These are the final logo designs I produced for the channel. I tried to make the logos syfy themed, so that fans of the channel would feel that the identity of the channel was remaining the same and that their interests were being kept at the forefront of the design choices, however I avoided typical syfy genre cliches in the design. I also paired the logo with a pattern which became a part of the house style for the channel rebrand. The black and white static effect you can see on the logo designs just above is something called a Turing pattern. These Turing patterns are seen throughout nature and are formed due to chemical reactions within cells by chemicals called inhibitors and reactors. This reaction is the reason why cheetahs have spots, zebras have stripes and is even the reason why sand ripples and dunes form in deserts. I thought this was a brilliant way to show the influence of science on the content on the channel, with the branding being based in reality, but looking other worldly, this really reflected the look and feel of the whole channel in general, and the direction they wanted to go in. The pattern was also a way to celebrate Alan Turing, famous for cracking the enigma code in WWII, but also a brilliant scientist, who is a great role model for people to learn about and who should be recognised as the kind of thinker syfy wants to promote.
This is a small logo animation showcasing how I would have the logo resolve when on screen.
This is a mockup of how I would have lower frame tune ins look on the channel. The design breaks up information into 3 key sections, the channel logo on the far left, which the rest of the design is drawn from when in motion, the central information box containing the name of the show and other information the channel may want to include (possibly an exclusive show or an original for the channel), and finally the small box on the far right, which appears last and features the time that the programme in description is showing. This separation of the key information and the fact that they all appear in motion will help to draw the audience's eye to the key information, but assuring that they look at every section in turn. Please see the video above for a reference as to how this would be animated.
Finally for on air designs I produced an example of how an end board may appear before or after a show, advertising other content on the channel. I used the Turing pattern more subtly in this design, creating a displacement map from the black and white image and adding it to the background of a promo photograph after the featured actors had been split from the background. This allowed me to keep the look and feel of my rebranded syfy channel and also allowed me to animate the end screen by adding some opposing horizontal motion between the actors in the foreground and the overlaid text. Please see the video above for reference as to how this would be animated on screen.
The images above are examples of my creative process at the beginning of the brief. I went through a long design phase to really create a logo that was fit for purpose, followed the brief and retained the feel of the genre.
Finally these are some mockups I created to accompany the on air material, to showcase how the logo and house style could be used for merchandise and off air advertising. These are just some of the examples of how my designs could be used and I think the flexible nature of both the Turing pattern and the logo itself means that lots of promotional material and merchandise can be easily created from the designs.
