DixonBaxi creates hyper-neon, K-Pop-inspired identity for Eurosport's PyeongChang 2018 coverage

Date
20 March 2018

PyeongChang 2018 marked the first fully digital Olympic Games, with every minute streamed live across the continent by television channel Eurosport (owned and operated by Discovery). To help Eurosport engage more people, on more screens, particularly younger audiences, London-based branding agency DixonBaxi created an identity inspired by Korean culture and K-Pop.

With young people as its focus of their identity, DixonBaxi turned to the world of K-Pop for inspiration. Challenging the usually wintery blue and white approach, it injected hyper-neon colours instead. The agency collaborated with specialist DoP, James Medcraft, to film and photograph the athletes in a wash of UV lights, sprayed with UV paint to represent “snow, speed and the extreme nature of the sports.”

At the heart of the identity is its logo – a circle interrupted by the sharp angles of a mountain. “The logo represented a strategic alliance between Eurosport, the Olympics and Pyeongchang 2018,” DixonBaxi explains. The simple silhouette provides a visual metaphor to unite the three logos into one mark.

Alongside the imagery and logo, DixonBaxi commissioned A2Type to create a bespoke typeface titled ES Pyeongchang 2018. Its unique forms inspired by the Korean written language of Hangul then also formed the foundation for a series of pictograms representing every sport: from big air to curling. The typeface used in conjunction with these unique pictograms create a distinctive and accomplished tool for communication across the identity.

As the first fully digital first games across Europe, DixonBaxi needed to create a suite of tools to compliment every mobile touchpoint. The identity, therefore, places high levels of importance on versatility across platforms. DixonBaxi created everything from social kits, to graphic systems designed for maximum mobile legibility.

Dan Capstick, DixonBaxi’s creative director commented that: “Signalling their commitment to engage new and younger audiences, Eurosport undertook a radical transformation of their entire brand experience. With every single brand element changing for the two-week period, it delivered a powerful message to the audience: that Eurosport were going to do it differently and bravely, for sports fans and new audiences across Europe.”

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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DixonBaxi: Eurosport PyeongChang 2018 identity

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About the Author

Ruby Boddington

Ruby joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in September 2017 after graduating from the Graphic Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. In April 2018, she became a staff writer and in August 2019, she was made associate editor.

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