CIT College Radio - Pictogram/Logo Planning and Completion

Pictogram

In my creative journal, I sketched out a few ideas for the radio pictogram. Here's a photo of what I have done:

My favourite one so far is probably the the one with microphone. It's based off the device in the picture below that are used in radio station booths. The "on (the) air" is also on my moodboard so it links quite nicely to that as well as tying to the radio booth theme.

However, it doesn't exactly convey what I expressed in my moodboard. The adjectives I chose at first were "ENTERTAINING" and "PRACTICAL", which did slightly change throughout the process of making the moodboard. Instead of "practical", I think "EXCITING" suits what I am trying to express better. The images I sketched in my creative journal didn't match my adjectives and they weren't exactly what I was looking for.

So I decided to sketch more things associated with radio. One that really stuck with me is a radio tower idea:

 I sketched the idea in my layout pad and here are some images of what I did:

I love the waves around the top of the radio tower as they bring a lot of life to the image. 

I really like both the 2D and 3D images so I'm not quite sure which I'll use yet in the finished pictogram. 

I couldn't decide which radio tower I liked more so I started on the type to see which version of the radio tower incorporated into the complete logo better.

Type

I decided to modify the Helvetica font that as in my moodboard as I felt it wasn't exciting enough for the radio station logo. I began my research by thinking of type ideas that are easy to read, eye-catching and exciting.

Neon is the first thing that came to mind - most likely influenced by the "on air" sign idea above.

I began drawing the pictogram along with the neon sign

 I also began looking up ideas of neon signs to improve the quick sketches I made. 

Here are two examples I found:

Although they look good, it's near impossible to incorporate neon into a logo without it looking too gaudy.

I decided to scrap the neon idea and start again with the type. I began researching fonts further and the came across this font which immediately caught my eye:

It is both fun but professional at the same time, perfect for a college! It is also the type of font that is associated with college a lot. 

I sketched it out to see what it looked like:

It seemed a bit bland so I added an outline which defitnely spruces it up a bit and makes the font fit in well with my adjectives "exciting" and "entertaining".

I wasn't completely happy with the layout of my font before with the words at the side so I tried out different versions:

But as you can see with the crosses and tick, the one I liked the most was the last one with the words circling the top of the radio tower. The placement made it more eye-catching and it takes up less space horizontally. 

Pictogram Continued

With the font I choose, I decided that the 2D pictogram with the explosion design on top tied in best. The sun rays would just obstruct the font and it would look strange. 

I really like the look of the explosion as it fits with my adjectives choice very well. I also decided to add in more detail to the explosion and radio tower, which I would be colouring in Illustrator.

Colour Palette 

I've decided to stick with the red, blue, white theme that was in my moodboard. I feel they are the best colours to represent CIT, which also being eye-catching and entertaining.

Result

These are the 3 pages I used for my rough work in order. The close ups of these are shown above and below.

I decided to combine everything together and see how the logo looked. This is the final sketch result of both the "CIT RADIO" and "CITRADIO.ie" logos:

I am very happy with what I came up with as they scream both "exciting" and "entertaining", while also looking educational, thanks to the font choice!

This is the final look after scanning and vectorising them in Illustrator:

I added some more support beams to make the radio tower look less empty and relied heavily on the moodboard colours of blue (#29339C), red (#CE0019, middle circle = #FF0000) and white (#FFFFFF) colour scheme to represent CIT. I figured the maroon-red in the CIT logo wasn't energetic enough for the logo so I went with brighter colours.

The font is called "Princetown LET" from fontpalace.com

And those are the finished logos! :)

Creative Scrapbook

I realised I never uploaded images of the front and first page of my scrapbook so here you go! 

I actually designed it when I was about 13 but never used it before! Instead of making a new one, I want to continue the legacy and please my 13 year old self by using this one. 

My designing skills were clearly not the best then but I kind of like the look of the random wrapping paper on the cover page!

It's not too exciting at the moment but it already has the research for my college radio moodboard and hopefully much more in the future!

CIT College Radio - Moodboard Complete!

