A refreshed News programme identity fit for an upgraded product offering and a new-generation audience.
Working closely with key stakeholders at Romania’s Antena TV Group, we established a new brand framework for the network’s leading news programme, Observator. A new brand proposition was built to reflect significant changes in the product (now a 24/7, multi-platform news source) and the driving motive of the new-generation Romanian audience Observator serves: a desire to get behind the headlines, and to see the bigger picture that surrounds their daily news stories.
For the new identity to stand out in the market, our task centred around two core needs: firstly, to create an identity that could sit as comfortably in the traditional visual landscape of broadcast design as it could across digital media; and, secondly, to bring to life Observator’s editorial shift from lighter lifestyle news to compelling, credible journalism.
A BOLD LOGO MARQUE AND DYNAMIC BRAND IMPRINT
Inspired by the grammatical function of square brackets, to provide additional explanatory information and aid clarity and understanding, we developed the Observator Brackets. Sitting at the heart of the identity, this dynamic imprint frames the Observator logo in all its forms.
In the wider brand application, the Brackets take on the role of attracting the audience’s attention to the most important information. They can be used to hold headlines, to zoom in and highlight a focal point on imagery, or in a zoom out capacity to frame the full picture. Wherever the brand is talking, whether it’s on-air, on digital, or in print collateral, the imprint provides a credible and recognisable editorial stamp to Observator’s news.
A UNIQUE SYSTEM OF ON-AIR INFORMATION DELIVERY
Our original thinking around information delivery was born out of a truly multi-platform approach to the brand. Combining traditional broadcast news styling with the more contemporary digital menu bars, and heads-up-display functionality, two semi-transparent service bars frame the screen, top and bottom, carrying direct communications on top of the programme feed to provide secondary layers of information to the audience and enhance the broadcast experience.
DISTINCTIVE SUB-BRANDS WITH MASTERBRAND ATTRIBUTION
We needed to establish a clear visual hierarchy to signpost news segments to the audience. Breaking News, as an extension of the primary brand, sits outside the Observator Brackets but with communications intensified by the addition of an eye-catching yellow to signify urgency. Sport and Meteo (weather), with dedicated programming sections, are notable sub-brands. To bring a degree of visual independence, Sport uses a vivid green, and Meteo a fresh sky-blue, but both remain clearly attributed to the masterbrand through the presence of the Brackets.
A SUITE OF AUDIO SIGNATURES
We evolved Observator’s audio into a signature anthem that would help build brand recognition and act as a call-to-action to the audience. To ensure synergy across the programme, brand extension and sub-brand audio signatures have been crafted with the formalised hierarchy in mind: Breaking News remains tight to the Observator anthem but with an added sense of urgency and pace, whereas Sport and Meteo have been composed with more distinctive qualities, whilst feeling like they come from the same family.
