• THE TIMES

  • THE TIMES

  • THE TIMES

Rethinking how the news should sound to California listeners

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(001)

‘The Times’ is a daily news podcast from the Los Angeles Times, where a myriad of topics are covered from a Californian perspective. All stories big and small that are worthy of mentioning. Global news such as the El Salvadorian coups and the War on Terror to local representation of firefighters, skaters, and more who are women, LGBTQ or POC. The producers were looking to capture the essence of California in a minimal, yet striking fashion.

Client

Los Angeles Times

Year

2020

Services

Art Direction, Brand, Motion, Print, Web

Research

'What does California mean to someone?'
'How does "The State of What’s Next" resonate with everybody?' 'How can this design communicate at various ad sizes?' These are examples of initial questions I would explore in group or independent research. In this process, there's typically a myriad of methods to use depending on a given project. It may involve sketches, mind mapping, mood- boards, brainstorm meetings, etc. For 'THE TIMES', capturing a modern California with traditional heritage in one image was of the utmost importance.

Phases

'Seeing what sticks, dealing with ambiguity, rethinking. Starting off was a bit tricky. Even though we had our initial ideas, it was important to share different ideas and visuals with the team that could help us land on a result we’re seeking.

The challenge was trying to speak generically and ubiquitously and not call out a specific part of California since the state is very diverse. Our minds drifted towards communicating more simply to a logomark. Something more ubiquitous and tailored to a lighthearted, yet casual approach to news.

Alternative Sources

Album covers, artistic movements, existing logomarks & plenty more. Sometimes in the process, I circle back to different mediums and decode how certain pieces work and see how it could be adapted to a project. It helped when communicating ideas with the team and seeing how this idea could fit into the Los Angeles Times’ mission and tagline (“The State of What’s Next”)

The road to final direction

After multiple creative iterations, we’ve landed on an idea and mark that resonated across multiple departments including editorial.

Upon initial launch, ‘The Times’ finished its first week at the #2 spot on Spotify’s 'Top News Podcasts' Chart, just behind ‘The Daily’.

Post launch, the secondary social campaigns below increased new subscriptions by 20%.

How was this successful?

  • Ubiquitous design for the wide range of assets needed and in size as well (see reference). Overall, fundamentally resonates with a vast majority of people.

  • Alignment with “The State of What’s Next”.

  • Congruent with tonality of the podcast:

    • lighthearted, approachable, casual

(002)

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