Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

VIP Logo Evaluation

What genre did you think the name represented? Why? I think VIP represents the music played in the 1980s. The station would broadcast the most popular music listened to in the 1980s at the discos and clubs; this would include old number one hits and lots of other songs that were in the charts at the time. I think the name VIP represents this genre as the 80s was the party decade, many people visited night clubs and discos and began to treasure nightlife. In the top clubs in the 80s, there would be VIP rooms; these were available to people willing to pay a much higher entrance fee into the club. People that used the VIP lounges were given access to a private room, waiters to serve them champagne and other luxuries the other visitors were unable to take advantage of. I think VIP represents the genre well because the name will remind listeners of their experiences in night clubs and the VIP rooms is strongly connected to the 1980s decade. Who did you think the audience is? Why? The target audience for VIP is adults aged between 30 and 50, people who went out and experiences the night club and discos in the 80s in particular. The target audience is neither limited to males or females, VIP radio station is aimed at anyone who enjoys listening to music produced in the 1980s. I think this is a suitable target audience as people within this age range will have first-hand experience of the club and disco scene and the enormity of the music at the time. How did you aim to appeal to that audience? I wanted my target audience to be reminded of their experiences at the clubs and discos when they see the logo. I also wanted the logo to look expensive and professional; this was because I wanted the logo to imply that it was the VIP lounge to the best night club in town. To do this, I picked a black and gold colour scheme; this was to introduce the idea that VIP was expensive and professional. The black and gold colour scheme is intended to appeal to males and females so as to avoid one gender feeling as if it is not something they would like to listen to. I designed the logo in order for it to look fun, energetic and up for a good time. I think this would appeal to my target audience as they would desire a fun and exciting night out after a long and busy week at work. Who did you think would be the stations' competitors? Why? I think the main competitor for VIP would be Absolute Radio 80s. This radio station claims to be the UKs only 80s music station and is very popular among adults aged between 40 and 60. Absolute 80s plays all the hits, anthems and classics from the decade, very similar to what VIP would play. My station would stand out as the
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Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

vibrant logo would attract the attention of the listeners and singularly focus on the 1980s music; this is unlike Absolute Radio as they have a family of stations which focus on other decades. VIP listeners would be assured that the station is interested in only 80s music. What 'look' did you want to create? Why? I wanted to create a timeless look to my logo, showing my target audience that the radio station plays the best, most popular and classic anthems and songs. I think this would appeal to my target audience as 30-50 year olds will have plenty of memories of the night clubs and discos they enjoyed when they were younger. I wanted the VIP logo to look classy, yet exciting; I wanted the logo to remind the female listeners of their little black dress and gold jewellery and the male viewers of their black shirt and gold cufflinks. The target audience are of an age at which they will have jobs, bills, maybe families they need to support; I wanted to logo and station to help them relax and enjoy the music of their younger years. While designing the logo I could picture a group of ladies sitting at a dining table with glasses of wine in their hands chatting and laughing as they have their monthly catch-up with VIP playing in the background with the ladies occasionally breaking into song. I could also picture a man in his car, accompanied by his wife and children, listening to VIP and as the next song began to play saying, I remember this one! and singing along with his wife. How did you create that look? Use technical terminology I started by selecting the pen tool in Photoshop and drawing three points on the canvas, creating a triangle shape, and saving this as a custom shape. I then used the custom shape tool to draw the triangle onto the canvas; I held down the shift button in order to keep the proportions the same whilst drawing the triangle, resulting in a perfect triangle. I coloured the triangle in black to form the background for the VIP logo.

After this, I began to use the shape tool on Photoshop to create proportional squares and rectangles to form the start of the I P characters. I used the custom shape tool again to draw more triangles to create the V and P characters also.

Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

To create the V character I used the custom shape to draw a triangle. I rotated the triangle by 180 to make the triangle look as if it was pointing downwards. This was the easiest character to create as it consisted of only a single triangle. To create the I character, it was slightly more complicated than creating the V character. I used the rectangle shape tool to draw a rectangle. I then used the custom shape tool to draw a triangle to sit on the top edge of the rectangle. This character was easy to create and I thought it looked really effective alongside the other, finished characters. To create the P character, it was, again, slightly more complicated than creating the V and I characters. I used the rectangle shape tool to draw a rectangle and then used the custom shape tool to draw a triangle. This triangle was to sit on the right hand edge of the rectangle. After this, I selected the ruler tool to draw a straight line along the edge of the background triangle and the top right-hand corner of the P characters rectangle. Once I had drawn the straight line I removed the parts of the shape that had formed outside the background. I repeated this action with the bottom right-hand corner or the P characters rectangle so that the characters fit exactly into the background triangle. Once I had finished creating all the different shapes, kept the proportions the same, aligned all the characters, altered the sizes if needed and linked all the layers together. I coloured the characters of the logo a yellow/gold colour; it was very difficult to find a gold colour on the computer however I think the colour I picked represented the look I was aiming for well.

What did you think was the most successful part of your logo? I am very pleased with the font I created for my VIP logo. I think it gives a strong, powerful feeling to the logo and station. This is how I wanted my audience to feel when they saw the VIP logo; people of the target audiences age will have strong memories of their younger years in the night clubs and discos, I wanted the logo to spark a memory for the listeners. 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. While creating my VIP 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. I decided gold as it was bright, attention grabbing, fun and
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Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

expensive. The black and gold colour scheme added to the powerful feel I wanted to portray through the logo; with the dark black colour as the background, it made the gold characters nicer to look at and avoided making the logo overpowering to the eyes. I think the colours go well together however the classic combination implied the radio plays classic songs and anthems for everyone to enjoy. I am 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 professional and expensive and suited the genre very well. When I asked my target audience for feedback on my logo they found it very easy to recognise which genre of music the radio station would play and also noticed it was aimed at both males and females. 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 and they liked it a lot. 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, 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. 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, Buzz and Mixx, have also been created using only shapes and colours, unlike any other logo. Absolute Radio 80s, VIP radio stations competitor, has a soft, rounded logo with fast-forward symbol. This has very little similarity to my VIP radio station logo; the only similarity is the black background in my VIP logo and the black characters in Absolute Radio 80s logo. Moreover, the colours used in Absolute Radio 80s logo do not have the same colour scheme or any feature resembles my VIP logo.

Nicole Pieper

BTEC Media Studies

December 2013

What could you still do to make your work even better? Why? I think I could put a texture on the characters of my VIP logo design. I think this would enhance the idea that the characters are gold and not a computerised colour. I think this would make the design a bit more interesting and lively, maybe adding a shine or colour overlay would help me achieve this. I would have to be careful in adding a texture or colour overlay to the design as I would have to decide on the intensity of the texture or overlay, whether it be soft or strong, spread out or condensed; I would have to try a few different things on Photoshop before I could be sure whether or not this would make my design better.