Our Mission Statement

     This week, Will worked on our mission statement, showing what we aim to do as a media company.

"Our company Panda Media is instilled with the beliefs of improving the lives of customers and business that have entrusted our help to improve the quality of their product. Our vision for the future is to help launch and create intuitive app ideas and help rebrand companies. As the panda is endangered and needs protecting, our company Panda Media will help protect endangered companies from extinction and in turn revitalise them to the successful company they once were. Our company is instilled on producing good moral values. Panda Media takes the front foot when giving back to the community, which has already taken place in the launch of the app Shoe Box.    Shoe Box plays on the idea of passing memories from older generations to younger. Using this link the younger generations will repay that gift by donating a small percentage of each subscription Shoe Box gains will be given back to the community with charitable donations to Alzheimer’s charities."    

Creating a Welcome Page

     Now that we have our loading page and login page, we can start creating the pages that the user will find on the app and we began by starting with the home page. We decided that our as our USP is having television programmes that are no longer on air, some of which dating back to the 60s or 70s, that our users should be able to search for the shows they want to see by decade. Anna created the images below on InDesign.

     This was our first attempt at the home page, which we thought whilst it is clear and easy to use, it is too simple and not professional enough. 

     This is the home page which we have chosen to use for our app. We believe that it is clear and easy to use, whilst at the same time being eye catching and different to the layouts of apps similar to ours. 

Creating a Login Page

     After creating several loading pages, we moved onto making a login page which will appear on the user's phone after the loading page for them to sign in if they have an existing account or sign up if they do not. This page will only come up if the user has never logged in on their device before or if they have chosen to log out, as we have found that apps which require their users to log in every time they are used are less popular due to users forgetting their passwords. 

     Anna studied some login pages of some popular apps and found that they are very simple, with the name of the app, space for the users to type in their details, a sign up option and a help option for users who have forgotten their password. She decided to also keep our login page simple, and include these necessities which will make our app more user-friendly. She kept with our chosen colour for the app in order to keep the app consistent and used white text so that it would stand out and be easy to read. 

     Above is the login screen Anna created for our app, which follows the conventions of the login screens that she studied. 

Creating a Loading Screen

     This week Abbi spent our mac lab session working on the layout of the app once opened on a phone. She began with a loading screen that would appear before the login page opened. We decided that as the app is about television programmes no longer on air, we would use an image of television static to link with the retro theme of the app. 

 This is her first attempt  at creating a loading page. It is pretty simple, and is similar to old fashioned television screens whilst they were searching for signal. 

  
     For her second attempt, she decided to add the name of the app to the loading screen in order to make the name more memorable and associated with the retro theme and the app itself. Whilst we like the idea of including something to do with our app brand, we found that the writing is hard to read and makes this loading page quite painful to look at. 

     
     This is her final and most successful attempt at the loading screen. She used the purple colour of the app icon so that the colour will become associated with our app, as well as the logo from the icon for the same reason. This loading screen still adheres to the retro theme of the app by using the static and the image of the old fashioned television, but also is strongly linked to the app itself so that it becomes memorable and a part of users' everyday routines. 

Our App Font

     Today we chose a font for our app name. We wanted something that would fit with the retro theme of the app, but that was also simple and easy to read so that the name Shoebox will be memorable and associated with our app.  Below is the font we chose, which we believe fits with what we were looking for and will help our app name become instantly recognisable. 

Market Research- Results

     We recieved 100 responses to our online survey, Anna made pie charts of the results which we will analyse in order to find our target audience.

Our App Icon

          After trying several different icons for our app, we finally decided to use an image of a retro television on a purple background. Joanne created the icon for our app on InDesign. We believe that this look will be simple enough to stand out in the app store or on someone's phone, and will be memorable so the image and the colour will become associated with Shoebox.

 

      Anna then edited the logo onto an iPhone, to see how it will compare to other apps. 

      We then compared it to other apps in the App store after Anna edited our app onto a print screen of the AppStore, to ensure that it would stand out, the colour purple is rarely used by other apps, so our aim is to have the colour associated with our app.

Creating an App Logo

     Abbi spent this week's session creating the app logo that will appear on people's phones. It is important that the logo is memorable and stands out from other apps, especially apps which serve a similar purpose- in our case Netflix or Amazon Prime- so that it is easy for customers to find in the app store when purchasing it, as well as on their phone once downloaded. We used our time trying out different ideas for our logo, seeing what would stand out, and what would be to similar to existing apps. Below are our first attempts at creating a logo which we will use to make our final design. 



      We decided against using the colour red for the background as we agreed that red is very much associated with Netflix and therefore our app would seem to similar if we also used red. This is also the case for green as it is used by Amazon Prime. We tried a subtle colour to begin with, with a logo of television remotes as it links well with the app itself. However, whilst we liked the image of the remotes, we decided that the grey background was too plain and would not be noticeable next to other apps in the app store or on a mobile.


