Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

Buzz Logo Evaluation

What genre did you think the name represented? Why? I think Buzz represents house and drum and base music genre. The station would broadcast the latest house and drum and base releases. This would include music from famous artists like Chase and Status, Skrillex and Nero. I think the name Buzz represents this genre well the house and drum and base genre is commonly made up of music from electronic production artists; the word buzz links to electricity. Not only this, the word Buzz creates an exciting, electric feel which I think suits the radio station and the genre I have chosen well. The Buzz radio station would play music aimed at older teenagers and young adults as they enjoy going to parties, clubs and raves. The house and drum and base genre of music is always played at a rave and most of time at clubs and at parties, this is why I though this genre of music would suit the audience. Who did you think the audience is? Why? The target audience is 16-30 year olds, particularly people who enjoy listening to electronic, drum and base music. This age range of the target audience is quite large however these are the ages in which people enjoy going out to clubs and raves. Also, the people of this age will travel to school, college, university or work and would therefore be more likely to listen to Buzz radio on their way there and back. Furthermore, these people would like to listen to music they enjoy in order to pass time or distract themselves from their busy schedules. How did you aim to appeal to that audience? I wanted my target audience to be reminded of raves and night clubs when they saw the Buzz logo. I used the stunning green colour to attract the young persons attention; I used a deep purple to avoid an overpowering colour scheme. I designed the logo in order for it to look thrilling, vibrant and diverse. I think this would appeal to my target audience as they would look forward to a wild night out after a busy week at work. Who did you think would be the stations' competitors? Why? I think the main competitor for Buzz would be BassDrive on a constant basis. BassDrive is a radio station that plays drum and base, house and electronically produced tracks from current and largely popular artists. I think BassDrive would be Buzzs main competitor as it is a worldwide radio station aimed at anyone with a likeness for the genre. My station would stand out as it would play music from the genres hottest and most popular artists with all their latest releases.

Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

What 'look' did you want to create? Why? I wanted to create a thrilling, youthful look for my logo, showing my target audience that the radio station plays the latest and hottest releases from the drum and base and house genres of music. I think this would appeal to my target audience as 16-30 year olds look forward to electric, wild nights out, enjoying the music and raving to it. I tried to avoid making the radio station appeal to either gender specifically, however the genre is a male dominated genre and young men seem to enjoy the genres more than women. Whilst designing the Buzz logo, I could imagine young men having Buzz radio playing very loudly out of their car speakers as they made the journey to a friends house for a boys night in with and a football or rugby match on TV. How did you create that look? Use technical terminology I started by drawing a square using the rectangle shape tool in Photoshop. I held down the shift button to create a perfect square as this button keeps the shape proportionate whilst it is being drawn. I then rotated the square by 90 in order to have a diamond shape as the background of my Buzz logo design and coloured the square in a bright and shocking green with the paint bucket tool.

After this, I began to use the shape tool on Photoshop to create proportional squares and rectangles to form the start of the B, U and Z characters. I used the pen tool to draw a triangle which I used to create the indents in the B and Z characters. I duplicated the triangle to ensure they were all the same size and avoid having to resize each indent on each character; I also rotated the indents for the Z characters. I duplicated the first Z character to create the second to ensure they were the same size and identical to each other.

Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

To create the U character, it was a considerable amount simpler than the other characters. I used the rectangle shape tool to draw a proportionate square. I then used the custom shape tool to draw a triangle; I rotate the triangle by 180 so that it looked as if it was facing downwards. I moved the triangle to sit on the bottom edge of the square. This character was easy to create and I thought it looked really effective alongside the other, finished characters. Once I had finished creating all the different shapes, indents, kept the proportions the same, aligned all the characters and altered the sizes if needed, I coloured all the characters a deep purple colour. This was my finished design.

