When starting my re-branding I completed some secondary research on the

company. I researched their net worth, associated companys/programmes and

what work the Animal Planet Corporation do. After this research I found out that
Animal Planet takes part in non-profit organisation and runs its own charity
group. Therefore this influenced the decision to keep the re-branding quite
professional and simple. I then carried out some primary research by creating a
questionnaire. I did this on word and printed out 20. I got people of different age
and gender to complete the survey so that Id get a range of results. I used
questions such as: If you was to change one thing what would it be? and would
you watch Animal Planet based on this logo? I asked these closed questions to
get an accurate and more precise answer on what elements I need to alter to
create a successful rebranding. For example, the majority of people asked said
the logo needed to include images which would then be the first thing I would
need to experiment with. This did help with my final design as even though it
didnt include a picture I used my own image design which then shows Im
successfully rebranding as Im suiting the needs of the audience. The majority of
people that I asked didnt like the existing logo which then made it easier to
rebrand as I
could
almost

completely change the design apart from elements that I think needed keeping
such as using the colour green to represent nature and the type of programme it
is.

Furthermore, I completed a focus group with around 20 people in which I created

a PowerPoint presentation with questions about Animal Planets current design
and their view points. Some of these questions include do you like this design?
and what would you want to change? once again I included open and closed
questions to get a range of answers and qualitative/quantitive data. I think this
was a better option than the questionnaires as it allowed discussion to allow
development of ideas between the participants and myself.
During the process of making my final logo I was given feedback throughout from
peers and my tutor. My tutor gave me pencil sketches of designs to work from
and then develop on the computer using my own designs and developments. I
responded well to feedback accepting different design ideas which then
broadened the range of design styles I have and then I could mix them together
to further develop them. In my focus group I then was told the composition of the
images on my website design needed changing, therefore I took this advice on
board and changed the layout to make them complement each other better.
For my pre-production I made a mood board experimenting with colours, font and
simple designs. I think this was really effective as it allowed me to look at the
different components of a design without them all being layered over each other.
It gave me a rough base idea on where to start with my design process rather
than going in with no idea. Concept designing allowed me to break down
elements and then compare them against one another, this gave me a base idea
to work from which allowed my designs to develop from the original thumb
nailing of images I think are suitable to the brand. Furthermore, this helped with
font as I had already found a few that I thought would work with my design and
therefore, stuck with these than spending time searching for a different font.
Researching into inspirational images such as nature and existing companies
such as national geographic allowed me to get an idea of colours and animals to
incorporate. In addition by doing this before learning new tools on Photoshop it
allowed my design process to develop and show improvement.
I think my skills on Photoshop has developed greatly during this design process, I
had a rough idea of some tools I could use however, the number of tools I was
able to use broadened. The main tools I used and developed my skills on was the
pen tool, which allowed me to create freestyle shapes such as the animals and
earth which definitely allowed me to create designs I wouldnt have been able to
previously. By going into more depth on how to use the burn and dodge tool it
allowed me to develop my design to a more professional standard adding in
shading and depth, specifically on the earth design. This definitely showed a
development in my designs as the simply started off as text. Furthermore, I also
developed my skills which transforming images such as skew, rotation and
flipping etc. This allowed me to create a mirror image in my final design which
people did response to in my focus group saying they liked how the reflection
looked and that it connotates a reflection. A problem that was quite time
consuming was learning how to accurately use the pen tool to not loop back over
or create harsh lines, especially when creating different animals.
I think my final design does a great job of communicating nature but specifically
nature linked with the jungle/Africa etc. One way it communicates this message
is the use of the dark green used for the font colour, this has connotations of
nature but specifically according to people in my focus group connotates a jungle
atmosphere which is more applicable to the shows programmes. Furthermore,
the use of the flipping and reflection in my final completed design signifies water
which people did understand when being shown in my focus group. I think my
design also communicates the modern world involvement of the show by using
the pixilated effect when creating the elephant. By using this digital looking
image it connotates technology and modernism which supports Animal Planets
slogan surprisingly human. My design fits the needs of my original intentions of
changing the design completely and getting rid of the saturations of greens and
the change in font style, kerning and width however, the one thing I didnt
change which was suggested in my original focus group and surveys was the
colour scheme as I think green still needed to be used to connote nature as I
dont think there was another colour suitable for the theme of the show.
The target audience for this corporation isnt very specific as they cater to a
range of age ranges and genders by having a variety of programmes, products
and associated companies. Therefore, despite using green I didnt aim my design
for a younger or older age range or a male or female audience. This allowed me
to have a lot more room with my design and how to experiment however, it was
slightly harder to not make it slightly feminine due to me being female and liking
smoother lines etc. This then makes the logo applicable to the male based
programmes such as fishing and the childish packaging for toys for example.
Therefore I think my design is effective in attracting an audience for all elements
of the company.
To see how effective my final design and accompanying designs are I did another
focus group with around 5 participants to get some generic feedback. I firstly
asked for opinions on the old design and the general feedback consistent from
the last focus group was that the design is very random and messy which made
them not like the design, furthermore they thought there was variation on
colour which was also mentioned in the previous focus group. I then showed
them my new rebranding and got very positive feedback and responses.
Generally, they thought my design was more creative and memorable than the
previous which is what I was hoping for. Im glad it is more memorable as I think
that is the main aim of a logo to be instantly recognisable. Due to me putting a
design on before the fully completed design they did advise me to change the
text however, after looking at the newer design on my business cards/letterhead
they thought it looked a lot more professional and preferred the reflection of the
text as it does connotate nature and wildlife well. Furthermore, they liked the
website design however, some tweaking needed adjusting such as the alignment
and sizes of the images to create a better composition.

