TVNZ’s 100 percent local channel receives hearty and nostalgic visual makeover
By Deirdre Robert,
TVNZ’s Heartland channel is
all about 100 percent local content and, with its inclusion of classic Kiwi
shows like Country Calendar, It’s in the Bag and old episodes of Shortland
Street (that, let’s be honest, often make you cringe), its new visual
makeover seems quite fitting. The new look features a range of Kiwiana phrases
embedded in some retro Kiwiana images designed by Jon Chapman-Smith from
creative agency Fuman.
Creative directors at S-M, Daniel Martin and Scott Spicer, were commissioned by TVNZ for the project, with Spicer saying the new look “spotlights what the channel represents”.
Creating a “consistent touch point” across all areas of promotion, menu boards and the channel itself, Spicer said the intention was to create a brand people could “get instantly”.
“It’s nostalgia in a relevant way,” he said. “It’s a celebration of being Kiwi and what it means to be Kiwi.”
The new look, already clearly visible on the channel's website, comes equipped with four illustrations — a fantail, a cup of tea, a red tractor and the tomato-shaped tomato sauce dispenser — each carrying sayings that include ‘hunky dori’, ‘sweet as’ and ‘ happy as Larry’.
“They’re built out of a common vernacular,” commented Spicer.
Chapman-Smith, commissioned by S-M to execute the designs, says classic Kiwiana is “all the rage at the moment”.
He said texture, together with faded colour, was applied to the images to give them a retro feel. Both Chapman-Smith and Spicer agree the images lend themselves nicely to potential t-shirts and even tea towels applications, but whether that will happen remains to be seen.
This story originally appeared on StopPress
Comments
honki
cheesy - is that all we have?
honki
a tractor is not 'kiwi'
a tomato sauce dispenser is not 'kiwi'
a cup of tea is not 'kiwi'
that just leaves the fantail.
Geez, awesome hard thinking there. How much did we (as owners of TVNZ) pay for that?
They should have put it to the schoolkids, they would have come up with something far better.
jobi
I agree that it's a shame “tacky and cheesy” is becoming synonymous with nz culture, here in nz atleast. Asking the schoolkids would be a great idea, but I bet if you said “draw some New Zealand culture” they would come up with something very similar to what's above. “Draw some pictures of stuff at your house” would give a better idea of what we as NZers actually have as culture right now, and to be honest I think “old tractor that is freshly painted and only used to drag a boat around” is the closest of what's above to something that we and we alone do. Does it have a (maori) name?
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