As part of Upstatement's work to reimagine WBUR's digital presence, I created a branding system that could fit in a world that was less like a newspaper, and more like Spotify.
Since the new wbur.org was going to feel like a sleek, visually driven application, we needed show branding that was less like a logo and more like album art. The challenge was to create a system that was cohesive, but allowed for each show to maintain its individuality. This solution combined illustration with a unifying diamond shape.
Simplified, geometric versions of each show's illustration could appear in contexts that called for a small icon.
I created the illustrations for Radio Boston and The ARTery, but we needed to make sure that an independent illustrator could follow the guidelines of our system. To put our theory to the test, I worked with illustrator Vicki Turner to create the album art for Dear Sugar.
WBUR frequently launches new programs and blogs, so it was important that the system allow for a producer or designer to create album art for a new show quickly and easily.
Various geometric compositions, all contained within the diamond, could be colored and combined with a show's title in order to create new art with relatively little effort.