under 20 minutes. Or photoshop is fine too!
@Penta: Oh, I'm sorry! Of course you can paint a red sky background! ^^ And photoshop or natural, it doens't matter. :)
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