London design studio 20something has created the branding and strategy for The News Movement (TNM), a news network that is distributed on social media platforms.
TNM has been founded by a group of journalists and media workers including former Wall Street Journal publisher Will Lewis and former BBC News editorial director Kamal Ahmed.
TNM’s team of journalists releases video-focused content over social channels including Instagram and TikTok. The journalistic and design teams have worked collaboratively to develop the identity.
20something co-founder Will Thacker explains that the identity had to speak to TNM’s desire for journalistic rigour and its position among popular online media platforms like Ladbible.
It also had to appeal to a young audience, in line with TNM’s relatively young workforce. “They want to come from young people, and to be for young people,” Thacker says.
A “conversational” approach to the news cycle
One way to achieve this was to reflect a “conversational tone” in the branding, Thacker says. The team of journalists talk about “news to knowledge”, he explains: “people having a more conversational debate around the news, rather than preaching at you.”
20something has designed a toolkit for the team which allows them to format their videos in a recognisable style, with transitions and stamps.
The main motif of the angular block – which Thacker calls a “window” – is partly inspired by a speech bubble. As well as housing the wordmark, the window appears in the video templates and as a connecting visual.
As Thacker explains, “The idea is that it’s an ever-shifting shape that creates different windows, angles, viewpoints and perspectives into stories and helps you see differently.”
Though TNM exists in the social media sector, which has its own “language in terms of iconography”, Thacker says the team looked to a more traditional space for inspiration to evoke a sense of longevity.
This is balanced with the shifting shapes, according to Thacker, which plays off the “ever-evolving movement” of the social media world.
A bright green, reminiscent of fintech companies, is used as a master brand colour, though there’s potential for expansion, according to Thacker. Colour categories in the future might differentiate TNM subbrands, he explains.
Garnett, from type foundry Sharp, has been chosen as the typeface. “We needed a typeface that appeared neutral and trustworthy, but still had a little character in the form of quirks to distinguish the brand from the corporate identities of new corporations of the past,” Thacker says.
It also had to be legible on small phone screens as well as larger screens, the designer explains. “Garnett seems to strike the right balance for us – for being fun but also working with all our constraints,” he adds.
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