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Independent Lens, the award-winning public broadcasting documentary series, is rolling out a new look and refreshed branding ahead of its new season on PBS. Brief readers are getting an exclusive first look at what viewers will see when they tune in
“We wanted to update our look to be more contemporary without being too Millennial,” said Amna Mirza, managing director of marketing and communications at San Francisco-based ITVS, which produces Independent Lens.
Documentaries are going through a renaissance right now, she said, and Independent Lens wanted to answer the question: “What’s our place in the world?”
With the help of New York-based branding agency Wolf & Wilhelmine, they developed a brand strategy centered on Independent Lens’ ability to strike up conversations among viewers.
Creative agency Elastic helped with the visual update.
The new logo features an I and an L in wine and grey, bisected by a sharp diagonal line.
“It’s our lightening bolt that strikes up conversations,” Mirza explained. An alternate version features the logo stacked on top of the title.
There is a cohesiveness to the new look that extends from print to on-air visuals, with the lightening bolt and the dot in the I manifesting themselves in different ways across mediums.
In print advertising, the new logo appears encased in a sphere that harkens back to that dot.
For on-air, ITVS has created an entirely new show open, along with new funding pods—a hallmark of public broadcasting—as well as tosses to the series Web site.
For the show open, Elastic again implemented the lighting bolts and the dot of the I to separate visuals and to cut to new imagery.
ITVS also enlisted fresh voiceover and musical talent for the open.
Bay Area spoken word artist Safiya Fredericks makes her VO debut with this series.
“We gravitated towards her because she has intrigue in her voice,” Mirza said. “We’re excited that we got to get someone in the early stages of their voiceover career.”
Jeremy Turner is the series’ new musical composer, working with musicians from the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for the show open. [Ed note: The new sequences begins at the 1:00 mark in the video above].
The funder pod [1:20 mark, above] again utilizes the dot and lightening bolt theme, featuring a dramatic visual of traffic at night in a major city to add a dynamic look while keeping the viewer engaged through the several pre-show sequences that are another hallmark of public television programming.
The trailer for this season—tag line: “Bring Life Into Focus"— also breaks from tradition for Independent Lens, since it doesn’t seek to spotlight each and every one of the documentariess that will air. [Ed note: the trailer is at the start of the above video.]
“Historically we’ve highlighted all 22 films or so, and I felt like it wasn’t doing our slate justice,” Mirza said. “This season’s trailer does a great job of giving the breadth and the depth of the content. It raises awareness and drives consideration.”
The key words throughout the process for Mirza and her team were “open,” “human,” and “authentic,” especially since the series branding has to fit its history of showcasing leading independent documentary films.
In its twelve prior seasons, the weekly series has earned seven Emmy Awards and 13 Peabody Awards, among other honors.
“We know that with our program and our content we spark conversations,” Mirza said. “I feel that our show open and our season trailer really showcase the amazing content we have at our heart.”
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