Design Studio Roger’s larger-than-life rebrand for Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon has undergone a mammoth design revamp this year. In March, its new logo was first teased at Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2023; the channel’s iconic Splat was back, redrawn with rounded edges by design studio Roger. The design team has been rolling out its larger-than-life work with the channel ever since, with an incredible array of films launched with collaborators like Yonk and Max Siedentopf, and the rebrand for Nick Jr. still to come this September.

It appears that the Splat is no longer just confined to the Nickelodeon logo; Roger has created a circular grid system for a secondary set of splat shapes. A new Nickelodeon motion language has also been introduced. It mixes 3D and traditional cel animation, harking back to the channel’s classic animation style. The motion assets have been combined with bold typography which occasionally comes to life as 3D bubble letterforms itself. Roger chose ROC Grotesk for its “subtle irregularity” and paired it with Neue Plak.

Nickelodeon is well known for its signature orange brand colour; but Roger has introduced additional pairings of purples and pinks creating, bringing depth to the brighter idents.

“We aimed to infuse a sense of imagination and exploration into every deliverable and design choice in a quite literal sense, with elements reinventing themselves in real-time,” says Roger creative director Braden Wheeler. “It was a tightrope balance between eclectic and cohesive, but the modularity built into the system gives Nickelodeon the flexibility to play in their sandbox and build upon the brand for years to come as new IPs and initiatives are introduced. Flexibility was always at the forefront of our thinking.”

Across the idents and Splat explorations, there are multiple signatures of early Nickelodeon present, and mid-2000s kids TV more generally. Slime appears as both a 3D texture interacting with typography and as a prop in live-action IDs, where Roger conducted shoots with kids “giving them an empty canvas to paint murals, slurp noodles, or get their hands really dirty,” a release explains.

“We love a brief that asks us to tap into our weirdo kid brains,” continues Braden. “Kids are all about trying everything out, so we wanted to make a brand that allowed for revisionism, randomness, and irreverence. That said, the design language needed consistency across every touchpoint of the Nickelodeon brand, from on-air to digital and social media to the product packaging and resort experiences, so we knew we needed a very accessible core to the visual identity.”

Nickelodeon will debut a new line-up of network IDs later this year, alongside an promotional extension, bringing a range of “slime-filled” parties to 400 schools across the summer.