Fashion has a new face

Ugly Betty has been popular with some viewers. Me, well, I watched the pilot but it's not for me. The UK's Channel 4 promo is entertaining (via BrandDNA) and reminds me of the weirdly watchable speed painting on YouTube.

Station idents and promos are big business, if they were sold at commercial rates they would be worth tens of millions of dollars. The channel branding business has facsinated me since working with Bill Peake, who was my business partner in BrandWorld. Bill had previously worked as Asia/Pacific sales director for the UK firm Lambie-Nairn who pioneered the art of the channel ident. LN were led by the visionary designer Martin Lambie-Nairn (a winner of the prestigeous D&AD President's award). I remember watching some of Bill's tapes for some of the European channels such as Arte and being hypnotised by the quality and invention of the imagery. One of the most striking features was the sound design. All of the elements would combine beautifully to capture attention and provide a bed for ever changing information.

The spots made me wonder about the idea of creating a brand without the usual linear narrative (or gags) that are the convention in advertising.

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Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

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