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UPDATED: Florian Hausberger of ProSieben’s Creative Solutions will share more insights from the rebrand at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2015. See him on Thursday, June 11 at 11:15 a.m. at the JW Marriott at L.A. LIVE.
ORIGINAL POST: March 16, 2015:
This year, ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland underwent a channel-wide rebrand that changed everything about its look except the logo and the color scheme.
When ProSieben’s Creative Solutions began the process to redesign the channel, the group decided to look somewhere other than TV for inspiration. Instead, Creative Solutions sought out the newer, mobile platforms on which viewers now find their content – going beyond the corporate red that had been in place since the ‘90s and expanded upon in its 2009 rebrand.
The old ProSiebenSat.1 TV used gloss and prominent typography to display the channel’s programming, but the rebranded channel is meant to merge with today’s familiar mobile platforms.
“It might not be obvious to them,” said Christian Threimer, VP of design and digital at Creative Solutions, “but they know how this kind of user interface works. They know it from their tablet, their smartphones. The goal was to get one single experience over all these gadgets.”
To achieve this, Creative Solutions focused on high-end photography and clean lines for a more modern look, highlighting the content itself with uncluttered informational slides.
ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland has U.S. dramas and comedies, such as The Simpsons, The Flash and Gotham, but also in-house produced entertainment (Germany’s Next Top Model, Circus Halligalli, TV Total) as well as Hollywood blockbusters.
The new look had to reflect all of this content simultaneously, so Creative Solutions focused on the bold colors and close-up photography to carry it across all categories and genres. Threimer says that this reflected the role of the channel overall: “ProSieben wants to be at the top of art entertainment – a genuine brand for the younger audience, even in design [and that means] being a trendsetter in a subtle way.”
To accomplish this goal, the channel added a modern interface design with thin lines, geometric shapes and icons.
According to Threimer, “the main idea was to give the most possible space for photography for the program,” leaving the design elements coming in second. A focus frame of thin lines surround the high-end photography or programming information on-air, “to focus the information but not losing space for the image.”
The shapes and small icons inside are meant to re-create the look of mobile platforms and apps while also conveniently completing a multiplatform look that can be used on-air and off.
The frame also allows for a better focus on the photography without clouding it up with too much information at once – letting the imagery speak for the channel just as much as tune-in messaging.
The last element of the on-air design is the icon, or “entertainment tip,” that pops up during ad breaks.
Each tip is individualized and matches a theme, such as music, games or shopping. These are spots where ProSieben is recommending a commercial spot for each theme, so the music category might see a spot for a new album or a concert.
Each tip has its own branded icon, which, going along with the rebrand’s theme of multiplatform awareness, also is made to look like an icon from an app or website. “And, like the rebrand itself, it connects the linear TV world to the interactive world,” said Threimer, “where the use of the icons is very common.”
CREDITS:
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS: Richard Schweiger, Christian Threimer, Anne-Jacqueline Wenisch
CS DESIGN: Markus Goles, Florian Hausberger, Michi Funk, Denise Pumberger, Ariane Gebhardt, Marius Eder, Emrah Akal
CS PROMOTION: Patrick März, Philip Pleier, Markus Baier, Christian Giegerich
CS ADVERTISING: Verena Schuster, Ralph Aubele, Bernd Lutieschano, Kathrin Ziegelhöfer, Teresa Huber
CS ONLINE: Ciro Andreas Buono
CS AUDIO-DESIGN: Paul Taylor, Rudi Hochrein
PROSIEBEN MARKETING: Malte Hildebrandt, David Loy, Oliver Kempfer, Anna Kokott, Alisa Lennhoff, Romina Gräf, Yvonne Steiner
PROSIEBEN BRAND MANAGEMENT: Annkatrin Tojek
PROSIEBEN CHANNEL MANAGEMENT: Ellen Koch
PARTNER:
Martin Lerf
Alpenblick
Timo Böse
Woodblock
Aixsponza
Michael Fakesch
Rene Bieder
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