AS1: Task 2: Understanding limitations on idents

What are limitations?

Idents are made to be eye catching, informative and to ensure many aspects of broadcasting go smoothly, such as brand loyalty and scheduelling. However, when creating an ident it is important to consider the limitations on designs, especially when there are many channels for one company. An example of this would be the BBC, who have 4 television channels as well as many radio and online players. Each logo for the BBC is very similar, however contain small differences to be fitted for the content it airs.

The limitations which are soon to be explained are enforced so that the ident remains recognisable, consistent and still loyal to the company. Slight alterations, which are displayed above are present, however not greatly.

Typography

Typography is the style of font and letter art that appear on an ident or logo. Whether it be bold, italics or even comic sans, each different ident for a different channel by the same broadcasting company must have at least a few minor similarities in order to ensure consistency and recognition at a quick glance.

Although the idents above are from two different channels, they're both from BBC. As you can see, the font style shares similarities with the curvy letters, however the difference is seen in the E's. The lettering in the BBC Three logo is more curved and styalised, whereas the BBC Earth logo is more modern and formal in comparison. Despite the minor differences, the logos are obviously very similar, and both have the original BBC logo above the unique title. 

Colour 

The key accent colour, which can apply to the background or the typography, must be the same for a variety of idents played on the same channel. This basically means the overall colour scheme should not vary greatly in order to ensure consistency, recognition and to limit confusion.

The idents above are from BBC One and E4, and both show a clear colour scheme that is consistent in each channel logo. In the BBC ident, there is the discrete yet impacting use of the colour red, whether it be prominent like in the top logo of a garden scene, or more subtle like the ring of red in the bottom logo. No matter how it's used, it's highly likely every BBC One ident you will see ,until BBC One rebrand in the future, will use the colour red in some kind of way. The same with the E4 ident, which contains a vibrant and stand out purple. Although there are differences to the logo themselves, with the top one being animated out of white flowers and the bottom of UV purple lights, both are surrounded by an area vastly covered in purple decor.

These both use specific colours also to create associations. Now the theme has been placed, when asked to think of a colour and it's relation to an ident, there is now a connection. Other examples would be CbeeBies and yellow or Scuzz and grey.

Aspect Ratio

The aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height of an image or screen, according to google. When an ident is played, the aspect ration must remain the same each time as not to jar the audience. All HD idents must be presented the 16.9 widescreen format so that the image doesn't become warped and unrecognisable, as this would ruin the purpose.

Adhering to the desired tone

An ident must keep to the tone of the nature of the channel so that an appropriate audience is attracted and aware of the content. For example, a childrens television ident may be bubbly and bright, whereas a heavy metal channel would be loud and dark in comparison. All ident tones must varie in some way to not only ensure originality, but also so the audience know what to expect.

.This ident is a fan made ident, however it is incredibly similar to an official ident.
.Created by EvIFX.

Even at a first glance, it is clear that these idents have been made for completely different audiences just by presentation of typography and colour. The top ident, which is for metal music channel scuzz, uses harsh and dark colours and bold spiked writing which reflects the aggressive nature of the music and videos that are played there on a daily bases. The one below is an official CBeebies ident which uses vibrant and soft typography so that the young audience is excited and focused on the ident. 

Duration

An ident needs to have a specific duration in order to avoid tedious watching and to ensure scheduling can be stuck to. When an ident is filmed, it usually is around 45 seconds to a minute so that it can be cut down for 10 second idents when needed and extended for the full film when ahead of scheduling. Also, a continuous ident that is slightly longer can be looped and cut for however it is needed. 

Above is the 46 second version of BBC ident 'The dog display'. This long version of the ident shows a clear loop at the end which can be cut and extended for however it is needed, like when an announcement is being made. The super long version is used when scheduling is way ahead or a long announcement is being made that can't be cut.