A number of years ago we designed everything for legendary classic rock station 94.1 KRNA. Founded by a couple of University of Iowa students, Rob Norton and Eliot Keller. KRNA grew from grassroots to powerhouse. Hell, they played a lot of Grass Roots.

Rob and Eliot sold off their lifelong project in 1998. Prior to doing so, we kicked off a new look for KRNA, with a new logo and positioning line. In a sea of tired rock station taglines, we wanted to create something fresh, maybe even a bit odd, but definitely regional.

The result? KRNA. 94.1 IOWANAROCK.

94.1 IOWANAROCK

Barbie, you’ve had your time. And after three years on the road—through rain, sleet, snow, sand, and salt, —frankly, you’re looking a bit haggard. Your time has come. Go freshen up, and let a new day begin.

Good morning starshine, the earth says hello
you twinkle above us, we twinkle below
good morning starshine, you lead us along
my love and me as we sing our
early morning singing song

gliddy glub gloopy nibby nabby noopy
la la la – lo lo
sabba sibbi sabba nooby aba naba
lee lee – lo lo
tooby ooby wala
nooby aba naba
early morning singing song

The new Z Bus is truly unrestrained. This concept started out as a “green and outdoorsy” kind of theme. It eventually became kind of a dare between designers.

“I’ll bet you won’t put a happy face on the clouds.”
“Oh yea, I will, and I’ll even put in a volcano.”
“No way. How about an undersea world? Bet, you’d never do that.”
“Oh, I will for sure. And how about some toadstools?”
“Toadstools? Are you kidding me? Well, if you’re gonna do that, you might as well throw in a unicorn…”

How do you promote a radio station, targeted primarily to females, ages 24 to 45? You borrow interest from the most iconic female of all time.

This wrapped “Barbie Bus” traveled the streets of Cedar Rapids for well over three years. When the bright pink bus wrap was first introduced, young girls everywhere were begging their moms to chase it down. No joke. When the Barbie Bus was handling school routes, children squirmed with excitement. Barbie was also the chosen mode of transportation for at least one birthday party celebration. Copywriter Chris Lien was challenged with the writing the definitive Barbie euphemism—on his first day on the job no less. We think he nailed it.

How do you promote Z102.9 to a University of Iowa, music download inclined/payment averse student population? This ad was specifically concepted for this tough crowd, and was featured in the U of I’s student newspaper, The Daily Iowan. The concept for this ad, hit students right where they live—in the world of free music, and wireless connectivity. This ad also ran about the time the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) was clamping down on illegal music downloads. Given this, a healthy dose of paranoia drove the ad home.

Z102.9 Daily Iowan Ad

A lot has changed in radio over the last few years. Z has been a pioneer since the station’s conception. HD Radio is one such example. I won’t attempt to explain HD radio here. I would look like a poser and the true audio geeks would rain down on my misuse of all the esoterica. From an end user perspective, HD radio is pretty cool. A frequency, such as 102.9 (through the miracles of modern science) can be split into a number of multicast channels.

Early on, as Z experimented with how to split the frequency into several multicasts, Basler Design Group was, at the same time, experimenting with how to “split” the Z identity into three sub brands. This seems easy on the surface, but it is actually quite challenging. The mother brand Z102.9 had legs, with great awareness. And this awareness was directly tied back to a station format (Contemporary Hit Radio), which in turn attracted a specific listener. Now, under the new HD multicast structure, Z102.9, the Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) format is now 102.9 HD1. 102.9 HD2 could be an entirely different format, such as Classic Rock, and attract an entirely different listener. And, likewise, 102.9 HD3 could be a third format with a third listening demographic.

Whew. This is a real challenge. The examples below were experiments in this brand extension exercise. To date, these have not been used, but they are pretty interesting given this branding puzzle.

Hit Z

Club Z

Club Z-2

Rock Z

Our relationship with Rob Norton at Z102.9 goes back some 18 years. “But Z102.9 has only been on the air for 12 years,” you say? Well, this is true. Rob’s relationship with Basler Design Group goes back to about 1992, when he, and partner Eliot Keller, owned another iconic Rock radio station, KRNA, based in Iowa City, Iowa. We collaborated on many projects for KRNA, as well as Q103, the predecessor to Z102.9.

This is an overview brochure that Z102.9 advertising sales staff would use to promote the station to potential advertisers. This piece was designed to have the simplicity of a flip-chart—simple compelling statements, presented with memorable imagery.

Go ahead. Click on it. There’s so much more to see.

For all of you graphic design history buffs out there, this piece was executed with Quark Xpress 3.3, Photoshop 3.0 aka Big Electric Cat. It seems like a lifetime ago, but, conceptually, this piece has stood the test of time very well.

In just a few short years, a logo of ours has reached iconic status. Basler Design Group has had a long time relationship with Rob Norton, owner of Contemporary Hit Radio station, Z 102.9.

Let it be known—Rob is a character. He has a personality all his own, but if you can solve the puzzle, you’ll find a brilliant marketing mind. Our business relationship goes back 18 years, so I think we’re getting along well. And based on the work we have done together, the partnership seems to be working.

Known formally as Z102.9, (KZIA if you pay attention to FM radio call letters), this powerhouse of a radio station is known today as—simply—Z.

The design objective with the Z identity was to create a mark that was incredibly versatile and clean. Somewhere along the way, the principles behind a color blindness test made its way into the logo color palette. Yellow, yellow with a tinge of orange, and yellow with a tinge of green. These three colors are combined in such a manner that makes one’s eyes vibrate with glee.

We have 18 years of KZIA work to show. We’ll start with a simple statement—Z.