Report

In this report, I am going to discuss the process and the decisions and revisions I have chose in order to make my logos for ‘Ow! Music’ successful. The three radio stations that I have chosen are ‘Mixx’, ‘Lock’ and ‘Pulse’.

‘Mixx’ is one of the radio station names that I have chosen to design because the word 'Mixx' reminds me of a DJ mixing music together so I wanted to associate this idea with holidays and Dance or House music because this is one of my interests too so I think it would help because then I am able to analyse my work with the similar opinions to my target audience. The word 'Mixx' uses two 'XX' which is appealing and engages the target audience because it's quite youthful and breaks the boundaries of spelling things correctly.

 My theme is aimed at people who are 18 years old because they can go out to clubs or go abroad on holiday and listen to music that 'Mixx' will play. I wanted the logo to reflect dance or house music and I think this has been successful because the image consists of DJ headphones and sophisticated text which is used in club logos such as ‘Nikki Beach’.

I would compare my Radio Station to 'Kiss' or 'BBC Radio 1Xtra' because they play music of a similar genre. Furthermore, they all have the same target audience from 18-25 year olds. However, I think that there is a difference between 'Mixx', 'Radio 1Xtra' and 'Kiss' because '1Xtra' and 'Kiss' use simplistic logos which are easier to remember. I have used this as an influence by choosing a simplistic font that I have used throughout the process of the 'Mixx' logos.

This is one of my ideas that I decided to use of the ‘Mixx’ logos. The design of the logo can easily be recognised and associated with music because of the headphones around the word 'Mixx'. The audience would make links between DJs, clubbing and music because of the headphones. I found an image of a record and saved it and opened it in Photoshop. I then used the magic tool to get rid of the background and the circle in the middle of the record. I then did the same, found an image of headphones, saved it, opened it in Photoshop and took away the background. The edges around the headphones were quite rough looking, so I used the Blur tool to smooth the edges out. However, I was not happy with the results so I used the Outer Glow effect, selecting the colour blue to cover the edges and brighten the image. I then used the Text tool to type my text, but I did them on separate layers so that I was able to rotate them to fit inside the images. I made the text bold and selected the colour black but brightened the text using the Outer Glow. I would create this logo in a PSD. file because this format is the best for creating graphics but then I would change it into a JPEG. because the logo has different shades of colour and a JPEG. doesn't loose too much quality.

 In relation to the design, I need to add more colours to make the logo look more fun and enticing for the audience. With the bottom 'X' I have shaped it into the leads of the headphones just to play around with the shaping and this has given me the chance to experiment with different tools on Photoshop like the Shape Tool.  I received feedback from a peer, and he suggested that I made the colours match better so that it looks more professional and I agree with this because I think it would make it look more sophisticated and established. 

 

I have improved my logo by putting a colour overlay on the record but making the opacity lower so that the colour is still quite bright, and then I matched the colours exactly with the Eye dropper tool, and created an outer glow around the headphones to make the logo look vibrant because the image uses a lot of black and I wanted to avoid this so that the bright colours appeal more to the audience. I put a glow on the text too to make it look gold and this way I have used three colours but made them match and look well together. Also gold suggests class and sophistication and I think this links well to my theme, so it doesn't look too childlike but still young enough for my audience.  

 The most successful part of my logo is the images. The headphones that overlay the record reminds me of a person listening to music and this is what I want my audience to do. Although I don’t use a human head to present this, I think the record imitates this well. I think that the text distracts this, so I think I could move this in a more appropriate place to improve the appearance of my logo. Moreover, I think the feedback I got from a peer was helpful because I think the colours that are used has given my logo a more appealing and professional look. If I were to redo this, I would create a basic logo that would show a clear comparison to other leading media brands. 

Another logo that I chose to design is ‘Pulse’ because I had a range of ideas for this radio station name. The one that I chose to keep was ‘Pulse Speaker’. The name 'Pulse' for a radio station reflects the genre of Drum & Bass or Dubstep because the word pulse reminds me of a pulse or beat which is essential in Drum & Bass and Dubstep tracks because a unique beat is the focal point. You would usually hear this music in a rave or at a house party and therefore, this links to the colours that I have repeated throughout my logos because they are usually taken place in the dark or at night. The radio station is linked at those over 18-25 years old because Drum & Bass is quite an old type of music because it partly evolved and developed from Jungle and Hardcore, thus it is aimed at those who are older. However, the radio station also is aimed for the young people because Dubstep is a recent genre because it originated from Garage, which isn't that old. Moreover, there are a lot more new and recent Dubstep artists, which means that the radio station will be current and urban. I want this logo to appeal to my audience, so that they automatically think of the type of music when they see it.  

