In mid 2014 Foxtel relaunched the bio. channel, complete with a changed brand DNA and program offering.
The brand focuses around the concept of the ‘lens’, a graphical circle that is used to focus in on what’s important, and represents the station’s attention to curating quality content.
The rebrand looks back to 1960’s and 70’s design and the animation techniques from that time.
The logo was refreshed. The disc was removed freeing up the mark for use in a wider variety of ways. We decided not to radically change the logo as the bio. channel is an internationally recognised brand, and this rebrand was just for the Australian market.
Old bio. logo
And new
The typeface used on the channel is a bespoke font aptly named ‘biography’.
The bio channel features 4 programming pillars — biographies, documentaries, music/arts, and stories on the royal family. To represent this rich diversity in programming, we created a colour for each genre. Yellow for biographies (also our hero colour), pink for music and the arts, orange for documentaries, and blue for the royals.
The colours never appear onscreen all at the same time, rather only a single colour is used to represent what is being presented. For example if we are presenting a biography promo, then all the associated branding around it will be yellow.
A big part of a station rebrand is the sound design. We wanted a relaxed and original sound for the station so we commissioned London-based musician/producer Kwes to produce three hero tracks, each themed around different emotions — inspiring, reflective, and intellectual.
Using a Blackmagic Studio Camera the team shot hundreds of printed transparencies folding, moving, sliding, and bending. These live elements were combined with motion graphics to be at the centre of the onscreen package. The authenticity and nostalgia from these techniques make a good match for the channel’s brand values.
Yvette and I shooting elements for the rebrand. One of the bumpers was entirely created this way.
Design director: Jonathon Lau
Senior designer: Yvette Paxinos
Made at: Foxtel
More from Jonathon Lau.
Comments
A gorgeous design! I love that it’s retro without being trite or corny.
Im confused, this is posted as a 2014 relaunch, but on Brand new they are saying Bio. is rolling out and FYI, is replacing it. Is Bio. staying in Australia? Either way this is great work, just curious about the changes. (I prefer this on air package to the FYI, one.)
Here is the other story:
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_on-air_look_for_fyi_by_loyalkaspar.php
@Chris, what I can gather from the Brand New article is that they’re running a dual identity for the channel. It looks like the primetime slots will be branded as ‘fyi,’ and everything else will fall under ‘bio.’. I remember a fair few stations doing this in the analogue cable days, but it’s not something you see much of nowadays.
Hey guys. Thanks for the comments!
James: The bio channel will remain ‘bio’ in Australia, though it will be rebranded as ‘fyi’ everywhere else.