Brand Experience
CNN International New On Air Look
CC-Lab worked with partner agency Brand42 to create opening title animations and station idents as part of a comprehensive redesign of the channel launched in February 2006.
As part of a comprehensive redesign of CNN International, Brand42 had created a new logo identity for the channel. CC-Lab collaborated with Brand42 to develop this identity into motion graphic treatments for opening title animations and station idents.
As part of the new look, the channel wanted to introduce a more consistent look across all of its core news and business output, and to link this output firmly with the channel identity.
The brief for station idents was to use this airtime to communicate something substantive about the channel.
The new CNN International logo is centred around the concept of creating a “window” providing a view onto the world. The new logo preserved a longstanding CNNI equity - the globe - but updated it to be modern and contemporary. The “window” in the identity is designed to become a visual metaphor for the channel - allowing key pieces of news content to be framed within the window and therefore made central to what CNN is and does. The window and other elements of the new identity focus on squares, which creates a strong common visual thread unifying the different elements of the new look.
The motion graphic treatments take the concept of the window and introduce elements of light to create dynamism and movement in the animations.
To streamline the channel’s breaks, the opening title sequence starts with a CNN channel identifier, removing the need for a separate station ident before the start of news programmes, making the break structure simpler and less “cluttered” for viewers.
The window in the logo opens up to show the CNNI globe, with pulses of light marking the channel’s three production centres of London, Atlanta and Hong Kong. The days top news stories appear as “pulses” of light. The light effects continue with soft light wipes to the anchors, and then the title of the news bulletin reveals.
For station idents, the concept of the window is continued. Each of the four idents features a statement of one of the network’s promises: “Essential for Business”, “Quoted Everywhere”, “Live from Anywhere” and “Be the First to Know”. The introduction of additional network statements is a new development for the channel, and reflects a desire to give a fuller statement of promises to viewers, moving beyond the idea of a single, all-encompassing tagline.
The new opening title sequences are now on-air, and the whole redesign has received an overwhelmingly positive response from viewers and design commentators.
Complex changes in the production methods at the channel were necessary to enable the complex keying necessary to achieve the desired look every hour.
The entire CNN International rebrand was led by CC-Lab’s Frank Lampen, working directly for CNN.
Animations were created in house in After Effects by Rob Jones, with Jason Hocking as producer.