I really like my final design and my favourite element is the elephant design. I
think this is because it shows gradient and clear design despite how it has been
created. The overlapping of the different angled shapes creates a very modern
view and shows the interlinking of humans within wildlife and nature which is the
attitude of the company. Aesthetically it draws attention straight away and
creates a fun, different style of design in comparison to the original silhouettes I
designed. This gives the whole design an updated look and style. Creating the
elephant was very technical and time consuming as it was filled with tiny angular
shapes composing a colour gradient whilst still trying to portray the design
making it easy and recognisable whether seeing it from far or close. One thing I
dont like about my design is that it only incorporates one animal, this makes it
very specific to an African/desert themed show despite the fact that Animal
Planet has shows filmed in the Antarctic, Jungles and other extreme
environments. Therefore, I would have maybe preferred to create variations on
the design for different shows however I didnt have enough time to do this and
the layout of the design became compromised when trying to fit in the shape of
different animals. Furthermore, I would like to change the text as the smaller text
planet doesnt properly align with the stems in the above larger word animal,
this is similar to the original design in which the alignment of the text wasnt
properly aligned and compromised the composition of the elements, to make it
seem more professional and appealing I would change this possibly to a different
font.
The above pictures show Animal Planets past logo, Animal Planets new logo and
then my rebranding of Animal Planet. I then Animal Planets original rebranding
wasnt very successful at all with getting criticism from the media and viewers
saying it is unnatural. Their rebranding completely ignored the literal choice of
the animal and planet but decided to go with no images at all which makes it
become more dull and boring. The alignment of the text from the first logo to the
second became misplaced and doesnt look professional or consistent. I think my
rebranding shows a more successful design as it made the logo more interesting
by using an image. By using an image I think it portrays the show so that even if
a consumer didnt see the text they would still know what brand the image
belongs to. Like stated earlier the alignment of my text isnt accurate but looks
better than their rebranding and the use of a darker text appeals to a wider
audience of younger and older viewers rather than the youthful bright green.
 Which Design Do You Prefer?
14

12

10

0
Rebranded Logo Current Logo

What would you change about the letterhead design?

7

0
Colour Layout Images None

The above graphs show some results from my Survey Monkey results.
Generally, apart from 1 respondent everyone preferred my rebranded
design to Animal Planets current logo which shows that my new design
was a success. In general, a trend that people preferred the
incorporation of the elephant and how the design portrayed the
companys purpose better than the old design. Majority of responses
said they think the business cards are simple but effective yet some
said they was a bit too bland therefore, if I was to recreate them I
would make them brighter and more eye-catching. Moreover, only two
respondents didnt like the letterhead design which shows that this
style of design may be better than that used on the business cards, to
improve this people suggested to make the colours lighter and make
the writing more legiable To gain further information on what bits I
could incorporate from this in my business cards I wanted to find out
which bit not to incorporate as shown in the graph above, majority
wanted the layout changing which could have been because it is quite
confusing and not structured in alignment. Despite these results all the
respondents thought I was successful in my rebranding which shows
that I was able to capture a better design whether that be in the logo,
business card or letterhead.