BBC Studios’ Nick Meikle takes us inside BBC Earth’s recent rebrand

Nick, it’s great to connect. To kick us off, what was your route into the creative sector?
As with many in the creative industries it is non-linear route. For me it was the electronic music scene in New Zealand. Starting record labels and releasing music required a range of design work for promotional material. Over the years it became the area I focused on – and it built from there!

We’re chatting because BBC Earth has just had a creative rebrand. Why was now the right time for this?
The BBC Earth brand has grown massively from the initial launch as a linear broadcast brand. It was literally bursting at the seams with the scale of what it has to offer and the range of ways it connects and communicates with its audience. The time was right to refresh the look and create a design system to support the overarching ambition of the brand to be world leaders in factual content.

Talk us through this rebrand. What’s new here?
For a start, it has been built to deliver seamlessly across the full range of destinations and formats in the brand ecosystem. Understanding what is required now, as well as building in a flexible design system that can evolve with the brand out in the wild.

We wanted to create a brand system where the audience is connected to nature. The core brand idea is a ‘Window to the World’. A circular window that represents the Earth and the infinite wonder it has to offer.

You could’ve gone in several different directions with this, so what helped to sharpen the focus on where to take the rebrand? And what kick-started the creative process?
Everyone on the project had a lot of love for the brand – which is a great place to start. The gift in the creative process was the incredible content and range of stories the brand can tell. This was also the challenge: understanding how to harness this phenomenal output and integrate a brand system that elevates and amplifies across the range of activity – from TV to social to events and more. This was the reference point we came back to when interrogating creative solutions to ensure they were true to the brand experience.

What are your hopes for what this new look can do for the brand?
We hope it enables the brand to build a stronger and deeper connection with the current audience – as well as connect with new audiences globally.

Last question: What fuels your creativity? What helps you have ideas?
Sleep!

Sounds like you deserve some after the rebrand efforts! Thanks again for taking time out for this Nick.