KGNU (1390 AM & 88.5 FM) is a radio station serving the greater Denver and Boulder areas in Colorado.
Order created a flexible identity system to accommodate the station’s wide array of music, news, and multilingual programming.
Since the station’s founding in 1978, KGNU’s mission has focused on serving the local community of Colorado, and increasing accessibility to culture through music and news sources.
Programs that debuted close to the station’s founding that still air today include coverage of Native American issues and music, “Reggae Bloodlines,” and “Blues Legacy”.
The KGNU station team in 1988.
Eric Scace, Consulting Engineer, at the radio tower.
On KGNU’s 45-year anniversary this past year, the station makes the acquisition of a new space in downtown Boulder.
The move to a larger building allows KGNU to fulfill its original mission of becoming a community-centric station with visiting space for the public.
The transition to a new space marked the need for an identity that would reflect the station’s legacy.
Order looked to the original visual representation of KGNU’s signage and identity, circa the early ‘80s, as the foundation for the revitalized brand.
The refreshed brand language leverages typography from the station’s founding. This typographic voice is amplified to serve as both a functional identifier and a graphic element in representing music and news programming.
LL Supreme Bold and Light, by Lineto→, are used for legibility and clarity in the brand.
Their construction mirrors the geometry of LL Cobra VIP.
LL Cobra VIP, also by Lineto→, is used as the primary identification of the logo, and as a graphic support to the extended brand language.
Before KGNU’s brand refresh in 2024, blue was frequently used in messaging and marketing materials. To build consistency for the current audience, the primary blue was extended to an encompassing palette for wider use across their multitude of programming.
Duotone photography builds a direct relationship between the brand and the visiting artists featured on the station.
Extending from the logo typeface, LL Cobra VIP, graphic devices are used as a means for the in-house team to easily create illustrative accompaniments to the fast-turnaround in programming.
The three categories of devices allude to the process of broadcasting to the station’s audiences: broadcasting the program, transmitting the audio to radios, and radios receiving the transmission.
Broadcasting.
Transmitting.
Receiving.
The device types help create an identification system for different program types in the station’s broadcasting library.
Brand architecture extending from the KGNU logo allows the station to identify the different media types it produces.
As a primarily audio-based media format, KGNU heavily relies on listeners being able to identify the station through sound alone.
Order proposed an audio signature, or sonic identifier, to recognize the station when listeners tune in.
Sonic created by FAY→
The sound was created using a wavetable synthesizer called the Hydrasynth. The synth is great for its wide range of programming and unique sound design capabilities.
The KGNU sonic is designed to work alongside the diverse range of programming.
The KGNU sonic is used as an introduction to legal IDs or announcements from KGNU artists and the in-house team.
The sonic is designed to be flexible to the diverse range of programming.
In theory, the same 5 notes and timing could be played by any instrument, creating a flexible system for KGNU.