I would compare this logo to this Dubstep logo because it has a similar look to mine. It uses an image and has the title going across or the word is combining with the image. I see these logo a lot on YouTube videos therefore they must be popular and successful. However, the bright red looks more attractive than my dark title, and I think that the red and black go well together. They all use an image with a speaker which is what I have done.  Each of these logos used the colour black, and again I have done this to reflect my theme of the darkness of the genre of music.  Moreover, I think I could have experimented with the title or lettering, though I think the font I used was appropriate and well suited for my theme.

I created my Pulse logo by searching for an image of one speaker, and saving it and opening the image in Photoshop. Then I removed the background using the Magic tool and covered the rough edges of the speaker by using the effect Outer Glow. To me, this brightened the image a bit more because the image consists of dark colours. The speaker did not show my radio station enough so then I found a font that illustrated a Pulse very well from Dafont.com. I install this font and used it in Photoshop. I typed the text using the Text tool and selected black and changed the layers so that the text layer was above the image layer and I dragged the text over the speaker. This camouflaged the writing into the speaker so I used the same effect on the text. Yet again, it brightened the image a bit and made the text stand out which is what I wanted to do, so that my audience remembers the name.

To improve this logo, I would need to make the logo more colourful so that it is more appealing and attractive to the audience. I could have added a slogan because this makes products and companies more memorable and convincing in the aspect of professionalism.  I do however, think that this logo is suitable for a website, a magazine and a billboard but I would add a background for a billboard.
To get the best quality I would create this in a PSD. file format because it is the best way to create graphics and then I would change it into a PNG. because it doesn't loose quality or a JPEG. 

The most successful part of my logo is the layout of the logo. I like how the text lays over the image yet the image is still visible. I think that you can compare this to other Dubstep and Drum & Bass logos and companies and the logo reflects a dark genre of music. Adding a background would make this logo look stronger and appeal to an audience. If I were to add a background I would use the colour red because it’s quite an aggressive colour which I think links well with Dubstep and Drum & Bass.

The final radio station I chose was Lock. The radio station name Lock reminded me of Hip-Hop and R&B because a lot of Hip-Hop talks about gangsters and it reminded me of being locked in prison. Despite this, I didn’t want to give this connotation, I wanted to present this radio station and the word locked as in keeping locked on to this radio station because it plays good music. My target audience for this station is for 18-25 year olds because I want them to hear this music when they are clubbing. My visions for this design was to show a modern edge but also an ‘Old Skool’ style to it, so therefore, I feel that it could include to those who are older than 25 too. I wanted to use text and images in this logo so that it stands out and is recognisable. Instead of using dark colours like in my Pulse logo, I wanted to use brighter colours to show that I can create a range of logos using different styles.

I would compare this station to MTV Base because it uses the main image within the text and I have done something similar to this; I have used a record to replace the O in lock. The font that MTV Base uses is bold and outstanding and I have achieved this too by searching for a font that is conveys the word Lock. I have used more colours and so I think that it is more appealing to the audience. I would also compare this to Choice FM because they play the same music, however, I don’t think that their logo is outstanding because it doesn’t reflect the word choice or indicate that is a radio station. 

I used Photoshop to design my logos after planning what I wanted them to look like. Firstly, I found the image that I wanted and opened it onto a blank canvas, then re sized the image so that it was bigger and then I removed the background from the image using the Quick Tool and the Magic Tool. Then I found an image of a chain that I wanted to use, I did the same by importing the image, removing the background with the Quick Tool. I didn’t think that the realistic looking chain and the cartoon fist went well together, and I wanted to make the chain image more cartoon looking, so I used a colour Overlay on the image and made the chain a gold colour. I removed the top parts of the chain off because it didn’t fit onto the fist, so I used the Eraser tool to eliminate the top part. I then moved the image of the chain layer to the top and placed the image above the fist. Again, it didn’t fit, so I resolved this problem by using the text to cover fault. I found an appropriate font from Dafont.com and installed and imported the text to Photoshop. I used the Text Tool, and selected my colour and used a dark pink colour to match well with the dark gold I used because it looks tasteful and stylish. The text was flat and to me looked unprofessional and boring. To prevent this, I used the effect Bevel and Emboss and this gave the text a 3D appearance. I used an Outer Glow around the text and this made the text stand out even more. But the logo still didn’t give the audience an indication that the logo represented a radio station, so I decided to add a record to replace the ‘O’ which I think compliments the text because I changed the inner circle of the record to the same colour of the text using the Eye Dropper Tool.

I would create this design as a PSD. format and then change it into a JPEG. because it is widely supported for digital photography so the quality of the image would be crisp.To improve this I would have added a slogan like ‘Keep it Locked’ but then I don’t think it would fit in well. The image is successful because of the shape, and it looks complete and full. The image can be used successfully on a website, billboard or on a letterhead and I think it is the most memorable out of all of the ‘Ow! Music’ radio stations.