Blog 2 - Understanding the limitations of the television identBlog

In this task I will be writing a detail post explaining what the limitations of a television ident are and giving examples. Also I will be talking how Typography, Colour, Aspect-ratio, adhering and Duration can be considered a limitation to design of n ident.

Typography

Typography is a technique used to organise type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed to the audience. Typography is one of the key factors needed to make idents. Channel’s use typography on their brand image, which helps them identify them from other channels. For idents they typography is kept the same throughout the different channel the brand owns. For example The BBC channels idents are the same with big and bold font at the end of the idents. Having the same typography throughout the channels keeps the BBC known by the audience and creates less mix ups with other idents. For BBC one idents they all end with a circle with the BBC One brand image. Sometimes the circle is red because red represents the BBC One ident trademark. BBC Two typography is the same as BBC One but it says BBC Two and with the ident it has the number two for their trademark. BBC There and BBC FOUR have the same typography but their colour is different. With having all the same typography it shows how the BBC channels are connected and how they are one brand. Nevertheless, because the typography design is all the same it will eventually make the idents design look boring and the audience will not like. Also have same typography will not allow the channel to stand out for what it is.

Colour

Colour is very important when it comes to designing and creating idents. Colour is the key element that makes the channels standout from each other. Having a specific colour to your channel always you to be recognised by audiences as an individual channel with its own theme, style and programmes. Also the colour of the channel will be the same as the idents they have. For example the channel E4 signature colour is purple and their idents with represent the colour purple. Although channels like BBC ONE, TWO, THREE and FOUR are the same brand but they have their own signature colour to represent their own channels and programmes. It goes the same for CBBC and CBeebies, as they are connected but they have their own channel and own audience. But because it is connected, the channel cannot change too much to stand out, meaning BBC Two changes their layout of text. The idents are the same they cannot change to much as they have represented the channel. So it will get unattractive if channels keep showing the same colour and design of the idents. 

Aspect-ratio

Aspect-ratio is where image is are precise and shaped to fit the screen. So for each channels, the aspect-ratio for the adverts, idents and programmes must be shown in 16:9 widescreen because it must fit the screen size given, which is 16:9 vertically and horizontally without distortion.  This is because having the wrong size for the aspect-ratio, the programmes, adverts and idents will be shown in a different size throughout different TVs. Aspect-ratio is a lower limitation between the typography and colour. The reason for this is because unlike typography and colour, most of the audience have a widescreen TV, which was built for fitting images with size 16:9 onto it. But aspect-ratio is still a limitation because some people of the audience still do not have a widescreen TV or have the right size TV to insulate the channels without distortion, because of this, it will cause some of the audience to continually see the image to be too big on for the screen, so some of its parts will be cut off from the TV.

Adhering

Another important element to take into content when creating an ident for a channel of programme is Adhering, as it is important that the ident is appropriate for the audience to watch.  Adhering is where channels carry out a plan, scheme, or operation to create new content.  An example of this would be the BBC One idents, which were created to inform the audience on what’s going to happen in the next program and to keep the audience engage with the scheduling. BBC One channel and its programmes are aimed at younger family audience, which includes drama, action, mystery, crime, game shows and reality TV. So the Adhering for idents will be based on these and will be created to for appealing to target audience of these shows. For example the BBC One 2007 ident, “Neon”, where it is representing the “Strictly Come Dancing”. Nevertheless, adhering has is a limitation because the designers and creators of the idents of BBC One have to do lots of research on their target audience and the show to create an ident that will appeal to the target audience and does not look or is identical to other channel idents. Also it has to have a different design to keep the audience attracted to it. Adhering to the right tone ensure that the content for the ident or programmes will be suitable for the channel because everything is planned out, so the design, layout, theme and the regulation is tailored to the channels aspect. Also this will reflect TV shows shown on the channel. For example BBC One is a channel with mystery and crime shows, so when the BBC One does an adhering for a new programmes, they would base around their current programmes. For example like the Sherlock Homes programme adhering has been around The Doctor Who series, as they are both, mystery, crime and action. 

Duration

Duration is where channels cut done on time showing to fit everything onto the right time slot, so programmes, idents and adverts will be cut down to fit the time slot. Countless idents have been cut down to specific times to meet the right time slot given to them, so they can keep the audience entertained promote the channel. Channels like BBC One idents have to be cut down to 30 seconds and channels like CBeebies are cut down to around 7-15 seconds. This is because it is very important that idents are not kept too long as they will bore the audience because its gets dull for certain idents. For example the CBeebies channel idents cannot be too long as target audience young children are aged between 1-5, which means that they will start to loss interest of the idents very quickly, so if the idents is around 30 second they would lose interest about 10 seconds.  This is a limitation because the ident, programme or advert has to be correct so it can fit onto the time slot, if it is not then it would cause problems.

Overall it is very important for channels to consider when making idents Typography, Colour, Aspect-ratio, Adhering and Duration as it will benefit them in many ways. Also it will allow the channel to understand what the audience like and dislike.