How do you create a distinctive logo for a channel that features the liveliest, brightest, and most colorful programming on television? This was our first challenge in designing the on-air identity for Cartoon Network, the only full-time, 24-hour cartoon channel in the world.

The logo for this channel had to fit several criteria: it had to be clearly readable when used with bright colors, it had to stand apart from the cartoon palette, and it had to fit style-wise with a cartoon sensibility. Our first thought was to employ only the least-used cartoon colors - black or white - as a way to draw attention to the logo.

The idea to set the letters into a checkerboard form grew out of a brainstorm in which we were trying to avoid using a drop shadow to distinguish type against like backgrounds. The idea became a major design element of the channel, with bright, cartoon-colored checkerboards of all types used as background elements for end pages, promo formats, and even the corporate stationery.

The use of cartoon fonts to convey channel information seems obvious, but there are many typefaces employed in cartoons, and the choice to use these four fonts in particular was the result of a long process of trial and error, during which we tried many typefaces which would be recognized by true fans of cartoon animation.

Even the interstitial transition devices have their roots in cartoon language. Rendered in a cartoony illustrative style, their movement is flexible and bouncy, and the accompanying sound effects serve to reinforce their comical animated movement.

The resultant on-air look is a wild blend of bright color and constant movement, with a continuously changing palette of hue and texture, and a logo that can be placed over any image or background with a consistent 'Cartoon Network' result.