Friday, 14 December 2018

ITV Rebrand Case Study

ITV one of the countries largest television networks in the UK had a rebrand in 2012. I wanted to investigate into this as I was intrigued about the way that a brand that isn't directly focused on selling a product, rather representing entertainment, did such.  


Old ITV logo
New ITV logo


In early 2012, the UK television network ITV wanted to start again with its brand. A new logo was required, along with a complete brand identity to span five TV channels and a host of off-air and digital environments. Rudd Studio won the pitch to undertake the rebrand, working in partnership with ITV’s in-house creative team. Matt Rudd was to lead a pop-up studio to house the new team.


“We couldn’t start designing logos before considering ITV’s place in the UK – what distinguished it from other broadcasters? We saw that it provided hugely popular content that brought all sorts of people together. A good summary was to say that ITV was at the heart of popular culture in the UK.” - this relates back to my essay question as it directly reveals that before an agency can begin to look into the positioning of the channel on the UK market as it is a position they wish to keep. Unlike most rebrands, ITV didn’t want to change where their position in their industry sat. 

Initial Development


Ideation Wall

Our brief was to create a brand which proudly held the network’s content, and showed ITV as a positive part of people’s lives. Therefore we wanted the new logo to fuse with imagery rather than ‘badge’ it. Matt developed the final logo design and its ‘colour-picking’ behaviour with this in mind. ‘Colour-picking’ means that five parts of the logo take colours from their environment. The logo becomes an intriguing and enjoyable addition to the imagery. The ‘colour-picked’ logo is used on ITV promos and idents, so that these key parts of the channel do not become repetitive. The mechanism requires little post-production and many idents can be made, creating variety and the opportunity to reflect events or seasons.


We picked a set of ‘hero’ colours for the logo. They span the colour spectrum, suggesting the network’s wide range of content. They are lively and joyful, speaking of an organisation at ‘the heart of popular culture in the UK’. At the same time, they are appropriate for a serious corporation like ITV. The logo is designed to work in its ‘hero’ colours on either a white or black background. There is a warmth to the handwriting-inspired logo which means that it doesn’t shout even when it is big.
This rebrand has allowed me to see from the designers and creatives point of view all of the aspects that are key in developing a rebrand of this scale. The develop process is similar that of any creative brief we undertake as part of our studies. Five years on from the rebrand it is evident that it was successful. 

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