BY Brand New

UIO: Unidentified Identity Object

Guest Editorial by Guilherme Machiavelli

In the southern areas of Brazil, Rede Globo’s — the biggest media conglomerate in the country, previously reviewed here — regional programme is broadcast mainly through RBS TV, a minor television network. In the past week, RBS unrolled its new identity, designed by Globo’s very own Hans Donner. And, well, the path chosen was the same the designer had taken in its many previous works: metallic glows everywhere, gradients and unreadable lettering. The symbol has suffered few changes, consisting mainly in added glows and bevels — perhaps the only decision that came close to logical, since the chrome globe is instantly recognized in the southern states. The lettering, though, was not so lucky. Not only the cryptic glyphs are hard to read, the bottom half disappears in most uses, from website banners to the network vans. The rebranding is, supposedly, aiming to express the modernization of RBS TV (adopting now digital transmission), while maintaining the network’s tradition and quality of information. A very ironic result for that aim, considering that Donner repeats the same techniques and solutions ad infinitum to all his work since the eighties. And, perhaps, this says more about RBS than the company might have wanted.

Guilherme Machiavelli is a designer/journalist/student in Brazil who works mainly with editorial and web design, along with the eventual branding project.

\n\nGuest Editorial by Guilherme Machiavelli\n\nIn the southern areas of Brazil, Rede Globo's — the biggest media conglomerate in the country, previously reviewed here — regional programme is broadcast mainly through RBS TV, a minor television network. In the past week, RBS unrolled its new identity, designed by Globo's very own Hans Donner. And, well, the path chosen was the same the designer had taken in its many previous works: metallic glows everywhere, gradients and unreadable lettering. The symbol has suffered few changes, consisting mainly in added glows and bevels — perhaps the only decision that came close to logical, since the chrome globe is instantly recognized in the southern states. The lettering, though, was not so lucky. Not only the cryptic glyphs are hard to read, the bottom half disappears in most uses, from website banners to the network vans. The rebranding is, supposedly, aiming to express the modernization of RBS TV (adopting now digital transmission), while maintaining the network's tradition and quality of information. A very ironic result for that aim, considering that Donner repeats the same techniques and solutions ad infinitum to all his work since the eighties. And, perhaps, this says more about RBS than the company might have wanted.

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