Oregon Media Insiders

...it's more teal in the on-air graphics.

The new look would have been barely acceptable 15 years ago. Now it looks like they're trying for an intentionally retro look, and failing at it. What a shame. The previous package was KOIN's best look in years... not that that's saying much.

Whose idea was it to combine 3 typefaces in a single graphics package? And not only a gross abuse of teal, but to put the teal right next to an emerald green on many occasions.

Was the designer colorblind?

Also, the bug is way out of 4:3 safe title. On my TV, I'm watching KOI LOCAL NEW. Maybe it's TV for fish.

Some of the old timers at 6 will get this... it's a variation on an old line...
"...like re-arranging the "lawn" chairs on the Titanic."

I have to say I've dogged KOIN on this site several times but I was genuinely impressed with the new look rolled out yesterday. Let's be honest, the old KOIN News 6 brand and it related graphics/set were plain awful. Now let's see if they are being true to their word when it comes to covering local news.

looks amazing in my design opinion. there's enough red and blue tired logos around the other news stations in town...this new branded looks northwest and fits the hip, educated Portland market

KOIN Local 6: Where everyday is St. Patrick's Day!

If I may say so..."You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

What IS with all the typefaces? Are they only allowed so many characters in each one during each newscast? I was actually pleasantly surprised by the look, until I kept seeing font after font after font....

Now, if they are able to ease up on the number of typefaces and clear 90% of their on-air personnel out of there, they could be onto something. The smiling trio MUST go(Jeff, Kelley and Bruce CANNOT be human. No person is that happy ALL of the time - Makes me sick :) )

To me the new look reminds me of being in 1993. Expect they made the graphics more glossier.

The graphics also look like they are part of some local/national talk show. The new set doesnt fit.

and It was a diferent chris who made that St pattys day comment.

Just my opinion -- and I am by no means a graphic designer -- but I hate it.

Bleuack.

Was this something "corporate" came up with or did the local "talent" design this.

So I click on one of the stories on the Koin Local 6 page, and it never loads.

Aaaaand they are removed from the bookmarks.

Oh and I love the Koin Local 6 name, versus KEUM Not from around here 14.

Actually not really. Y'all are a bunch a bitches. At least we're making an effort, in rather tough circumstances. And another thing, it's nice to have a brand that isn't a clone of all the other generics in this town. I like it.

ohhhh "if I may say..." "I must say..." candy-asses.

Mb

Having not been lucky enough to see Portland TV for a bit over a year, but nearby (Seattle) I can say that "KOIN Local 6" is unique looking and the pastel colors are something I haven't seen in a station before. I liked KATU's look, as well. Up here? Boredom. Belo's standard on KING and NWCN... the blue and gold. Fisher is black red and blue at KOMO. Tribune is a snoozefest at "Q" and Cox is standard news gold and hues on KIRO.

I really also liked that KOIN just spent 3.5 minutes on the financial coverage from Washington. That is FOREVER in the local TV news. I think that is quite snappy. They also made an effort to include Washington AND Oregon representation as well as Jeff Merkely. I thought that was very well put together.

If they are doing things like this regularly, they just need to get people to "taste" them again. I will say that I heard today that red and black are the colors to use to 'stand out' so perhaps KATU won that battle, but I hope the best for KOIN.

Give KOIN a break, will 'ya?!

The new graphics look a lot better than the old stuff. No, it may not be as fancy-schmancy as other stations, but who the hell cares?

Yes, we know that KOIN isn't at the top of the local news ratings, and yes NVT isn't spending enough dough on the station, but why is it necessary to constantly shit on the station?

Bitter former employees? Snotty competitors? What the hell is the problem?

Your Momma said it best...

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"

The new graphics are... unique. I understand their desire for a "Northwest" look, and I believe they've achieved it. However, in doing so, there is a noticeable lack of boldness, sophistication & class in the look.

As for the branding change, I think it's a positive move. "KOIN Local 6" will start to roll off of tongues in short order. It will be a better brand than "KOIN News 6", but I still believe it was a dumb move to switch away from "KOIN 6 News" in 2004. (But that was three management teams ago.)

