Mother Design lends the BBC an ear, creates visual identity for new audio-focused app

For many of us, it is the BBC’s audio output that makes the license fee worth diligently paying. Yes, those repeats of Homes Under the Hammer are entertaining enough, but honestly, if you told us television was going to be abolished in favour of pumping more cash into episodes of Desert Island Discs, In Our Time, and Graham Norton’s Saturday morning Radio 2 show and we’d whoop and holler in a strange kind of celebration.

Which means we were quite excited when it was revealed that the BBC was going to launch a new home for its music, radio, and podcast content. We were even more excited when we discovered that London-based agency Mother Design had been asked by the broadcast behemoth to work on the branding and out-of-home launch campaign for what is now known as BBC Sounds.

Mother Design says, “We worked closely with BBC UX and creative teams to shape the brand strategy, naming and design. Our branding expresses the unique way in which BBC Sounds unites all your audio content in one place.”

They go on to note that, “the brand language weaves all of these elements into a highly flexible system, while always maintaining the human element of BBC Sounds. Our aim was for it to reflect the expressive, creative and deeply personal experience of the app.”

The app, which is available to download now, and lets users browse more hours of top-tier material than anyone could ever plausibly get through in a lifetime even if said life was devoted entirely to catching up with episodes of Clare in the Community and Pick of the Pops.