ITV has unveiled a brand new model id, created in collaboration with Cornwall-based Studio Kiln, marking the broadcaster’s most important design replace for the reason that launch of ITVX in 2022. The work simplifies the system, strips again sub-channel signposting, and locations the ITV masterbrand firmly on the coronary heart of its communications.
The choice comes as ITV advertising and marketing continues to stretch throughout extra platforms and codecs than ever earlier than. From billboards and broadcast trailers to TikTok advertisements and CTV campaigns, the brand new system is designed to offer ITV a constant presence wherever audiences encounter it.
Spark yellow, first launched with ITVX, has now been elevated because the lead color, supported by a daring visible machine referred to as “the apex”.
Studio Kiln’s breakthrough on the mission got here with the creation of the apex, which is a pointy, angular machine impressed by the geometry of the ITVX’ X’. As soon as launched, it modified ITV’s entire method to the model.
“As soon as we created a tool that bodily related the ITV emblem with content material, the entire mindset modified,” says Charlie Hocking, inventive director at Studio Kiln. “It meant ITV did not have to lean on sub-channels or secondary signposting anymore – the model had a novel and identifiable model machine that might do the heavy lifting.”
The apex isn’t a single static mark however a versatile system with greater than 50 dynamic variations. Panels drift, orbit, and broaden across the ITV emblem, creating a way of power and motion whereas permitting house for the content material to shine.
Every fragment represents a unique a part of the broadcaster’s universe, akin to drama, sport, information, and leisure, anchored by the ITV emblem on the centre. A small easter egg connects again to the ITVX period, because the apex shares its underlying geometry with the streaming platform’s icon, constructing continuity into the evolution.
One of many hardest inventive calls was deciding how a lot of ITV’s vibrant model world to retain. The corporate has lengthy been related to a number of channel identities and shifting palettes. Studio Kiln and ITV Inventive finally concluded that readability mattered greater than selection.
Charlie recollects: “One of many hardest selections was to cut back sub-channel indicators and select a single color – Spark Yellow. ITV had grow to be identified for a number of colors and a number of channels, however for readability, we stripped this again.
“We selected to maintain the Spark Yellow from ITVX, as a result of it already had the strongest model recognition and felt noticeably completely different from rivals. Over time, the extra we stripped away, the clearer and extra usable the system turned.”
The streamlined method makes the id simpler to implement throughout an unlimited advertising and marketing funnel, from long-lead campaigns to quick-turn social content material. It additionally provides ITV the liberty to guide confidently with simply the masterbrand, moderately than leaning too closely on sub-brands.
In follow, the brand new design needed to work onerous throughout a whole bunch of use instances, from TV trailers to outside billboards, and so the apex turned the unifying software. “It may have felt overwhelming, however The Apex gave us a approach to generate infinite variations with out breaking consistency,” Charlie explains.
For audiences, the impact is refined however highly effective, because the ITV emblem now feels just like the gravitational centre of a wider world of content material, with the apex creating motion and discovery round it. On digital platforms, the movement language brings this to life, constructing recognition even in fleeting, scroll-stopping moments.
The mission, led by ITV’s in-house inventive group in partnership with Kiln, displays a wider shift in how the broadcaster sees itself. Tom Houser, govt inventive director at ITV Inventive, says: “Having the chance to evolve the ITV model like this and collaborate with Studio Kiln has been an actual thrill. This mission introduced collectively groups from throughout ITV, from advertising and marketing to technique, design to efficiency, who labored collectively to create a improbable new feel and look that is brimming with potential.
“Now the ITV masterbrand will get the eye it deserves, sitting confidently alongside all of the unbelievable content material we produce. I am unable to wait to see all of the methods it will come to life – watch this house.”
Studio Kiln believes that this mission gives a priceless lesson that many manufacturers can study from.
“Simplifying is not about dropping issues — it is about giving the model extra confidence,” Charlie says.
“ITV confirmed that by decreasing their colors, typefaces and sub-channels, they did not find yourself with much less, they ended up with one thing stronger and extra versatile.”
The brand new id represents the primary time ITV’s masterbrand has been utilized constantly throughout the whole advertising and marketing funnel. In a aggressive and fragmented leisure panorama, this coherence goals to make ITV stand out as a lot for its id as for its content material.
