One Man Brand: RTÉ TWO
CREATIVE / DESIGNER / DIRECTOR
After 5 years working as a Motion Graphics Designer, I was given the opportunity to be the sole creative to rebrand Ireland's second national broadcaster channel; RTÉ TWO.
The brief was to completely re-target the brand toward young adults and make it 'Playful. Fun. Unconventional. Self-deprecating. Smart but Silly.'
The only thing that was not up for interpretation was that, as RTÉ's secondary corporate brand-colour, it HAD to be green.
I proposed representing the channel as a space, a studio, an environment that enveloped all of the TV shows curated for this new demographic. If you peeled back the surface there it was; holding it all together. Thus was born 'The Green Room'.
What followed was two years of delving deep into the world of corporate branding, commissioning originally composed music & sound design, collaboration with 3D artists & compositors, and then finding myself on the speaking circuit giving presentations to other industry professionals on how to do a lot with a little.
The Pitch
SILENT MOVIE COMEDY
The back bone of television branding are the 'idents': Visually engaging shorts that declare the personality of the channel you are watching. All without saying a word.
To reflect the key notes of 'play', 'smart but silly' & 'unconventional' I conceived of a series of purely visual gags. Everyday scenes reinterpreted through mischievous eyes. These statements of intent would then transition into the principal brand; The Green Room.
In the end I worked up close to a hundred gags for the dozen or so that were green-lit for production. Below are some of the early mockups versus what they would eventually come to look like.
Colour
REFLECTING A NATION
While green was the mandated brand colour of the channel, there was internal concern of it being stereotypically 'Irish'. But rather than shy away from the fact, I chose to lean into it instead, and introduced secondary & tertiary tones of white & orange; the other colours of the national flag. Complementary accents to break up the monolith of a single colour.
Below is the original mood board I pitched demonstrating the tone and grade of the colour palette. It also depicts the first mockup of the Green Room and how it was intended to be lit.
Channel Idents
DECLARATION OF INTENT
The idents were meant to be brief but visually rich to reward repeat viewing. To cement the connection between the short and the principal brand, a random element of the previous scene would carry over into The Green Room.
The room itself wasn't a dead space, but rather a conscious, playful environment. Animated sections of the floor and walls were introduced to bring it to life and highlight its absurdist personality.
A function of idents is to allow time for a voice-over to inform the audience about the upcoming schedule. Depending on the length of this read, the viewers would occasionally see bonus gags they may not have caught before.
All 3D & 2D animations were built by Morten Vinther & Gavin Kelly at the creative studio Piranha Bar.
Ad Break Bumpers
SHORT BUT SWEET
Quick 2 second 'bumpers', coming in and out of commercial breaks, catching the Green Room at play. A short selection from dozens that were aired.
Genre Intros
TASTE OF WHAT'S TO COME
On different nights there could be a line-up of TV shows collected under certain genres - such as wildlife, history or movie nights. These themes were depicted to have (temporarily) taken over the Green Room.
Christmas Branding
SNOWMAN CARNAGE
When it came time to brand the channel for the Christmas period, I went for an unconventional approach. Instead of the usual trappings of Christmas, I instead offered the viewers a series of activities that no snowman has any business taking part in.
Graphic branding
PROMOS / MENUS / PRESENTATION SLIDES
The rebrand extended into all aspects of the packaging of the channel. I also had to design a wide variety of menus, promos, presentation elements etc. The segmented architecture of the Green Room laid the foundation for the overall graphic theme.
Promos
TARGETED ADVERTISING
In my other role as a Promo Producer I spearheaded the change in tone for the channel's TV promos. Shooting comedy sketches, writing self-aware scripts for the voice-overs and tongue-in-cheek music choices put a new spin on the familiar. Here’s a small sample of some I wrote, directed & produced to reflect the new personality of the channel.
