Motion design and production studio Royale recently completed the rebrand of E! Entertainment Television. The new look for E! puts a sophisticated spin on pop culture entertainment with the tagline, “Pop of Culture.” Working closely with E! in-house creatives, Royale used its design, animation, production and post talents to help create an editorial-driven package and a new logo for the network that will entertain and inspire the pop culture fan.
The amusing and light-hearted rebrand promo visually encapsulates the idea that E! is bigger than a brand. The sizzle promo rolls out on a black-and-white palette with striking pops of color and graphics to accent signature E! icons, including Joan Rivers and the Kardashians.
“Being a huge fan of E!, I understood how to help elevate the brand to the next level,” said Royale partner/creative director Jayson Whitmore, who previously worked on the 2002 rebrand of E! “They wanted a radical change – not just an evolution – to celebrate pop culture, and to position their programming as a guilt-free pleasure. We nixed the Klieg lights and lens flares and made it more about the network personalities, rather than something entertainment-centric.”
Royale co-directed the shoot with production company Moving Parts, which was used for all aspects of the re-brand including web ads, promos, up-fronts, and the general architecture of the network. Bringing a design-eye to the live-action production, Royale was heavily involved with pre-production and set design, and oversaw the greenscreen shoot.
To help emphasize the network talent featured in the promos, Royale sought to capture real moments. It designed a minimal, stark set, and worked with E! to come up with simple props for the talent to interact with so they had something to focus on besides posing.
“This rebrand project was unique for us because it was primarily live-action and editorially-driven,” explained Royale partner/creative director Brien Holman. “Our footage strove to capture genuine glimpses into their personalities, such as Joel McHale being his sarcastic, witty self and the Kardashians laughing instead of posing. We provided E! with a toolkit of actions that could potentially mimic the mood of each show the talent represented.”
A crucial part of the live-action portion of the job was framing shots for the architecture of the network, including endpages, network opens, and stings. Here, Royale designed five different patterns, such as houndstooth, curved lines, subway, dark and light stripes, that could seamlessly weave throughout the promos.
“This project was very much a team effort and design by committee,” Whitmore said. “We worked really well with E! to evolve and develop the package all the way to the end, to make it the best it could be. We really embraced the concept and loved working with the talent and the creatives at E!”
E! Rebrand 2012 from Royale on Vimeo.
