Observador is the first digital-only news publisher in Portugal. As the competitors try to catch up with the digital era, the company wants to keep an edge with new products and the refreshed brand Thinkwide created.
The Challenge
Unlike other publishing brands that have had to migrate or extend their presence to digital media, the Observador presented itself as a natively digital project. This is a competitive advantage that, in our view, was not evident in the look and feel of its brand.
Wordmark Lettering
Since the beginning, we aimed for a simple and clear wordmark solution, and this new lettering followed this principle. A clean sans serif typography pushes forward the brand legacy to a new digital-only ground. This minimal approach was consistently executed across the different contexts where Observador marks its presence.
New Symbolic Dimension
In addition to changing its chromatic settings, the symbolic dimension of its identity was also revised and deconstructed to make room for a new monogram. A perfect circular “O” that reinforces Observador’s awareness with a new symbolic asset is simultaneously relevant and significant. It is a symbol embedded in its own name, capable of revealing all of its plasticity when visually explored and applied to all contexts that confer its physical and, above all, digital presence.
New Visual Narrative
Despite its simplicity, this perfect circular monogram embeds a whole new visual narrative that will help the brand better illustrate and organize its way of presenting its content segmentation and product portfolio.
The Outcome
The minimal approach of the whole project intentionally infected the entire aesthetic universe of the Observer. The new website is the most prominent example, demonstrating the concept of the whole purpose the project achieved.
Credits:
Pedro Monteiro:
Brand Strategy / Creative Contents
Ricardo Matos:
Brand Identity / Communication Design