      This was our second attempt at the logo, where we went for a brighter colour to stand out next to other apps. The box image is to link with the name of the app 'Shoebox', which we think is effective, although we also decided that if we use the image of the box on our final design, we would need to add something inside of it to link it with the purpose of the app itself such as a television or remote control. The orange whilst bright, is not very attractive or appealing and thus we decided to try a different colour.

      We tried a blue background, however decided that as it was already used for the brand colours of Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, people may confuse our app with one of these others and therefore we should choose a colour which is not used by major app brands. We liked the image of the television as it links well with our app, as the retro style of the television links with the USP of our app- an archive of television programmes no longer on air, many of which are considered retro.


     As we liked the image of the television, we used it in another attempt at a logo, this time with a purple background as this is a colour that is not currently associated with any major apps or brands, and so our app will stand out against other logos.

Market Research- Creating a Survey

    This week we spent our session beginning our market research for our app. Anna and Joanne created a survey asking questions about people's television habits and if they would be interested in using our app. We will leave the survey open for the rest of the week and then analyse our results for our presentation on Monday. 

 




    These two questions will help us find out which gender and age group are most interested in our app when we analyse the results of other questions, so that whilst the app will appeal to everyone, the age group and gender we find are the most interested, will be our target audience and we will aim our advertising campaigns and style our app towards them. 
     

      We will use question 3 to find out which age group and gender watches the most television on average so that we can aim our app towards them.



 

















     Question 4 will help use prioritise which programmes we will include on our app and which we will promote to attract more customers. 

 









    
     
     
     One of our aims is to make our app a part of our users' daily routines and to be used habitually by them, as we have found that this is what makes apps most successful. Again, we are using this survey to find out which age group and gender will be our target audience and by using question 5 to find out which of these groups uses apps the most, we will be able to aim our app towards them. 

     Question 6 was included in our survey in order to predict how popular our app will be by finding out how likely it is that people will use an app for the purpose ours will fulfill- watching television. 


     Finally, question 7 will help us predict the success of our app as well as the age and gender of the majority of people who will use it.
    

Rebranding HMV

     As part of the module assignment, our group has to rebrand a pre-existing, and we have chosen to rebrand HMV as it links well with our television archive app. We have begun to study HMV as a brand in order to work out how we can improve it with our rebranding ideas. 
     In regards to HMV getting its marketing messages noticed, the shop mainly uses online adverts. Whilst it is also promoted through television adverts, its main method of advertising is online. We believe that although this is effective and brings in customers for the company, when rebranding, we will also look into advertising through posters at bus stops and on public transport such as the London Underground, as these will be seen by a wider a range of people than the adverts online.The adverts themselves are very simple and clean- a lot of them showing images of DVDs and CDs the shop has to offer next to prices, all using a consistent colour scheme. Whilst these simple advert are effective in showing what HMV stocks and the prices of the items, they are arguably not very memorable or engaging, and when rebranding we will look into improving the quality of HMV's advertising campaigns.
    

Standing Out as a Brand

     When creating our app, it is important that it is a new concept with a USP in order to appeal to the mass market. It is also important that the look of the app- the icon that will appear on the user's phone as well as the pages on the app once it has been opened- stand out as these will be the key reasons why the customer will choose to use our app. 
      People will encounter our app through the App Store, Play Store or similar app purchasing sites through their phones and tablets, thus it is vital that our app stands out against all others available in order to be chosen over any competition. In order to achieve this, we will make the look of our app different to existing apps- choosing colours that are currently not associated with other brands and making the app user-friendly. 
     There are a few apps and websites which on the surface appear to be similar to ours, the most dominant being Netflix and Amazon Prime, however we are offering a unique selling point of allowing our users to view entire boxsets of television programmes no longer on air, something neither of these companies do. We will also tackle the issue of pre-existing apps similar to our own, by making the icon, colour scheme and overall layout different to our competition, as well as charging a lower price for the service- either payable in a monthly sum, or unlike existing sites, a yearly one- and offering a discount for students. Overall, we believe these differences will be enough for our app to be a success, particularly with users of sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. This is because our app is similar enough to these brands that users of them will understand the layout and the concept, however it differs enough from them that users will feel that they are paying for a new service which these sites do not provide. 

Using Apps Habitually

     During our last meeting, our group discussed apps we used habitually and how we can use this information when creating our own app. We looked at several apps, and contemplated their impact on our daily routines.

Instagram

     Instagram is a popular app which is part of many people’s everyday lives. People use the app to edit and share photographs of their life, and as a result of this will habitually check their phones and the app for notifications such as likes and comments on their images multiple times throughout the day. This habitual checking of the app is made easy by the option to be alerted by your phone when a notification is received, as this means that people constantly check their phones to see if they have received an alert. People also check their Instagram to see if the people they follow have uploaded any photos, and scrolling down their Instagram homepage has become a part of people’s daily routines, particularly when they have time to waste, such as when they are in a queue or waiting for a bus.

