A Day-Glo explosion of colour marked the beginning of Arch’s relationship with MTV when we created an ident for MTV Trax.
Since then our projects with MTV have expanded to include branding, websites, marketing and advertising collateral, as well as more motion graphics.
In addition to MTV Trax, under the MTV banner we’ve worked with MTV Presents, Club MTV Europe and MTV Base.
Pimp My Summer Ball is a competition that MTV run to give one UK University the Summer Ball of a lifetime (including top name DJs, chart topping pop acts, fairground rides, a foam party and booze…and plenty of it). All the students have to do is hashtag themselves on Twitter en masse. You can also boost the chances of whichever uni you’re supporting by downloading MTV Trax and signing yourself up.
Working closely with the MTV Trax brand guidelines we developed a new brand identity – Pimp My Summer Ball. The logo was then developed into a 3D animated ident, promotional flyer and posters.
Channelling Miami Vice, we gave the logo a retro ’80s vibe, evoking sun, fun and sexiness!
We loved being a part of this project, delivering one of the biggest university events of the year.
Pimp My Summer Ball became the biggest inter-uni contest ever held. Not a bad effort!
We designed the imagery for a series of Club MTV festivals and events. Using the colour palette from Club MTV’s brand guidelines as a jumping off point, we took inspiration from ’90s rave culture with the use of simple geometric shapes and patterns. Adding elements of the Club MTV logo and using familiar shapes to create a “festival” feel helped bring the whole piece together.
Along with this project we designed the branding and illustrations for the massive MTV Summer Blast in Porec, Croatia. It’s everyone’s perfect summer break – sun, sea and a quality festival line-up.
Taking the work we created for Club MTV as a starting point we developed the brand identity for Summer Blast. The style of the branding is semi-retro and a bit futurist at the same time, plus it gives off a slightly Eastern European vibe whilst encapsulating the summer feeling.
Porec has an iconic seafront which we incorporated into the animated bumper to give it a sense of location, brought to life by the pulsating speakers embedded in the skyline. We also created an animated poster using a clean and simple illustration style and range of bold colours which helps to bring to life the sense of excitement the festival offers.
The Varna Beach festival featured some top quality acts – DJ superstar Steve Aoki, international singer songwriter Tinie Tempah, dance music duo Gorgon City, Club MTV favourites Rewire & Varski – so the festival is guaranteed to make an impact. Couple that with the stunning Bulgaria location and you’ve got the makings of one of the biggest festivals around.
The Varna Beach ident formed the basis of the brand style that we used to develop the website.
Chief amongst our tasks for MTV was creating a website for Varna that highlighted the acts and the party atmosphere. We developed a summer look and feel with vibrant colours and a minimalist layout to keep the site on brand. The ident and graphics we created are incorporated in the final video on the MTV Varna Beach site. The site is simple to navigate and does exactly what it needs to – tells you when and where the festival is, who’s playing and how to buy tickets.
‘It is a pleasure working with Arch Creative. Arch take the initiative, read between the lines and always come back with a brilliant selection of concepts to choose from.”
Shiraz Baziko
Events and Partnerships
MTV Networks Europe
MTV Music Week, in partnership with VOXI by Vodafone and NOW TV, took place in a week during November.
The music giants took over London to host a whole load of top-quality music related events. The official space of the invasion was pop-up House of MTV – and Arch Creative were in the front row having designed the launch website.
Music Week is a build up to the EMA (European Music) awards. The idea is to explore the ways that music (and MTV) has impacted on fashion, culture, art and technology, whilst getting Londoners hyped up for the prestigious ceremony. The House of MTV venue showcased MTV Breaks during the day, hosting events designed to educate and advise attendees on how to break into the creative industry with talks, workshops and mentorship from industry professionals.
The first item created for Music Week was, of course, the website. We used a pixelated ’80s and ’90s video game aesthetic layered over stylish pink and purple imagery to create a website that captured both the London music scene and the MTV aesthetic.
We then produced a range of posters for The House of MTV which complemented the website.
