Idents are small advertisements that market a channel. They have both opportunities and limitations. Some
opportunities idents have are to create a corporate identity and a tone for the channel which can offer an insight of the channels personality to the audience. It also has other opportunities such as them being easily able to display text based information, allows you to brand the channel and appeal to their target audience through the ident. Also the ident encourages brand loyalty.
However the idents have some limitations that must be thought about when designing. Limitations such as the typography which is the font used. It has to be effective and easy to read. The resolution is also limit as the quality has to be a high quality for the wide range of TV's that it may be watched on across the country. The colour is another limitation, as well as the idents aspect ratio.
These opportunities and limitations mean that some idents can be successful or unsuccessful. One example of this is UKTV's Gold's idents from 2004 and 2012. The ident from 2004 is an example of a unsuccessful ident. The ident is very boring due to the fact that it is a visual image of a sink and water running. From this, it is very difficult for the audience to understand what the channels identity or personality is like. Therefore the ident lacks its interaction with its viewers because of the lack of communication with the viewers. We see and hear no information on things such as programming. The advert is neither entertainment or information based so we learn little about the channel which makes it unsuccessful as it has to has a low level of density of information. The boring image of a sink running gives us no real indication to who the channels target audience are. The slow tempo also makes it unappealing as their is nothing to attract the viewer and the slow tempo gives a mundane feeling to the ident. Furthermore the unbalanced composition of the ident adds to making it unsuccessful, for example the logo of the channel is shown to the left of the screen leaving a lot of space on the screen. This makes the logo seem less important compared to if it was placed in the centre as it would be the centre of attention.
The 2012 ident from UKTV Gold is much more successful due to many factors. Instantly the ident interacts with the viewers as it communicates the message that the identity of the channel is to host comedy programs due to the quote featured in the ident numerous amount of times saying "stick something funny on". The ident shows a lot of bright colours making it visually entertaining. Also the soundtrack adds a faster tempo to it and it sounds funny which adds to the channels personality. Also the ident is much more successful as it gives a high level of density of information as it gives us details on the channels programming. The composition is balanced as we are shown the logo at the end of the ident, this works very well as the logo appears from an explosion and the last thing to stay in the audiences mind will be the logo. This ident is much more successful as it gives the audience a much better insight into the channels personality and appeals to its target audience.
Another example of successful and unsuccessful idents can be seen in the Channel 4's ident from 2002 and the the ident from 2009. First of all the ident from 2002 is unsuccessful as it consists off water rippling from one side of the screen to another which again makes it lacks entertainment for the viewer. The ident also consists of two colours just blue and white which doesn't make the ident appealing. The resolution also limits the ident as the picture on the screen is not as clear and crisp as the 2009 ident. The composition of the ident is unbalanced as we see the logo to the right of the screen. Also the logo is blurred slightly from the rippling water over the top which makes the typography difficult to read as the text is not displayed very well such as the website link. Also the narrow amount of action shown in the ident gives no insight into channel 4's channel identity and personality. The ident also makes it difficult to determine who the target audience of the channel is
The ident from 2009 is a successful ident. The ident shows a first person view of a ride on a roller coaster. This shows that the ident is entertaining and interacts with viewers as it gives information to its audience about the upcoming program. Also we can determine the channels target audience as a roller coaster can represent young and exciting, lively people and can suggest that channel 4's personality is amusing and full of adventure represented by the roller coaster ride. The channel 4 logo is also displayed in a adventurous way by using the surrounding objects to create the "4" logo which allows the ident to brand the channel.
Another example of successful and unsuccessful idents are idents from Challenge, one featuring in 2013 and the other showing on the channel in 2011. The ident from 2013 is a lot more successful than the ident from Challenge in 2011. This is because the 2013 ident interacts with the viewers very well and represents Challenge as a channel. First of all the ident is well composed as features a large clear font presenting the channel name towards the end of the ident to leave the idea of the channel in the viewers head. The density of information is high in this ident telling as that "Total Wipeout" will be featuring on the channel. Also the information is portrayed through the action on the screen, as one of the animated characters bounces along the pillows in the background which relates to the information being given on 'Total wipeout' as they represent the red balls from the TV program. It also appeals to the target audience well and represents the brands identity and personality; For example the animated people show that its target audience is a mass audience as it doesn't feature any humans of a certain type. Also the audience can relate to the 3 animated characters as they show facial features similar to the audiences when watching shows on Challenge and this will appeal to the audience as they could relate to this when they watch the game shows shown on the challenge channel. Also Challenge is full of entertaining game shows such as Takeshi's castle, Catch phrase, Total wipeout etc. this element of fun in their channels personality can be conveyed by the colour of the animation and the informal interaction.
However the ident from 2011 is not so successful. The ident struggles to show the channels identity and doesn't show that it appeals to a target audience. The ident is very simple as it shows just a tree in a field with a balloon floating by, which later explodes into the challenge ident which is nice for this ident. Despite this, the simple image of a tree does not tend to appeal to the fun loving target audience challenge would usually appeal to. Also the fact that Challenge hosts an array of exciting, joyful TV programs and that this ident has so little entertainment shows how this ident struggles to represent brand loyalty and the identity of the channel. Also the colours do not look so crisp and striking in this ident, for example the sky is a very pal blue. Usually the colours of an ident will be very strong which makes the ident look better as it looks cleaner and more interesting, where as the colours her look very dull and lack high definition colour.
For an ident to be successful it must create a feeling that will relate to the channel and the ident must use design features in certain ways to create a successful ident depending on who their target audience are and by using these design features successfully to relate to channels personality and identity. The ident should also interact with the viewers not just visually but verbally to such as giving them information about programming as this introduces the audience and usually the narrator will add a comment such as a joke if the channel is about to show a comical program, which would interact with the viewer as they would understand as they watch that program. The ident also needs to have strong, crisp colours which look better an give the ident a cleaner and more attractive look to it which is much more appealing than a boring ident with dull colours.
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