Elevation helps reimagine Newsy as Scripps News
The E.W. Scripps Company relaunched their OTA news network with a new name and new look.
01/30/23 - Atlanta, GA: As part of The E.W. Scripps Company’s strategy to merge their nationally focused news resources, the media company relaunched Newsy as Scripps News on January 1, 2023. To craft a refreshed look for the newly renamed network, the team at Scripps News once again turned to Elevation, the creative company who helped create Newsy’s last rebrand.
Since its debut in 2008, Newsy has undergone several transformations. The network originally launched as a syndication platform before it was acquired by The E.W. Scripps Company in 2014. Newsy eventually transitioned in 2017 to a more full-featured streaming network. In 2021, Newsy made another transformation into a free 24/7 over-the-air network, featuring a complete brand overhaul created by Elevation. In 2023, Newsy relaunched as Scripps News.
To accompany the new name, Scripps News needed an updated look. Elevation and E.W. Scripps used the design strategy they created together in the 2021 rebrand as the foundation for Scripps News.
“One thing that didn’t change with the rebrand was Scripps News’ approach to sharing information,” said Brett Rakestraw, Elevation’s Director of Strategy. “Their motto, ‘Be informed — not influenced,’ served as a solid foundation for us to explore some interesting design directions. We knew that Scripps News wanted their brand, just like their coverage, to find a place in the middle that invited all viewers rather than alienating some.”
“While ‘only changing colors and logos’ might sound simple, the main challenge was establishing the new overall look before executing it across hundreds of deliverables,” said Alina Klopach, Elevation’s Producer. “Elevation’s Art Director Dianne Frisbee did a wonderful job in the initial ideation, taking our original Newsy designs and reimagining them for the new Scripps News. Her thought process in updating the color palette set us up for success throughout the project.”
This new color palette for Scripps News included a shift from Newsy’s purple as the primary tone to blue, which more aligns with the overall Scripps brand. “Purple was an underused color in the news landscape,” said Dianne Frisbee. “It had symbolic meaning relevant to Newsy's position in the marketplace as a balance between the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red. So we didn’t want to completely abandon that. We accomplished this by pushing the primary color to a darker blue, while maintaining elements of purple that continue to reinforce the symbolic meaning behind the Scripps News brand.”
The new Scripps News logo took several cues from Newsy. The Newsy logo consolidated several concepts that represented the brand’s core mission, communicating balance, perspective, and revealing the bigger picture. Scripps News wanted to keep those ideals intact with the transition to the new branding, so they supplied an updated logo with nods to the directional arrows from the 2021 Newsy logo design.
Once the new look was established, Elevation’s global team of artists and animators went to work to create a network graphics package. “We were pedal to the metal for months to make updates and tweaks beyond colors and logos to improve upon our original Newsy designs,” said Alina. “This was a quality control feat. To ensure that the network package delivered a seamless look, every single element had its own approvals process.”
One of the more unique challenges that arose during the production process regarded a change in animation speed. “They realized the Newsy monitor fills moved too fast in-camera, but wanted to keep the same actions & animations for each,” said Elevation’s Creative Director David Hendrix. In order to work for the on-set monitors, the 1800 frame animations needed to be turned into 5400 frame animations — an increase of 300%. “This added complexity and increased render times, but the end result was worth the extra effort,” said David.
Elevation and The E.W. Scripps Company collaborated closely to ensure the project met the January 1, 2023 deadline. “Rob Wright, Garrett Cook, Jim Jackson, and the whole Scripps News team were a joy to work with. Their intimate knowledge of their brand, plus the expertise in design and production, made our weekly meetings helpful and informative,” said Alina.
Overall, Elevation updated and delivered over 350 assets, including logo stings, transitions, interstitials, title cards, broadcast toolkits, social media toolkits, and more. Scripps News launched with its new name and new look on January 1, 2023.
About Elevation: Elevation is the fully-virtual creative company known for crafting beautifully designed solutions and stories for their clients. Specializing in branding, animation, and design, Elevation has been part of the entertainment industry for over 25 years. https://thisiselevation.com