DBLG

While i was visiting London i visited DBLG studio and met with Grant Gilbert who i had the chance to speak to about the studio and the work they produce there as well.

I was shown the process and steps taken with one of the major projects they produced for channel 4. It was very interesting to see the stages of pitching ideas to the clients and how they cam up with the idea of breaking down the channel 4 logo into shapes and breaking it apart to come up with a new brand identity for the channel.
It was also interesting to hear about the various different aspects for the channel that they had to make designs and components for such as in the instance for the queen dying, along with the usual up next screen loading and the intros to particular shows on the channel such as the Simpsons channel 4 logo they made.

Grant explain that the rebrand they came up with was to reflect the channels public service and focused on innovation diversity and taking risks. They designed an identity that was playful and expressive and ever changing as the elements could move in anyway they wanted them too or could be positioned however they wanted and they could even change the count and number of segments that they used so it was very flexible and diverse yet kept a fluidity across the channel and signified the channels identity still. This new direction was the foundation for the Channel’s new Idents Directed by Jonathan Glazer and within the new bespoke font created by globally renowned design agency Brody Associates. They incorporated the blocks into the Channel 4 News identity and meeting room vinyls. As massive thanks to Steven Qua and 4Creative who we collaborated very closely with to create this project.




Grant explained how they have been working a lot with the 3D printer they have and how the client often likes to have somthing physical to see and to hold when pitching an idea and so this is a good means to communicate this. The example he told us was that when they were pitching the idea of breaking the channel 4 logo into pieces and using this as an interesting and creative was of representing and identify the channel that they printed out the segments of the shape of the number 4 with the 3d printer and threw them onto the table and let the clients move them around themselves.

Grant explained how they collaborated with typographers to create a font for the channel that reflected this new identity and they came up with the idea to cut of sections of the text using the blocks they made so it was symbolic even in the text of the channels identity.

They could also break down the blocks and use them as guide to place text inside to signify whats up next on screen. 

They had guides that they used to keep the style and over all aesthetic looking neat and organised and structured whilst still showing the identity, however because of the flexibility the identity offered they could use various colours and lay things out differently to some degree still. 

They also made lots of various screen sliders and because of the flexibility again were able to offer a huge range of different options.

Bear on stairs is a stop motion animation they made as an personal project using 3d printed models of a bear at different stages of a walk cycle walking up a set of stairs. This short video actually went viral as well due to the uniqueness of the approach at the time.



Due to the fact that they were making this animation using stop motion they had to print out around 50 models of the bear at different stages of walking up the stair and then they looped the animation so that it looked like it was on a never ending conveyor belt of stairs.

Grant explained that before they printed out the models, they made the animation in cinema 4d to see how the dynamics would work at to track the poses and motions the models would be in and to get an idea of how it should move etc. 

Again they said that cinema 4d is a programme that they use here which was interesting to find. However they also use after effects and live footage and showed us some of the work they made using a huge crowd of 1000 actors to create a piece for Freeview after pitching ideas to them.

They worked in partnership with Anomaly and created a set of commercials for the new freeview campaign, as freeview will run hundreds of short contextual films in TV ad breaks that comment on the storylines of programmes happening that day they wanted to connect with the viewer by creating a commercial that was warm and human. Using no VFX, filmed entirely in-camera they captured the collective energy of over 1000 people. To compliment the tone of the Freeview voiceover they also created over 30 charming visual worlds filled with mesmerising movement and colourful patterns. Never boring and always fun to look at.

 This is showing how they work with a range of different technique to meet the needs of the client.

The trip to this studio was again very interesting and gave a good insight into how they approached projects and worked through them. There is a lot of communication involved for these projects that they were working as there are a lot of regulations required for the channels that the client needed to go through with them and to keep up to date with them through out, however there was a level of freedom involved due to the ideas that they had pitched an decided on being quite diverse and open.