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A man with a headlamp desperately searches the dark forest and winds up face to face with The Woman of the Woods.
Ghost hunters share raw footage of their investigation of a New Orleans home where a tragic, gruesome murder took place.
After finding a huge handprint in the mud and hearing from a couple who say they were terrorized by Bigfoot pounding on the walls of their house, the hunt is on.
These episodes are a far cry from the Middle America travel stories, local food and natural history programming that formed the backbone of Discovery’s Destination America. The network has left Kansas City-style barbecues, taking a turn literally into the unknown, and brought design studio METAphrenie in to create a brand refresh that reflects the new direction.
“We wanted to find a visual representation of paranormal and supernatural,” said METAphrenie Executive Producer Elaina Porter.
Creative Director and Owner Andrea Dionisio and his team came up with two design concepts: the glitch and glow.
The “glitch” represents a metaphysical bridge to the realm of monsters, aliens, the afterlife and beyond. It’s graphically depicted by severely distorting footage to create horizontal streaks across the screen.
The “glow” is closely tied to the unexplained, such as energy fields, UFOs and ghosts. It’s used to display navigational components like lower thirds, title cards and footage transitions, bookending all the animated elements on screen.
Together, they form a graphic toolkit that gives Destination America a refreshed identity that aligns its on-air presence with its philosophy moving forward. The package is fully customizable, and allows for the easy creation of custom backgrounds and transitions using new or existing footage and stills.
“We wanted a refresh that elicited a mood and spoke to what our brand was about,” said Ki Yi, senior writer/producer, marketing, Destination America.
The new look sets the tone for the type of programming that no longer has a connection to the network’s name.
METAphrenie’s toolkit is more than just a template; it captures the personality of the programming can be used as part of a 360, multiplatform campaign across linear, digital and social media, Yi said.
“The look is very much—in the best way possible—off-putting,” Yi said. “It makes you feel uneasy.”
Destination America has been slowly rolling out the new look over the past few months, incorporating it into the recently completed redesign of its website.
The network began transitioning its programming after the the March 2016 premiere of Paranormal Lockdown was one of the highest-rated series premieres in the network’s history. That type of programming continued to perform better than the rest, so the network embraced the niche.
Said Yi: “We saw that there was a very devout and passionate audience for paranormal.”
CREDITS
Destination America:
Jennifer Pennybacker, VP, Marketing
Ki Yi, Sr. Writer/Producer, Marketing
Kyle Russell, Sr. Director, Marketing Production
Miles Aghajanian, Marketing Manager
Concept, Design, Animation:
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