20 thousand paper and card scraps later, here is the finished product of the moodboard!
Click it to see a better view... :)

As I said in my previous post, I centered everything around the logo that I made. I based most segments on the research that I had collected. I came up with the sports segment myself however.

I made sure that every section had blue, white, and red in them as they were the colour scheme I had picked that represent CIT and its main colour scheme. It also has other colours on the segments on the left, bottom right and on the logo that add more variety and makes the moodboard more exciting aesthetically. 

The layout itself, with the pictures all around the logo (that I made using Pages), signifies the excitement and energetic atmosphere I hope the radio station will bring to CIT. 

The two adjectives I chose are "ENTERTAINING" and "PRACTICAL". However I believe they did slightly change throughout the process of making the moodboard. Instead of "practical", I think "EXCITING" suits what I am trying to express.

Segments

The picture on the top right represents the music that many students want to hear from the CIT radio station. 

Below that is the "events announcements" segment. I believe it's a great idea for the station to advertise various events around the city. The pubs and clubs holding the events could even sponsor the station for advertising them. 

Then the segment below that represents a "special offers" segment which could be held on the station from time to time. I cut out the text "SUPER BARGAINS" from a magazine.

To the left of the "special offers" is the sports segment. Since sports is a huge factor at CIT, it's a good idea to take advantage of the station for keeping students and staff up to date with live results,

To the left again is the competition segment. Games such as brain teasers and mystery voice would be a great idea for the station. The font for the "WIN WIN WIN" is Helvetica.

Above the competition segment is "Society Hour" In my research I found freshmen aren't too sure of what each society entails so they think it's a good idea for society leaders to have their own segment on the radio. The leaders can speak about what they really do in their respective society so younger students can become more familiar with each one. I got the text from cutting out letters from magazines.

Above that is a picture of college graduates throwing up their caps into the air. I like this picture as it's what everyone sees themselves doing at the end of their college course. Plus it goes well with the name "veloCITy"... We're all going our own direction once we graduate!

To the right is a red "On Air" sign that you would find in a radio station.

And last but certainly not least, is the "local talent" segment. According to my research, people wanted to hear local talent as well as mainstream music. What better way to promote young singers and musicians than let them sing and play for eager ears in CIT! Once again, I got the letters by cutting from a magazine and the background is a newspaper article also cut up. One word I intentionally left uncovered by any letters... "talent"! 

Hope you like it :) 

It was a lot of fun to do!

CIT College Radio - Moodboard Planning

Research

I asked some people at CIT what the wanted from the college radio and I wrote down in my creative journal what they said... 

I also looked at the UCC radio station so I could get more ideas as to what shows they put on the air. This definitely gives me a lot more design ideas for the moodboard to incorporate different shows that can be put on air...

A quick "College Radio" mindmap I drew up to put my ideas together...

A layout plan of what I want my moodboard to look like... this may be subject to change!

The name and logo idea for the radio station...

"veloCITy"

"... the speed of something in a given direction. "

Each CIT student is going their own direction at their own pace. We range from different ages and ethnicities and we all want something unique from the courses we have chosen. 

Not only is the name a good summary of each student here at CIT, it's also catchy, edgy and rolls right off the tongue!

Brand Value Adjectives 

Entertaining

Practical

Colour Scheme

For my moodboard, I want to use a red, blue and white palette as they are colours that compliment each other very nicely and they are the colours that are used to represent CIT most often in logos and on the website.

I got the blue and white by looking for a triad colour scheme to go with red. I lightened a green colour and got white, which I believe suits the purpose more...

Update

I have in fact decided to change my layout for the moodboard.

 I have decided to put the logo in the middle with the pictures, text etc around it like rays of sunshine! Here is what I want my layout to look like now...

I want the moodboard to have a lot going on as I believe it will express the excitement and appeal of the radio station in the future.

Finished Logo!

I got the background and the white arrow from the internet then added the text myself using Pages. I decided I wanted a small arrow instead of the one I planned above as it fits better.

I cut out red and blue border from last year's CIT course prospectus! I really liked them as they fit the colour scheme and they incorporate nice graphics. 

(Please go to next post to see finished moodboard!)