What did you think was the most successful part of your logo? I am very pleased with the font I created for my Buzz logo. I think it is a strong and edgy design; I also think it gives off a powerful feeling. This is how I wanted my audience to feel when they saw the Buzz logo; people of the target audiences age tend to feel empowered by music and really enjoy it, I wanted my logo to make the listeners feel thrilled and excited. I had to be very patient and precise to create the font for my logo; I created the whole logo out of shapes and therefore had to find correct sizes and proportions for each shape in order for the logo to look professionally made. I experimented slightly with the different characters for example the U in the logo was altered slightly as I had been given feedback that the character was not clear; as a result of this I added a small triangular indent in the centre at the top of the character in an attempt to make it a clearer U. Once I had done this I did not like the design did not think the design flowed. I removed the indent and kept the design as it was before. While creating my Buzz logo I also considered the colour scheme in depth; I had to decide, due to my target audience consisting of both genders, which colour to use without creating implications that the radio station is aimed at or favours either gender. However, after researching the genre of music and asking peers whether or not they enjoyed listening to it, I found it was a rather male dominated genre and therefore picked a stereotypically male, green colour. To even out my choice, I chose a purple colour for the characters, in an attempt to make the logo look slightly more feminine. I decided to go with a shocking green as it was bright and eye catching. The green and purple colour scheme added to the powerful feel I wanted to portray through the logo; this is because a popular
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Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

Marvel Comics character, The Hulk, was an unbelievably strong man that turned green and wore ripped purple shorts. This added to the male target audience as they would recognise these colours and think of the strong and powerful Hulk. I chose a deep purple to tone down the logo slightly as the shocking green colour was a bit overwhelming to look at and I did not want the target audience to be put off by the vibrant logo. I was pleased with my colour choice and the creation of the logo font as I feel it added to the strength and powerful feeling I aimed to achieve. Did your audience think it suited the genre? I thought my logo suited my target audience as the logo looked like it could be made out of neon, fluorescent lights, maybe as a night club sign. This would appeal people aged between 16 and 30 as they are of the age which you would be looking forward to going clubbing or actually going out with your friends to the clubs or raves on a Saturday night. When I asked my target audience for feedback on my logo they found it slightly difficult to recognise which genre of music the radio station would play. However, they noticed it was aimed at females but mostly males. The feedback stated that they really liked the font as it was something they had not seen before. They also said they liked the colour scheme as it was noticeable but not intense. Overall, they said it was a very well designed logo but I needed to make the genre of music clearer to the audience. What skills have you developed most when creating this logo? The skills I have developed most whilst creating this logo is my Photoshop skills. I chose to create my entire logo out of shapes and therefore had to become accustomed to the custom shape tool, to the pen tool which I used to create the outline of new shapes and save as a custom shape; also the layers and how to create a new layer to draw a new shape. Furthermore, learning how to arrange the layers for the shapes to show in different ways and adding different effects. Also, I have learned to be patient with things that are not going quite to plan; for example if one shape does not fit exactly with another and I have to alter sizes and proportions for more than one character. I have also developed the skill of developing my own ideas with feedback given to me by others; this has allowed me to improve my logo and design it to its full potential. How does your work compare to other, similar logos? My logo compares only to the other logos in the family of logos I designed for Ow Music! The other logos I have designed, VIP and Mixx, have also been created using only shapes and colours, unlike any other logos. BassDrive, Buzz radio stations main competitor, has a sharp, boxy logo surrounded by small outlined boxes; this is very different to my Buzz logo as they colour scheme is very different and the look of the logo is also very different. My Buzz logo would stand out as it looks different and unique.
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Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

What could you still do to make your work even better? Why? I think I could look into changing the colour scheme of my Buzz logo design. If I did change the colours I would change the colours to a dark and pale blue. I would have the background diamond shape coloured dark blue and the characters the pale blue. I think this would still appeal to both males and females as the blue would be manly however the softer, pale blue would appeal to women. I think this would make my design look electrified; however Buzz radio stations main co mpetitor, BassDrive, uses dark and pale blue in its logo, making the logos too similar. Also, changing the colour scheme would remove the strength from the resemblance to Marvel Comics The Hulk.