Majid

Refreshing a Classic.

A much cherished childhood character, a 1970s comic strip, a digitised world, a Majid-verse of characters, an international children’s television channel, an international rebrand.

THE SIZZLE

BRANDING

As part of the large-scale rebrand for Abu Dhabi Media’s 8 channels, Art&Graft were commissioned to take the reins with children’s channel, Majid. Starting out as a much loved comic in the 1970s, Majid was first developed into a channel in 2015 as a way to bring the much loved comic character to the digital age.

This treasured IP needed careful consideration and international awareness, something that the head of Majid platforms (and lifelong Majid reader), Mariam Al Serkal, identified in the Art&Graft team. From OSPs and Idents, to Bumpers and carefully reconsidered IP, the channel underwent a complete makeover.

"Truly we are beyond ecstatic with the results that Art&Graft produced. From the moment we started working them, we sensed their attention to detail, their understanding of the cultural aspects, the constructive discussions around our characters, and their continuous evolving of ideas and execution that developed into the beautiful rebranding of the Majid brand. We've enjoyed working with Art&Graft and were so impressed with the outcome, we plan to continue this successful collaboration and partnership."

Mariam Al Serkal, Head of Majid Pplatforms at Abu Dhabi Media

IDENTS

The idents were the perfect medium to build out the worlds of the different characters in the Majid-verse. Tethered together by the motion language of the newly designed logo, the underscoring dot of which acts as a transition between scenes – morphing from a droplet to a pinball, a mirage pool on the desert floor to a hot air balloon soaring in the desert skies.

The idents are a space where the host of characters could have a touch more freedom, elevating certain IP from 2D to 3D and pulling the whole lineup together with the different colour systems designed by the team.

Let's work together

BUMPERS

For the bumpers, the underlying dot in Majid’s Arabic lettering became a feature instead of enabling transitions between Idents. This situated the logo as a more integral part of the bumper environments – its framework opening and snapping shut to reveal the motion of the scene. This motion created endless, dimension-changing surprises.

ON SCREEN PACKAGING

"Very early on in this project we started to realise how much of a responsibility this rebrand was going to be. Not only was the channel watched across the MENA region but the original comic went back decades and was clearly a cherished childhood memory for many in the region. I think we managed to remain true to the spirit of that heritage with a design language that was still very much part of that lineage, but now updated and ready for a multi-platform digital age."

Tom Bromwich, Head of Production at Art&Graft

Tom Bromwich, Head of Production at Art&Graft

Credits

Concept, Design, Direction & Production — Art&Graft

Music & Sound — Resonate

In collaboration with — Pentagram

Client — Abu Dhabi Media

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