What happened when MTV and the digital generation had a baby? A youth culture movement named Uproxx was born. Although the digital world is filled with content, there is a select group of media outlets who reign this realm — Uproxx is one of them. Originally called Woven, this media conglomerate incorporates several news outlets, covering a wide range of topics such as news, sports, music and entertainment for the now generation. This includes Hitfix (entertainment review & recaps), BroBible (young men’s lifestyle) and more. They strive to assist youth in questioning societal structures and creating the world they want to live in. In total, Uproxx brings in 60 million unique visitors and 120 million video views, with 1 in 2 men from 18-34 reached.

Brought on to work alongside Uproxx’s design team, we set out to create a new brand within this media group. Our challenge was to design something iconic, edgy and fresh, yet inclusive. The client wanted the visuals to be inspired by both street and modern art, in a similar vein as the work of Barbara Krueger. While the final brand needed to exude that raw feel, it also needed to embody minimalism. Luckily blending opposing qualities is our specialty!

Our first step was to delve deeply into competitor research. Once we were able to understand the storytelling leaders of the digital realm, we could then create something completely fresh and original. As a result of Uproxx’s media outlets being targeted towards male audiences, we needed to allow some of that tone to flow through, without making it too gender specific. One aspect of this process that was both a challenge and a gift was the fact that Uproxx has several different stakeholders. Through four rounds of sketches, we learned how to help their team form a single POV for approval. Other important tasks included creating animations for some of the brand options, as well as a strong brandbook and branded graphic materials.