Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/11672
BROADCASE DESIGN [ cont. from 26 ] REDESIGNING BET When asked, Michael Uman, creative director at NYC’s Interspectacular, says there are no new trends in design.“It’s just more of the same,” he says.“Design is very fashion based, and stylistically a lot of studios are doing similar kinds of work these days.” Everyone is playing it safe, graphically and design wise, and this is likely due to the recession, he says.“When economies get tighter people take less risks, and in terms of marketing and packaging for networks, budgets have been slashed over the years. In the early days of broadcast they had to put the money into their cam- paign because it was a new business, a new model and new marketing. Now that space is kind of saturated; they don’t really need to spend the money they used to… and they don’t.The rebrands used to be millions of dollars, and now they’ll put in as little as possible.” Having to produce the same quality of work for less money is difficult for com- panies like Interspectacular, but they make it work by keeping their overhead low — on staff it’s just Uman and partner Luis Blanco — and ramping up with talent as needed. Not only is this plan cost effective, it allows them to pick the right artist for the job. “Our work tends to have a pretty broad range,” says Uman.“A lot of the current studios, because they are staffed up, they tend to work with what talent is available on their team.With us we look at what the project is and start building a team to com- municate that.We customize solutions for each project.” For a recent BET rebrand, Interspectacular had 10 workstations and artists cranking out graphics, animation and design.The job was brought to them by BET senior VP/executive creative director/brand strategy Kendrick Reid, who they worked with on the redesign of Comedy Central about four and a half years ago. “We worked on it for a year, took a little break and ended up doing a second phase. So two years of designing, packaging, influencing. It was a pretty strong and influential design,” says Uman. BET wanted to put a new face on the network, and when they called on Inter- spectacular, they had already completed branding documents. After a lot of back and forth, Interspectacular’s Uman and Blanco got to work developing the new look and so far have completed the first phase of the project. “We really wanted to get some new elements out for the in-house team to work with, do some toolkits and take some first baby steps to get rid of what was- n’t as structured as we wanted,” describes Uman.“We went for big, bold, poppy Interspectacular worked with BET’s Kendrick Reid on the network’s recent rebrand. and colorful; it’s a little bit about glamour and a little bit about fashion.That is where we are now, and we are getting ready to work with them on the second phase, which will probably embrace Web and print and other touch points such as new graphics and new directions.” Interspectacular was at BET a week prior to this interview, giving them a master class on the redesign, sitting with all their in-house teams — design, production and editorial — and talking to them about the theory of the design.“They are still the caretakers of their own brand, but they have to work with the tools we developed for them,” says Uman.“It was sitting down and explaining, this is the thinking behind it and this is what you need to think about when you develop this.” They left the in-house teams with a toolkit that’s flexible but that has enough structure for them to rebuild on but not too structured so it’s stifling.This included a handful of fonts.“The idea for phase two, which is exactly what we did with Comedy Central, is we will then build on what we have given them,” explains Uman.“Which is possibly introducing new colors, shapes, typography, new ele- ments, creating a bunch of new packaging for their tent poles and then developing what the look is for their other touch points — print, online, social media — and how that has to be presented.” SONIC BRANDING [ cont. from 30 ] supervision and exploratory phase.They were able to see graphics being devel- oped by NYC’s CA Square for the re-brand too. “The client really knew about music and had spe- cific thoughts about how they wanted their channel perceived and how they wanted it to sound,” recalls Blicker. They initially provided 20 different melodic fragments, performed on a piano and strings, “until we found one that could be the voice for the station,” says Blicker.The team then created a full orchestral score that he describes as “big, im- portant, not too newsy, but current.” G&E Music also created a track that was li- censed by NBC for use in The Today Show.The dance track features vocals performed by Mitch Matlock and introduces the “Joy Fit Club” segment with nutritionist Joy Bauer. It ap- pears twice a week.The “It’s Time For Joy” track has become an empowering anthem for peo- ple all over the country looking to improve their health and fitness. G&E also created several bumpers and stings, allowing NBC producers the flexibility to cut in and out of commercial breaks. Both Blicker and Schloss have home studios, as well as recording space at G&E in Manhattan.They of instruments. Also on site is Flavorlab, an outgrowth of G&E, which offers audio post, sound design and mixing via three 5.1 mixing suites. “The process is always refining and changing,” says Schloss of composing.“There is no substitute for sitting in a room with Erik and playing drums and guitar. But, with the number of jobs coming in, time is always a factor.”As such, they will collabo- rate from their home set-ups, iChatting and mail- ing files back and forth to keep things moving. “Finding [the right] melodic fragment is a 615 Music wrote “Your Day Is Today” for NBC’s The Today Show. tend to work in Pro Tools, with Blicker writing on gui- tar and Schloss handling drums. Both can play a range very difficult process,” says Blicker of creating a sonic identity. He questions whether it’s the choice of notes, the instrumentation, or the repetition that makes something memorable. “The biggest challenge [is] presenting a client with a melodic fragment and saying, ‘Yeah, this is memorable.’ The most successful ones are a combination: they got the notes right, it can res- onate with the people, and after playing it 400 times, it’s just as strong at the 500th time… and it doesn’t get super annoying!” www.postmagazine.com June 2010 • Post 45