Creating the brand and broadcast graphics for 'Unmuted' came from an opportunity promoted by the partnership between MAMA Youth Project, Licklemor Productions, Potion Pictures and Sky Arts. This was to provide a design student or newly-graduated designer the chance to come up with a pitch to describe how they would present 'Unmuted' (formerly known as 'What's Up TV?') to the world.
Stage 1: Initial Brief & Process
In order to actually be shortlisted to present to Licklemor and Sky Arts, I first created a concept document for Potion Pictures, who would shortlist three new designers and ask those candidates to make a formal pitch a week later. The brief asked for the branding to be appropriate for a late-night topical show aimed at the 18-35 demographic. The branding had to be suitable for animating and different from the original show ('What's Up TV?'). Some of the descriptive words to describe the new-look feel were 'edgy', 'fun', 'diverse', 'inclusive', 'thought-provoking' and 'topical'.
My initial idea involved a bold branded logo where the 'E', looking like an on/off symbol, in 'Unmuted' could be animated and turned into different symbols (bespoke emojis) which represented the diverse nature of the topics on for discussion. This would be the "digital element" and the brand would look as though it had been printed on textured card - thereby incorporating both the physical and digital world into the show's brand and broadcast graphics. Along with the different symbols, I also thought about looking at different colours and how each one might represent a different topic as well, further enhancing the inclusivity nature as many people identify with one or more colours as part of their personalities. The basis for the 'E' icon in the shape of the on/off symbol was to say that the show would be turning the audience on to what was happening in the world.
PRESENTS
For this stage, I also submitted examples of the logo font I wanted to consider - being big, bold and loud was part of the concept as the show was giving a voice to those who hadn't been given much air time compared to other demographics. The font choices were also sans serif, providing a clean feel which felt modern. As well as main and secondary font choices, examples of how the brand logo would look with replacement icons and colours were also included. And to show that the branding would work for broadcast, I presented a title sting storyboard, wipe transition storyboard and a short video clip of a possible lower third graphic.
Stage 2: Shortlisting and Formal Presentation
After finding out that I had been shortlisted to present formally (and remotely) to executives at MAMA Youth, Licklemor Productions and Sky Arts, I had four days to work further on my ideas, refine the visuals and create a full pitch deck.
After discussions and support from the Potion Pictures senior team, several changes were implemented:
The Logo: The main logo font was kept as Piepie but a line was added around the design which made it feel a bit more complete. The stylised 'E' was further developed so that it met icon design principles but still looked like the 'on/off' symbol and rather than having the logo in different colours, a mixture of coloured brush strokes would be added to the background texture. It would be these that changed instead.
.jpg)
Title Sting: This was only slightly changed from my very first concept in that the camera angles were straight on rather than roaming around the title and textured card.
Transition Wipes: The boards below demonstrate how segments would be introduced - with a particular icon representing the theme that would be presented. Different themes would also be represented by different colour palettes as seen in the title sting storyboard.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Other Pitch Examples: The rest of the pitch contained slides that included the style palette, possible font options, video examples of the title stings and wipes, and finally, environmental uses of the brand, i.e. on screens, posters etc.
Stage 3: Final Selection and Final Delivery
Having been chosen as the winning idea and design by the senior team working on 'Unmuted', there were only 18 days to design and deliver a formal brand logo, title sting, transition wipes and kit of parts. Feedback received from the audience was alos incorporated into the final designs:
1. Consider a different main logo font that doesn't feel as masculine but still stands out as a bold font.
2. The need to add to the number of icons already presented to cover a broader range of topics.
3. Design a different way of adding colour rather than brush strokes to separate this brand out from Sky Arts' 'Portrait Artist of the Year'.
4. Use black, orange, red and purple as the main brand colours.
The Logo: The logo was re-designed from scratch with the background texture and box lines being the only original elements remaining. A new font which was a little sleeker was chosen: Urbane Heavy. All the icons, including the stylised 'E' were re-designed to make sure they felt appropriate for the brand and age range of the audience. The background texture, whilst kept the same, was changed to black with a slight sheen and now the letters would be stenciled into it (best seen in HD versions) rather than printed on top. Colour would then appear to fill this stenciled layer but remain as orange, red and purple.
Title Sting: The title sting was a 6 seconds long and instead of the icons scrolling through, the on/off symbol would looks as though it was being pressed multiple times and each time changing into one of the topical icons before turning back into the original and rotating to become the stylised 'E'. The colours in the background were revealed using the track matte feature and stock footage of ink flows so it looked like they were flowing into the cutout. As a final element, a few camera movements were added for dynamic effect.
Transition Wipes: The wipes, in terms of camera movements, stayed the same and only changed with those of the brand look and additional icons added. Essentially, when one segment finished, the camera would zoom out of the 'E' icon which would then change to the new topic, and then zoom right back through this image.
Lower Thirds: The third main graphic was to provide a lower third for one and two-person formats. The lower third was designed to appear as a banner with the same black card texture as the back ground and the writing stenciled into this and the colours flowing through it - in keeping with the main brand design and animation.
Kit of Parts: This last element provided graphics for coming in and out of ad breaks, a moving broadcast bed, a logo key and background showing the flowing colours only.
Broadcast
'Unmuted' can currently be seen on Sky Arts on Wednesday evenings at 10pm from the 2nd December 2020 for its first series run of 4 episodes. There are multiple series produced every year.
