Merging two public broadcasters

Broadcast identity
BNNVARA

A visual system to show BNNVARA content across all platforms

BACKGROUND

BNNVARA is one of the major television broadcasting companies in the Netherlands. Being a merger between the young and rebellious BNN on the one side and the more traditional ‘left wing’ VARA on the other, BNNVARA is an important content provider for more progressive viewers of the nation. BNNVARA is a cross media platform active on TV, Radio and various digital platforms such as their homepage, YouTube Channels, and social media pages.

OBJECTIVE

We were asked to develop a new visual identity, based on their new brand story and strategy, which resulted in the internal MTP (massive transformative purpose): Discover, reveal, unleash). Our aim was to highlight the attitude that unites the two organisations, being their recognizable rebellious character as well as their sophisticated way of communicating to their audience.

APPROACH

As the BNNVARA identity will live on various platforms we included motion, and sonic from the beginning of development. Approaching the identity as a Living Brand designed for the senses.

THE LOGO

The logo was set out to be iconic, clean and flexible. For a brand, which main purpose is to deliver high quality content to its audience, what would a better symbol to use than the internationally recognized icon for ‘content’ (in some communities better know as the ‘hamburger menu’)? To claim that symbol in the Dutch media landscape is simply a demonstration of the rebelliousness and guts of BNNVARA.

TYPOGRAPHY

We asked Portuguese type designer Natanael Gama to design custom type for this project, based on his bold and playful font 'EXO2'. The result, EXO BNNVARA, is especially fit for usage on screens, due to the extended ink traps which also add unicity to the font.

MOTION DESIGN

As the identity will mostly live on screen its motion behaviour was essential and a crucial part of the entire creation process. We created three different variations for the three channels that are part of BNNVARA each clearly belonging to the same family but also distinctly reflecting the content on each particular channel, and varying from a higher emphasis on being rebellious for younger content to emphasis on revelation for more serious content e.g. news related.

Dutch Public Broadcasting (NPO) has three different channels, all with their own unique positioning to show different content to their viewers. From newsy (NPO1), to narative (NPO2), to young and bold (NPO3). All idents are specifically designed for each channel.

Three distinctive motion and sonic treatments to express the specific nature of the content

SONIC IDENTITY

Sonic is the perfect opportunity to connect with the audience on an emotional level and give the broadcasters’ sophisticated rebel mentality depth. We created a singular accessible and recognizable sound by giving it a distinctive character.