A broadcast designer is a person involved with creating

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

s and

electronic media Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which today are most often created digitally, but do not require ele ...

incorporated in

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

s that are used by

character generator A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text (such as news crawls and credits rolls) for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and they can ...

(CG) operators. A broadcast designer may have a degree in

digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

(or a similar degree), or is self-taught in the

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

needed to create such content. CG stands for computer graphics, most broadcast designers studied either graphic design or visual communicationthis term is used for those designing motion graphics also for film, industrials, commercials, and the web. Broadcast designers take part in their field in creating visual content that combines creativity and technology. Broadcast design is the creation and combination of visual elements in a television production or television shows. These elements can include news graphics, channel logos,

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

, and more. Broadcast designers not only have to be creative with visuals and

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

, but also have to have an understanding of storytelling and the technology behind it. With this being said, they need to have the ability to create eye-catching visuals while also sending a message. All of these elements play a role in shaping what TV broadcasts, entertainment shows, and multimedia platforms look today. A large portion of broadcast design is known as "

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

ing" for television channels and programs. The job of the designer is to create a look and feel for a specific idea or subject. Often,

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

s will wish to re-invent their style or "on air look"this is where the broadcast designer's skills are called upon to design

lower third In the television industry, a lower third is a graphic overlay placed in the title-safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests. In its simplest form, a lower third can just be tex ...

digital on-screen graphic A digital on-screen graphic, digitally originated graphic (DOG, bug, network bug, or screenbug) is a watermark-like station logo that most television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen area of their programs to identify the channel ...

s (DOG or BUG) and motion graphics. Another industry which is reliant on a designer's skill is the

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

advertising market. Most often, a client will hire an

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

which will then hire a group of designers to produce a commercial for their product. The process usually begins with a concept or an idea which the client has or the agency comes up with. It is then further explored in design boards which go up for approval by the client before the process of making it actually begins.

Types of Broadcast Design

There are many types of different broadcast designs. Each broadcast design has different unique techniques, topics, goals, and target audiences. Broadcast designers need to focus their work on the specific genre or topic geared to a specific audience. Knowing their audience can assist the broadcast designer on what ideas they need to be thinking about when they create their design and this keeps audiences engaged at all times. The different designs include: * news broadcast graphics * sports broadcast graphics *

award ceremony An awards ceremony is a type of ceremony where awards are given out. The ceremony may be arranged by a government organization, a society, a school, a trade association or even a company that specializes in running awards ceremonies. Typically a m ...

designs * commercial graphic designs *

infographics Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and "graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wri ...

News and sports broadcast graphics

News broadcast graphics and sports broadcast graphics go hand in hand. They are a collection of

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

generated by a computer and are used throughout a news program on television. These graphics are to assist and enhance an organization’s brand. These graphics also build the storytelling aspect of a

by giving additional information and context about that specific brand. Visuals and animated elements help inform and engage viewers as well. Some examples of different news and sports broadcast teams that may use these graphics are

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, and CBS.

Award ceremony designs

Broadcast designs graphics for prominent award shows that combine creativity and technical skills to represent the aspects of the show itself. These graphics add drama and emphasis to the show and keep the audience members fully engaged and attentive. Some award ceremonies that include graphic design include: * The Academy Awards (Oscars) * The Grammy Awards * The Tony Awards * The Emmy Awards

Commercial graphic design

Commercial graphic design is the creation of visual content for audiences. This visual content can include

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically us ...

logos, and

websites A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education ...

to promote a brand’s message and purpose. It includes a visual blend between images and texts so that the audience is fully aware of what is being marketed.

Infographics

Infographics Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and "graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wri ...

are informational representations that include data such as graphs,

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

, and

images An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a project ...

about complex information to make it easier for the intended audience to understand and learn. Infographics are more eye-catching than a regular

document A document is a writing, written, drawing, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of nonfiction, non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes ...

and they are more engaging to individuals as well.

Tools used in broadcast design

Broadcast designers use a variety of different

tools A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ...

and

technologies Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

to create, distribute, and convey their work to viewers. Tools and

equipment Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by ...

can differ based on the size,

budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

, and technological

preferences In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...

of different broadcast centers. The different tools and technology include: *

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc., Adobe for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital ...

* Embedder *

Adobe Animate Adobe Animate (formerly Adobe Flash Professional, Macromedia Flash, and FutureSplash Animator) is a multimedia authoring and computer animation program developed by Adobe. Animate is used to design vector graphics and animation for television ...

(also known as Flash) *

Cinema 4D Cinema 4D is a 3D software suite developed by the German company Maxon. Overview As of R21, only a single version of Cinema 4D is available. It replaces all previous variants, including BodyPaint 3D, and includes all features of the past 'Stu ...

All of these different tools guide broadcast designers to a much easier way of creating their designs. These tools can also be specific for different tasks for a variety of

audiences An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

that are made for them.

Social media and broadcast design

Social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

has played a big role in broadcast designing because of the revolutionized TV production and the consumption of the media. Individuals use social media every single day of their lives and are consuming news and updates by the media which allows broadcast designers to make broadcasting much easier.

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

, and many other platforms allow for more engagement and

marketing strategies Marketing strategy refers to efforts undertaken by an organization to increase its sales and achieve competitive advantage. In other words, it is the method of advertising a company's products to the public through an established plan through the ...

that can reach a variety of audiences. With this,

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

is not as restricted and limited, but has become more accessible for everyone of all ages who wants to learn more about the

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

around them.

Challenges faced by broadcast designers

The world of

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

is changing and evolving every single day. One major challenge that is faced by broadcast designers is now that there are so many

platforms out there, target audiences are widely spread and it is difficult for the designers to adapt and figure out how to engage with them across a wide variety of platforms. It is also a challenge to create top-grade content that catches peoples attention when delivering a

message A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to co ...

. This can be extremely difficult when the audience can be many different ages, so what makes it difficult is creating content and designs that anyone could understand and enjoy. Making money can be complex as a broadcast designer as well. They have to get really creative when traditional advertising is being turned down. When this happens, they may explore

sponsorships Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

partnerships A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations m ...

, or brand deals. This is all to stay

profitable In economics, profit is the difference between revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and total costs of its inputs, also known as surplus value. It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit an ...

while also keeping the audience happy and up to date.

Famous broadcast and graphic designers

Saul Bass Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Academy Awards, Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and logo, corporate logos. During his 4 ...

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer, recognized for his designs, including the I Love New York logo; a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan; the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University, Brooklyn Brewery; and his ...

Paul Rand Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum; August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was an American art director and graphic designer. He was best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, United Parcel Service, UPS, Enron, Morni ...

These three individuals are considered the “

holy trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

” of graphic designing and content producing. They are known for their iconic work in

branding Branding may refer to: Physical markings * Making a mark, typically by charring: ** Wood branding, permanently marking, by way of heat, typically of wood (also applied to plastic, cork, leather, etc.) ** Livestock branding, the marking of animals ...

and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

References

Broadcasting occupations Mass media occupations Television terminology {{job-stub