And finally, the set. Ouch. I don't have many positive things to say. I find it dreary, ugly, and poorly designed. That vertical trio of monitors between the anchors literally separates them -- and I'm not sure why anyone would want a two-shot to be visually broken up that way. And the drab grey/purple background will be symbolic of the mood during dark winter days, but it will seem terribly out of place and a real visual depressant during the light & bright days of summer.

Let me begin first by asking this. Has Koin done something to offend everyone on this site? I have visited this site a few times and all I read is, bash Koin in on this, bash Koin on that. Why not bash Kptv? They're the worse of them all. Koin's graphics are great, their set is even better and I especially love the new music package. And Koin (no, I am not a Koin employee, no I don't know anyone working for Koin, no I was not paid to say this)is Local News. They focus more on other cities, other than just Portland. After all, there are more cities in Oregon, then just Portland you know. Lay off Koin for once!! And yes, I'm sure you all will bash me on this. I don't think any of you TV wannabe could do better. As a matter of fact, I know you can't!

This look reminds me of KING 5's Evening Magazine look, circa 1989. What is with the LOCAL 6 crap? For some reason when the reporters say "local 6" I think I am in a bingo parlor.
And the fonts are all over the map, I saw one graphic with three different font types jammed onto one screen. The art director should know better than this! Shameful.

What is up with the integrated advertisements, like Spirit Mountain? Also, the broadcast isn't formatted correctly for cable (non-digital). I agree that the trio of monitors completely don't fit, and the whole overhaul of the station is almost a step in reverse. Furthermore, why did KOIN Loco 6 (yes, loco) choose WeatherBug to service their weather needs?

I have a story. Just two, now almost three days ago, I moved to Corvallis from Tualatin to go to school here at OSU. I watched one of the most amateurish broadcasts that I have ever seen. It was so bad, it reminded me of The CW and their station ads/broadcasts. This channel I watched was MyFox 5 (KLSR) at 11PM newscast. The entire graphics/audio package brought memories of the mid 90's, and the new deliverance took place in front of a single LCD with a single reporter (besides weather/sports). I just couldn't stop thinking, "OMG gimme back my KPTV!". What does this have to do with KOIN? Nothing, just a sign of failure.

Nice to see nothing's changed on this blog. You no-life losers would slam KOIN no matter what they do. The new look is unique and very polished. Teal? Gray? Hmmm, check the color settings on your 13-inch Sylvania.

The colors are unique, but the logo treatment is hideous.

Seriously, I'm 18 and its seems my maturity level is a lot higher then these "journalists" and news media people that are on here. If that is you KOIN, making the childish comments, stop. your just digging your hole even more.... Hell, even Microsoft is doing a better job at being criticized at their work then Koin is, and Microsoft is a multi billion dolor company. Koin is just a small local TV station. You'll think it would be the other way around.

But people seriously, stop the childish comments. Everone is entitled to their own opinions, if you dont like what others say, keep the rude comments to your self and dont act like bunch of 13 year old brats

Hi, I created the new KOIN Local 6 logo and graphics package.

Thanks for your comments, criticisms, and even the cheap shots. Please feel free to send them to me directly. My email is jcb@jcbd.com.

A couple of points of information. The design uses two and only two type families....Gotham, created in 2000 by Tobias Frere-Jones, and Officina Serif, created in 1990 by Erik Spiekermann. Me, I believe that as in a newspaper or a magazine, you can and should combine various weights within the same family to more clearly communicate information. I believe you establish one sans-serif and one serif-family as 'your' style--and then stick with that. Oh, and the 6 itself is an original, serifed shape, with what I hope are generous, friendly curves.

In my book, you can't get much more up to date, readable, or functional than Frere-Jones or Spiekermann's work. (An aside: rent "Helvetica" and watch these folks talk about type. Inspiring...and might make you not want to ever see generic TV news type again.)

