King Marketing

Brand new CHUMCity station Razer bills itself as ‘sharp and disposable.’ Aimed at a male 20something demographic, its programming lineup is a hybrid of shows from Spike TV, MTV and extreme sports.
The animated Razer promo TV campaign combines almost every popular design element of the past two years: black and white graphics offset by neon green and hot pink, the use of diagonal stripes and/or hash shading, ransom-note typography, cut-up/hand-sketched art, 2D-3D animation like the video for T.Raumschmiere’s “Monstertruckdriver”, faux-stencil graffiti lettering and overspray spatter, and flat-art wallpaper-y leaves and vines.

I think it’s a case of a little too much, too late; it also doesn’t really communicate the right tone, in my point of view. Razer’s graphic language is derived from the electroclash movement, whose aesthetic is completely at odds with the crude content of the animation (disturbingly, a tv set grabs a broken bottle and stabs someone, resulting in copious arterial spray). The website doesn’t really pick up on the graphic language of the promo; it looks more like a fansite for a thrash metal band.

The programming content for the channel is recycled from other networks, in an attempt to be Spike TV for a younger demographic; I have a feeling the designers just sort of threw up their hands when presented with a dog’s breakfast of a brief, and decided to passively-aggressively protest it by recycling every design motif of the past two years.

Now let’s look at the official website of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. His various cookery shows are staples on The Food Network, and most recently, his Jamie’s School Dinners series and Feed Me Better campaign have sparked a minor revolution in school catering.

This website has to encompass many functions - a weblog, a moblog, promoting the various shows, books, campaigns, as well as Jamie’s restaurants, Fifteen and the new Fifteen Amsterdam. It could easily have become a dog’s breakfast of unrelated ad pods, flashing banners and cross-sell linkage, but instead takes on an elegant, modern and simple look.

Yes, it’s got diagonal stripes - but they’re made of butcher block, entirely thematically appropriate, and providing a rarely seen natural texture. The main colours are a nice sort of buttery cream white, offset with a taupe-y grey and black and white photography, with sprinkles of hot fuschia type for spice. Overall, it’s big, bold and simple, just like his recipes. Plus, it’s easy to navigate and a treat to look at. Frankly, with a site like this there are a million chances to mistake ‘trendy’ for contemporary and bodge it; they went for a raw-hewn classiness instead.