1. Stefan Constantinou
Task 2
Limitations of television ident
Typography
The ident has to use graphics and text to communicate a much deeper meaning in a
simplistic manor. This is a limitation because the designers have to display who the
company is aiming their channel toward and maintaining the audience through imagery.
The ident can only be displayed on screen for less than 20 seconds, which makes it
challenging for the company to show the ident how they wish. Translating graphics and
text to the television screen is also difficult. Not all fonts will be displayed correctly
causing typography to appear broken up or pixilated.
Colour
Colours are used to identify a company’s ident or channel through the colour being
unique. It is very important to ensure that the logo is visible for the colour blind or
impaired sighted. This is also an issue for particular colours which when displayed onto
television appear discoloured. For example, bright reds are prone to noise so should be
evaded in the design. Designers will have to test idents and make appropriate changes,
which may change the whole design on the ident.
Aspect Ratio
The screen aspect ratio has an effect on the overall design, as the designer will be
producing the ident for a specific shape. This restricts the design itself as the typical
aspect ratio of 4:3, creates a rectangular shape meaning that the design will also have to
be rectangular and landscape. The aspect ratio can also be effective through idents in a
different way. Although they are usually designed for a 4:3 ratio, not everyone will be
viewing television in this format. For example, there will be people watching television
on their computers or on a wide screen or HD television, which will use a 16:9 ratio.
This means that the design will translate differently onto these forms stretching the
ident outwards or squashing it inwards and altering the look of the design. Also, this
means that the ident may not actually be able to be shown in some cases.
Adhering to a desired tone
The ident for each individual channel has to correspond with the channel’s genre or
style. For example, BBC Two has a formal ident for the shows it provides such as
documentaries. However, BBC Three has a comical animated ident to reflect on its
humorous shows such as Family Guy or American Dad. The right tone has to be set for
the different target audiences. It’s an important goal because the tone has to be suitable
for the intended audience. For example, BBC Three’s ident gives a bright and lively tone
showing that it’s more targeted to teenagers. It uses a mixture of bright lights, purple
and bluish vibrant colours, fast and exciting music, movement, done with animated
scenery and characters. The tone is created from the artistic taste of the ident such as:
the movement, colour, sound, etc.
Duration
The time length of the idents for BBC News is different, some being as short as 5 seconds
and others as long as 25 seconds but all still manage to express the same look and feel of
the channel. The adverts also tend to be longer when the channel is introducing shows
that will be on later on that day or week.

2. Stefan Constantinou
Task 2
Positive Limitations
Duration
Length of advert introducing shows later on the same day, this is beneficial as it gives
the audience an insight to the shows they are going to show and it prolongs the visuals
of the ident.
Typography
There are many positive aspects to typography such as the cross-platform compatibility,
variety of characters in a single font file and unique typographical features. As
mentioned before typography is extremely important to clearly state information, to
communicate amongst one another or to create an attraction to the viewers.
Colour
Although there are colours that have been allocated to channels, for example, a
distinctive pink is used for BBC Three so it is unusable by any other channel, the
remaining colours to choose from for your ident is still a massive selection.
Size
Having limited space to display your ident on a screen is a debatable limitation.
However, using the space and size to your advantage, you can create an ident displayed
for a short amount of time and position everything so it is visible and clear to the
audience. For example, a channel may place the ident, the channels on next and a
interesting activity in the background in one ident and this will all be sizably fit to be on
TV.