ROLE
Art Director in collaboration with David Williams [Gilimbaa]
FOR
NITV
National Indigenous Television
DATE
12 December 2021
TYPE
Full rebrand
URL
sbs.com.au/nitv/
AWARDS
Bronze medal, Design (Brand Identity – Rebrand), BADC awards 2022
In 2021, Gilimbaa Creative Agency was engaged to rebrand the First Nations television broadcaster, NITV, which is incorporated with SBS. The objective of the rebrand was to reconnect NITV with community, yet still align the brand to the SBS suite of brands. It was a rebrand that needed to be handled with care.
David Williams, Executive Director of Gilimbaa and proud Wakka Wakka man, conceptualised the logo and story for the new brand direction, and I assisted him in bringing his vision to life.
For the brandmark David envisioned the clapstick, or Bilma, as it is known in North-East Arnhem land; a universal symbol for rhythm that pulses and creates a structure to our song and dance. As the clapsticks are struck, the rhythm, represented by songlines, is carried across the country, connecting and celebrating First Nations culture.
We worked together, alongside the team at NITV to refine the logo and songlines, develop colour palettes, textures and typography that would make up the new NITV brand.
These elements together represent NITV; the home of First Nations storytelling in Australia that showcases the diversity of Indigenous voices, views and practices.
As an organisation with programs that inspire, instil pride and lead to greater understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures, made by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, NITV helps all Australians to connect with our rich Indigenous history.
The rebrand was launched on 12 December 2021 with great excitement and has received very positive feedback.
The visual identity for NITV is based around the idea of representing mobs from all across the country. As a nation of many nations, we sought to represent this with a broad approach using various geographical attributes from right across Australia.
This has been done by creating a colourway and element suite to represent the main types of Country. A colour palette for each Country has been developed, and each Country has it’s own texture.
The 4 main Countries that represent NITV are:
• Desert Country
• Bush Country
• Freshwater Country
• Saltwater Country
These colourways are represented in the colour brandmark from right to left.
A secondary country palette was created and this is Rainforest Country. Rainforest Country palettes are only used in social media.
Texture has also been incorporated across the palette, symbolising the earth all Australians stand on, no matter where they may be in the country.
The songlines are a complimentary design element. The songlines represent the rhythm that the clapsticks make.
The form of the Bilma was also used as one of the brand elements. It was used as a content placeholder as well as a design element.
There are many different ways the Songlines and Bilma can be configured in the brand