Snapchat

     Snapchat is an app which allows its users to send photographs to one another and therefore has also become a part of people’s daily- if not hourly- routines as they habitually check their phones to see if they have received an image or message from a friend. This app also has an option to alert the users phone when a notification is received and therefore people will look at their phones regularly checking for notifications.

Candy Crush

     Although the original hype that made Candy Crush a top selling game in the AppStore has died down since the first release of the app, Candy Crush is still used habitually by many people and more games in the series are being released. The five lives element of Candy Crush is part of the reason it became so popular and arguable the main reason it became such a major part in people’s routine when on their phones. This is because the user would be unable to play the game for a certain amount of time after using up all of their lives, meaning people would have to check their phones regularly waiting for a new life to become available. People were spending hours on the games waiting for lives and then using them, and thus the game became a part of their routine. People also played the game habitually when they had time to waste- similarly to Instagram- as it became an impulse for them to go on the app when they had some spare time.

After looking at these apps, we have decided that our app will be more successful if people come to use it habitually, something we believe will happen as people already watch television habitually and therefore will use the app in the same way, and it will become a part of their daily routine.  

Creating a Logo

After choosing the font for our brand name, we moved onto choosing an image to create our logo. We decided to go with an image of a panda to link with our brand name. We tried a few different images and arrangements before choosing our favourite which will represent our brand. Anna made these logos in InDesign.

 
This was our first attempt at creating a logo, and whilst we liked the idea of including an image of a panda, we felt that this logo looks too disjointed and not professional enough to represent our brand. 




We changed the layout of the words for this logo in order to make our logo one single image, rather than words next to the image like the logo above. We liked the idea of incorporating the image into the text, however we decided that the image of the panda was not clear enough and we wanted to use an image which was instantly recognisable as a panda so that the connotations of the animal are associated with our brand. 

This is the logo we finally chose to use for our brand. We believe that the use of black and white, as well as the drawings of the panda, enforce our reasons behind our name: that we are a simple, uncomplicated brand who are straight to the point, ideas which are associated with pandas and black and white. The image itself of a mother panda looking at her offspring, presents the idea of an older generation passing on their knowledge to a younger generation, an idea which we would like to associate with our brand and also which links to our app idea: an archive of television programs no longer on air. Overall our logo is simple yet affective as it is easily recognisable and memorable. 

Choosing a Font

We spent this week’s Mac lab session focussing on creating our brand name logo, and therefore we began by choosing fonts off DaFont. We wanted something simple and clear to fit with our brand image, and sampled a few different fonts before making a final decision. 

This font is called Indonesia, and whilst we liked the simplicity of the font, we decided that it had a futuristic quality and thus would be better suited on a science-fiction themed business rather than Panda Media. 

This next font is called SF Movie Poster, and again although we thought it was simple and clear, we also thought that it appeared to be from a film poster as the name suggests, or from a fashion brand, and we agreed that this would distract too much from our main aspect of the brand- simple and straight forward. 

This was a strong contender in our search for fonts as we liked the blocky look, however we believed it looked too aggressive as if it were from the title of an action film. 

And finally there is Lemon Milk, the font we decided to use for our company logo. We liked the blocky and clear look to it, and thought it looked professional and enforced our company idea of simplicity and clarity. 

Becoming Panda Media- Changing our Name

After analysing famous brand names, and discovering that the more successful brand names are ones which are memorable, easy to pronounce and simple; we decided to change our own brand name from Palm Tree Media to Panda Media. We made this change because we originally chose the name Palm Tree Media for the many options we would have for our logo with fonts and images linked to Palm Trees. Whilst this would mean we had the opportunity to make a professional logo which linked to the brand name, we decided that our name should have a deeper meaning behind it, and therefore chose the name Panda Media. We went with the name Panda Media because it is simple and easy to remember. Also, Pandas are black and white which has connotations of simplicity and clarity, and this enforces the idea that our company is also these things; we are simple to understand and straight to the point without any complications and we want this idea to be included in our brand name. 

Looking at Brand Names

Today we looked at famous brand names and analysed the meaning behind them, as well as how easy they are to pronounce and remember, and we will use our findings to help us when choosing our own brand name.

Apple

Apple is a very famous brand which creates the latest in modern technologies such as computers and mobile phones. Whilst the brand name has nothing to do with the products made by the company, the name Apple has become associated with the company, and has connotations of wealth, success and power. People see the Apple brand and merchandise they produce as modern and high quality, and therefore they buy the merchandise in order to appear up to date with technology and successful. The name itself is easy to remember and pronounce and we decided that our brand name will also be memorable.

Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent is now a well known brand associated with wealth, luxury and glamour, however, it is difficult to pronounce, and although it has become a famous brand, it is also difficult to remember and has to be shortened to YSL. After looking at this brand, we decided to choose a brand name which Is simple and easy to pronounce so that it becomes a household name.