As part of a larger WarnerMedia strategy to reimagine its portfolio for the current entertainment landscape, the need to delineate between comedy (TBS) and drama (TNT) no longer made sense. With TBS, the company saw an opportunity to broaden the focus from comedy to genre-fluid entertainment and they partnered with Trollback+Company to define the new brand and create a relevant design system. The solution uses motion to unlock the logo shape as a tool for expression and a symbol of attribution, with shapes utilized in different ways to reflect the mood and tone of programming.
From there, the branding and design firm defined a system of light and patterns that could turn the shape into a symbol that stands for TBS itself, and developed a new color palette using gradients instead of single colors. Design Director Nadia Husain explains that the identity is “designed to express mood and tone of content rather than identify a rigid genre.” Two interdependent typefaces – a serif for voice-driven brand expression and a sans serif to deliver information – complement the gradient color palette.
