IGN Start
Situation
If you’re a male between the age of 18 and 34 and haven’t been on one of IGN Entertainment’s web properties, then you should probably stop going out so much and buy a computer.
San Francisco-based IGN Entertainment, a unit of News Corp., is the leading Internet media and services provider focused on the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN Entertainment’s properties reach over 50 million users worldwide, and its network of video game-related properties, which includes IGN.com, 1UP.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet and TeamXbox, is the Web’s #1 video game destination.
Building on IGN’s huge online following, IGN Entertainment partnered with global production company Shine Group to launch “START,” a new YouTube channel centered around
video games. START will feature all-new and exclusive long-form, high-quality content, including live and pre-recorded broadcasts not currently found on IGN.com or IGN's other YouTube channels.
IGN tasked Character with developing the START identity.
Strategy
We didn’t need a focus group to tell us that the START identity needed to be bold, memorable and dynamic. The identity also needed to be clean—something that would remain visually relevant in two years, five years, and beyond. Although START’s content would be rooted in videogaming, a largely male-dominated industry, it was also important that the identity not be overly masculine, so that the brand would have room to evolve its appeal to a broader, gender-neutral audience.
After an extensive logo exploration, IGN selected an identity composed of an IGN-red period followed by the word “START.” The period represents the end of a previous sentence, while the word START marks the beginning—or start—of the next. The START letterforms are bold yet simple, taking subtle design cues from the rounded corners of the existing IGN mark. As the logo will predominantly live in the broadcast realm, it was important that the logo could animate. Character felt the period was a perfect vehicle for moving, rotating and morphing to introduce channel content.
Result
START launched successfully in January 2012. Based on the success of this initiative, IGN invited Character to develop a new identity for their pro-gaming league, IPL.
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