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The People’s Pregame

Client
NBCU, NBC Sports, LX News

Year
2022

The People’s Pregame was a unique & exciting sports podcast covering the world of fan-controlled football [FCF] (an online experience similar to fantasy football). With expert analysis, interviews, highlights and other unique content, the show gave viewers & listeners a chance to experience the game from every angle, first-hand (See More).

Building completely from scratch, NBCLX needed a logo/title, along with a design system that could be utilized across multiple mediums, both digital and print.

Given the great privilege of leading the design process, I sought to establish a solid title/logo with modules and elements that could be repurposed across multiple channels..

Producers
Matt Baston, Khalief Adams, LX News, NBCU

Art Direction
Hi-Tone Images

Hosted by Kahlief Adams, the show was mostly virtual, connecting a number of FCF competitors, analysts, reporters and more from around the country.

The People’s Pregame Ep: 1

Producer, Editor
Matt Baston

Graphics, Animation
Hi-Tone Images

Logo/Title + Identity Briefing

Origin sketches

Yet again working with NBCU’s LX News division, I took their Montserrat Black font and began crafting trademark concepts that would convey ‘American football’ with a fan-centered, digital twist. The challenge now would be figuring out a way to avoid being too literal, while still making it plain that this podcast would be about American football.

Typography

Working with LX News’ Montserrat typeface, I knew we’d have to go as bold as possible for this particular concept. In order to stand out online among other sports podcast brands, it was essential to make a legible, scalable type-lock, with American Football graphics only serving as compliments to the structure.

Primary

Color Palette

Once LX News allowed themselves to break out of the parameters of their brand colors, it granted us access to explore an array of more relevant and vibrant pantones. Nearing completion of the overall logo/title architecture, I began adding in some color and landed on the palette below.

Logo/Style Explorations

Once again using many of the popular sports shows, podcasts and events as benchmarks, I made a point to focus heavily on the type-lock design as shown below. Meanwhile, LX News producers went back and forth on a final name for the podcast—trying to decide between ‘Power to the Fans‘ or ‘The People’s Pregame.‘ Whichever they’d decide, I made it a point to continue making the type-lock primary to any other iconography.

As I brought the logo/title to conclusion, I tried re-arranging the simplified football graphics around the type-lock, keeping the latter as the focal-point. This would allow for easy scaling and repurposing across different channels. By then, LX News had decided on a name and we had finally arrived at a solid logo/title for the podcast, needing only their tag-line to be added beneath.

Iteration 1

Iteration 2

Final result

Final result

Style Explorations

Once the logo/title was complete, I felt the associated identity system could be a bit more literal compared to the restraints we had earlier. Keeping in line with the simple, yet infamous American football ‘Xs and Os,‘ I applied the same mindset by adding in simplified football helmets.

To illustrate the ‘human interaction’ element of the podcast, I implemented some mixed-media elements like hand/smartphone cut-outs and chalkboard texture. The results proved effective for the vision of LX News producers who were adamant about keeping the fans and participants central.

Style frame 1

Style frame 2

Style frame 3

Static Modules

With approval from both LX News and NBC Sports on the presented graphics for The People’s Pregame, I began developing the marketing collateral shown below.

Podcast Thumbnails (Apple, Spotify, TuneIn)