THE FIRST HYMN BRAND CREATION
Resurrecting a song
buried for a millennia
Challenge
Popular Christian podcast, Undeceptions (hosted by John Dickson), created The First Hymn documentary – a story bringing to life an ancient 1,800 year-old song as modern worship music for contemporary Christian audiences (with the help of Christian music megastars, Chris Tomlin and Ben Fielding). The documentary needed a strong brand and visual toolkit to flex across title design, promotional collateral and social media.
Approach
Through category research and truly understanding the purpose, positioning, perception, personality and promotional aspects of the documentary, we created brand pillars and curated mood boards to direct our design exploration.
Solution
Combining unashamedly bold, modern typography with evocative textural overlays and coloured lighting effects, The First Hymn visual identity is a multi-faceted graphic approach that adapts with the story from ancient to modern.
The First Hymn was released in cinemas all over Australia and is currently available on streaming services. It is about to be released in US cinemas.
LOGO
VISUAL IDENTITY TOOLKIT
MOTION TITLE DESIGN
SOCIAL MEDIA TEMPLATES
MARKETING COLLATERAL
TITLE SEQUENCE: A bold typographic lockup enables footage to be housed within the letterforms, creating a powerful lens and dynamic introduction. Lighting, texture and particle effects create the transition from ancient to modern.
DYNAMIC TITLE BLOCKS: Interviews with scholars, researchers, archaeologists and experts in multiple fields occur throughout the documentary. Title blocks introduce dynamic movement and textural light to reinforce the visual identity.
ANCIENT TO MODERN TITLE MORPH: Communicating the idea of translation and transition between ancient Greek and contemporary song lyrics.
MOVIE POSTER: Cinema posters communicated the contrast between ancient and modern, anchored with bold typography for visual impact.
SOCIAL MEDIA TEMPLATES: Using social channels to promote the film was aided by adaptable social media templates with a recognisable visual language.
T-SHIRT TRANSLATION: The t-shirt features ancient text from the first hymn inside a Coptic Cross, an ancient symbol used by Egypt's Coptic Christians. It reads "To the only giver of all good gifts. Amen. Amen." John Dickson wore the shirt for premiere launch events and proceeds from t-shirt sales supported the Alexandria School of Theology in Egypt.
PREMIERE EVENTS: The visual identity featured prominently at the Sydney launch event as a backdrop for conversations with Ben Fielding and John Dickson, as well as live performances by City Alight.