And feel free to believe me or not, but I found the folks at KOIN to be sincere, friendly, caring, and very hardworking...and that includes all of the 'marquee' on-camera talent many of you are apparently sick of. I admire their dedication to their work, their spirit, and sense of humor.

I of course hope you'll cheer them on as I do, as they attempt to do news for real in an economy and a business that increasingly discourages it...but I certainly understand if you'd prefer to do anonymous snark. I don't envy them their task...but I do admire their enthusiasm, optimism, and dedication.

There are more images from the package up on my site at http://jcbd.com/television.php?project=KOIN ...and I'll be posting more, along with, I hope, a discussion of how it all came together. I am very proud of this logo and this design, and of my association with the people at KOIN. Some have you indicated that you're young and have an interest in working in television or in graphic design...I certainly want to encourage that interest and caring, and if there's some way I can help...well, you have my email.

But if you've already written off KOIN, their people, and their graphics package, you may well not be interested. I understand.

As some around here have said "I'm no graphic designer", well, I am (I just can't get anyone to hire me, is all) and I'm going to come out in favor of the new look.

First, the color palette: with cool blues and greens, it is presumably meant to evoke "Northwestness" .... blue for water and mountains and sky, green for the forest. Moreover, the cool colors contrast well against the warm backgrounds that they use to show it off on.

The 'tetris'-y blocks of color fit together nicely, like a tightly-assembled puzzle, and create a sort of dynamic tension that wouldn't be there if it was all a nice, tight, symmetrical block.

The way the individual show brand ("@ 6:00") is shown by retracting the lower block, spinning it, and pushing it forward is kinda cute and allows the show branding to efficiently share the logo design. One of KOIN's big design problems has, in my opinion, been distinctive show branding. For a long time, I didn't really know that the AM program had a brand name, and even after I found it was Good Morning, Northwest, I didn't really care (the GM "Northwest" tag was also a little too vague to be compelling. Say what you will about KPTV, the show brand Good Day Oregon is at least a minor bit of branding brilliance, and they carry it off well, making it distinctive within the overall KPTV look).

I've seen the new logo and the comments about the multiplicity of fonts. I don't see all that many, only two really : the one used for the number 6, and everything else. The everything else, however, is carried forward in a number of different weights, and the chyrons seem to carry a condensed version of that font.

I actually think the minuscule treatment of the word "local" appropriate. Lower-case letters are 'friendlier' than caps, and connect with the 6 in a friendly way.

The swoopy 6 is definitely in a different font, and it stands out in its swoopiness. The number 6 is a huge brand around there on the TV, and it wouldn't do to make it uniform with the rest of the design. In the light weight it's in, though, it stands out but not too much, and keeps the logo one happy family. It also adds a little looseness to a very structured logo.

...oh, wait. I just saw an over-the-shoulder graphic which uses what appears to be some form of Officina. A little strange, that. Not what I would have chose. It does harmonize with the sans-serif used everywhere else though, since it's simple and bold like the rest of it.

I will insert a disclaimer here that I've not yet seen an entire KOIN 6 newscast. When I do my opnion may change somewhat but I don't think too much. After all, compared to the previous graphic look, with this strange big rotating machine-thing that did an abrupt 45-right turn in this hot red airless space, it's a vast improvement. It's not that I didn't love the look, but it left me scratching my head. It was well done, but what did it mean?

All that said, it's not as compelling as the Swan 2, but that one hit it out of the park. KOIN's new look is a solid triple, at least.

Samuel John Klein, a/k/a ZehnKatzen
samuel.klein@gmail.com or zehnkatzen@gmail.com
graphically involved at http://zehnkatzen.blogspot.com

Forget the graphics, lets just hope that our identities do not get stolen and our credit ruined. Way to go KOIN.

KOIN lost the best thing it had going... the coin!

My comments are based entirely off of KOIN's new website, since I haven't seen their newscast in some time. Having said that, the web is quickly becoming the primary source of news for many people, so KOIN's website is as good a measure of their brand as their TV product is.

