HGTV Canada Identity
On July 24th 2012 HGTV Canada, one of the biggest North American home-improvement TV Networks, officially launched their new on-air and online brand. Developed by the Canadian firm Tendril, the design team worked to bring to life their ultra clean and graphical design and apply it to all aspects of HGTV’s programming.
The design is extremely graphical, using a strong vibrant color pallet, a variety of graphical forms and dynamic animation to lift up its presence and add an additional informative and sometimes entertaining layer to their programming lineup.
Taking a noticeable important roll in the brand is the typography. Led entirely by the typeface ARS Maquette Pro (and ARS Maquette Web for the HGTV.ca website), the type is often big and in your face when announcing the programs, combined with a layer of information typography following strict brand guidelines for the shows’ titles, weekdays and time slots.
We decided to use the font “ARS Maquette” as the cornerstone of our design. Its typeface is a 21st century take on the 19th century sans serif “Akzidenz Grotesk,” which was a sort of “Helvetica” in its time. We thought that ARS Maquette effectively embodied clarity, simplicity, and warmth: three adjectives we found perfectly suited to the new HGTV look. Once we began employing the typeface in the rebrand, we made sure to pay close attention to the content hierarchy by defining weights, sizes, and cases for each piece of information on the TV screen. This ensured that all on-air information would be as clear and pleasant to read as possible.
Overall, the result is a very striking and playfully accomplished piece of modern branding that offers a confident alternative to the rather conservative and overly sentimental look often associated with the home-improvement industry.
Read more about the brand on Tendril’s website.
This complementary movie presents the rebrand in motion.
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CREDITS
Client: Shaw Media
Production Company: Tendril Design+Animation Inc.
Design: Tendril, Daniel Luna, Yaniv Fridman
Animation: Nicolas Girard, Yaniv Fridman
PROCESS. Palettes and layouts developed during the course of the project.
ON-AIR ELEMENTS. A sampling from the brand guidelines.
