Transforming Premier Sports for a digital future.
Two fast-growing UK sports brands, one unified identity for Premier Sports.
Premier Sports and Free Sports are two British sports channels, airing over one thousand events per year, showcasing some of the worlds most exciting and unique sports.
Our challenge was to sharpen and align two tonally and aesthetically distant Sports channel brands. To create equal recognition and buzz around both Free Sports and Premier Sports, allowing them to champion the sports franchises that their fans love.
A confident and sophisticated brand language
Through collaborative, strategic workshops with the client, we were able to identify that both brands needed to be elevated visually in order to give the channels, and their content, the recognition they deserved. To do this we developed a confident and sophisticated brand language using straight-to-the-point strategy, demanding graphic design and innovative motion design and animation.
“Engaging the viewers who come for one sport and end up staying for all.”
Let the sport do the talking
We wanted to create a brand that didn’t have to scream and shout but instead could sit back and let the sports do the talking – with a design that is sophisticated and considered but courageous and bold enough to hold its own within the saturated sports-broadcasting world.
A modernist symbol for sports
We put huge focus into creating new channel identities for both Free Sports and Premier Sports, starting with the design of the logos and a unifying Monogram that could be used consistently across the two channels. The Monogram was developed into a modernist symbol that recognisably connected both brands, transformed across promo kits and came to life in the animated idents.
Unified but unique
Although the core strategy was to unify, we wanted the two channels to maintain some of their unique qualities, fit for purpose. As Premier Sports is a subscribed-to channel, we wanted to make it feel exclusive through the use of an elegant colour palette and steel graphite art direction, with photography that captures the emotion and drama of sport.With Free Sports being shown on Freeview and populating more homes across the UK than Sky, we aimed for it to feel inclusive and accessible but still eclectic and cutting edge. We wanted to harness the vibrancy and energy of sports such as NHL, Pro 14 Rugby, and Drone Racing by using a dynamic colour palette and captivating colour photography.
“The digital experience uses a clean and minimal interface which brings focus to the sporting content.”
Sports in their purest forms
For both channels’ idents, we used 3D motion graphics to distil a number of sports down to their purest forms, capturing their strength, speed, and precision. We studied and tracked the movements from real sporting moments and converted them into simple, bold and dynamic compositions, made from only lines and shapes.
From 16 players powerfully crunching together in a rugby scrum or five riders ferociously hurtling around a speedway track, to the precise weave and dunk of a solo basketball player, the idents bring the exhilaration and the energy of the sports to the forefront of this unified brand.
Adaptable and robust
It was important for us to design a visually enticing yet functional Promo Toolkit. To maintain the unified feel, our robust motion theory was mirrored effortlessly across both channels, whilst still allowing the distinct characteristics of each to shine through in differences of colour palette, imagery and typography line.
