“Twitch needed to tell a much larger story,” says Byron Phillipson, global executive creative director at Twitch, in a recent Adobe Blog article. Twitch is a leading live streaming platform for gamers, but its population is growing and becoming more diverse: it now has partnerships with the NBA, NFL, professional wrestling, and many other sporting organizations. It offers diverse and unusual programming, including an eight-day marathon of Bob Ross’s “Joy of Painting” show, and it livestreamed every single episode of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Musicians, makers, artists, and so many more are all now in the room.
Twitch’s identity needed to become much more inclusive, not just for today, but also to have the elasticity to accommodate future change. Its updated identity was introduced in 2019, but recent articles share more about the redesign process.
“Gaming was our first proof point, yes,” says Phillipson. “But Twitch is actually a platform for everyone who wants to create new conversations about the stuff they love—anything and everything. They want to share their interests, curiosities, and creativity.”
Design agency Collins worked with the Twitch team to build an identity that actually replicated the platform’s chaotic nature. “Twitch is an intense experience. And always should be,” CCO Doug Collins says. “There are lots of things going simultaneously, with multiple feeds and interactions happening on-screen. In a world where most people have the attention span of a ferret on a double espresso, this keeps Twitch streamers and viewers deeply engaged. One look at the history of Twitch told us that to reduce this winning formula it to a bland, minimalist design language would be ridiculous. For Twitch, less is not more. Mess is more.”
Collins’ website describes their brand solution. “We started with color. Twitch is well known for its beloved purple palette. We aimed to build on this recognition by layering a flexible system of vibrant hues to showcase the expanding diversity of talent and audiences that are joining the platform.
“Amplifying the uniqueness (and quirkiness) of their wordmark, creating a custom typeface, adding the graphic language of emotes and icons, as well as a photography style visualizing a ‘level up’ approach to Twitch Creators, we aimed to invite viewers to enter this new world and be part of it.”
https://blog.adobe.com/en/2020/10/16/how-twitch-reimagined-itself-for-a-larger-future.html#gs.kic02b