What struck me first was the color palette, followed by the logotypes, then the absurd number of left hand navigation links. Beginning with the color palette... choosing variants of blue and green as the primary colors is risky. They don't offer a great deal of contrast, so I'm unsure whether something with a green background is more important than something with a blue one, or vice versa. I also think it's a bit of a stretch to link those colors to the Northwest. There are trees and water in a lot of places.

The logotype is truly a mess. There are only 2 typefaces but neither is used particularly well. The 6 is least offensive, but it looks like something that should be on the side of a NASCAR vehicle. The typeface used in the rest of the logo is all over the place. You've got your bold, your extended, expanded, condensed. Come on, man! Pick a style!

The left nav is self explanatory. Is it really necessary to have a link there titled "Elephantastic Baby Watch".

And finally (and KOIN's not alone on this one), why do TV stations and most newspapers in general feel the need to add ".com" to their logos when they're placed on their websites. KOIN Local6.com. It's as if we didn't realize that we were online and viewing a website. TV, the web... It's all the same brand, why not reinforce that brand by maintaining the same name and logo. Take a cue from nytimes.com.

If KOIN's intent with this new look is to separate themselves from the clutter (competition) and rise above it, it's unclear that this approach is the right solution to that problem.

Personally, I like the colors. It's different, and more Northwest. The graphics and music are definitely an improvement. I'm still up in the air about the set. It's rather bland, and I agree that the center monitor visually seperates the co-anchors. The monitors don't appear to serve any purpose, other than decorative. I've never seen any real video used in them. The camera shots need some work. I've seen Kelley Day in Jeff's shots a few times; even caught her leaning back on-air after they took Jeff's camera tonight. A bank of monitors that can be used collectively for interview purposes or good video (like a smaller version of "The Situation Room") would be better, in my opinion, and minimize the blandness of the background.
The reporters do seem to be aiming for telling stories more personally. I don't see as many cop bites on KOIN as I used to.
Maybe it's all still a work in progress.

http://jcbd.com/logos.php?id=40

I do not work in radio or TV so here is an "outsiders" view.

The graphics have good and bad points. Good: the graphics used as part of the stories. Bad: the graphics used as they show both anchors names at the start of the newscast. The yellow and green used at that point looks hideous and out of place in the newscast. The station logo is OK.

The music package is good.

As for Weatherbug, certain elements of it, if truly shown "instantly" like current temps would show more accurate information.

The one thing I found bad on every level was the set. Poorly designed in my opinion. It reminds me of a set KOIN used in the early-mid 90s which had a blue background also. The monitors look like they were added as an afterthought after somebody saw three of them on a clearance sale someplace. I have seen small-town news sets that looked a lot more modern than this.

And as for the anchors...Jeff is OK but over-rated, and Kelley is a person I have never liked as a news anchor. KOIN needs to make a change here.

was most recently used by KATU througout the late 90s and early 2000s. It's nothing new, but a nice addition to the weathercast. As I recall it's awfully expensive for what you get. But soon the other stations will be able to access live weather conditions from a wider network of weather stations like ODOT, Union Pacific etc... So WeatherBug will be an expensive and limited source of local weather info.

Why all the hate?
Kelley and Jeff are outstanding anchors (KATU at 4 is a snore fest!!), they have to roll with all the punches the Ignite throws at them, not an easy job. KOIN is ahead of the awful trend that is destroying TV (get ready EVERYONE else in the business), corporate slush funding....If you don't like watching KOIN Local Six, shut up and leave us alone. Period.

This thread is very subjective, of course. Having carefully watched local news branding in many markets over the years, I will say that KOIN's new look does stand out from the sameness that exists all over the country today.

With that having been said, I don't care for it. There is a hint of smaller market 1990 with this new KOIN look. Reminds me a little of KCRA in Sacramento from that era, with oddly matched colors and a very utilitarian set.

Of course, Charlie Van Dyke voiceover doesn't change. His voice remains easily identified with KOIN.

A logo should reflect the product it represents. In this case, it's bland, formulaic and unappealing. PERFECT! Hats off to the design team.