Arizona Public Media, broadcasting from Tucson, sought to take the opportunity of the leap to HDTV to revamp the public image of its media offering. KUAT, Channel 6 on the tube, is the local PBS affiliate. The objective was two-fold: differentiate itself from the other (commercial) broadcasters and create a strong national brand for its in-house shows broadcast nationwide, such as "The Desert Speaks", a stunningly photographed series about open spaces.
Early on in the project, it was decided that the new name for the entity would be simply "6", and Objective Subject went on to explore a vast array of possibilities, using the geographic specificity of southern Arizona. We narrowed down our exploratory to five strong candidate to discuss with the team at KUAT.
"Ribbon of Light", the chosen design, is an attempt at capturing motion into a static mark, and to create a striking mark born from and for motion. The shape expresses the energy of light and intellectual curiosity. The color palette is influenced by latino culture and its use of warm and bright colors.
This direction was further refined into a strong and capable system, but alas, the project was cancelled as a result of institutional changes.
