Opinion BY Armin

Style Finally Looks Stylish

Launched in 1999, the Style Network is a television channel owned by NBCUniversal targeted to “women 18-49 with a passion for the best in relatable, inspiring and transformational lifestyle programming.” Style counts with 75 million cable and satellite subscribers, tuning in to shows like Jerseylicious, Chicagolicious, and How Do I Look? In June, Style introduced a new logo and on-air identity designed by New York, NY-based Gretel.

We took our initial inspiration from something in the original brief: seeing the world through a ‘style-filter’ and we channeled it into the idea of illustrating how a style-obsessed mind works. How do über-style-fans see the world? They’re constantly searching, marking, clipping, pinning, liking, blogging, comparing, shopping. They’re looking at your shoes, watch and wondering where you got that shirt. We tried to visualize that process and illustrate that mindset.

The logo itself is an example of this idea in action, it can easily be dressed up or down without losing its core identity. It can feel sophisticated and subtle or brash and bold.
— Gretel Project Page

Logo construction.

Logo with different fills.

Different “signatures” of the name, used throughout the identity and on-air.

While the old logo was as fashionable as a Best Buy uniform the new one comes with extra layers of flair and fierceness in the form of a stenciled, modified version of ITC Caslon that serves as an ever-trustful logo-as-window motif, that sits on top of a handwritten version of the name. I wish we could see just a tad more of the “St” in the handwritten element so that it wasn’t only “yle” that is visible. Statically, the result is fine if not necessarily original. However, when set in motion, the logo becomes a joyful bag of tricks where the logo-as-window treatment becomes unpredictable and creates wonderful sequences that reveal the letterforms. The on-air system is full of scribbly lines and silhouetted clothes and accessories, making if feel both like a woman (or man) marking a magazine for the stuff they want to buy and like an art director choosing photos and marking up editorial spreads. The result is a very novel, bespoke, and relevant look for a style-obsessed channel and audience.

On-air montage.

On-air stills. Click image for bigger view.