Robin was approached by Religion of Sports this year to go about a redesign of their website and overall messaging.
The Robin team sought out to create a visual identity system that let the Religion of Sports slate do the talking, with the brand playing the role of exhibitor. This allowed content to shine and showcase its own personality, while also consistently tying work back to ROS. For any brand that is either introducing or reintroducing itself to the market, consistency is vital to recognition. There were an abundance of disparities in how the brand spoke about and visually presented themselves. Solidifying the basic foundational identity blocks and the usage rules to go along with them were the name of the game.
The timing of the overall redesign was paired with a busy time for the Religion of Sports company as a whole. The company launched their audio vertical and flagship series releases like Man in the Arena. The timing of the new website was aimed to coincide with the successful launches of these straegic initiatves. Since it's founding several years ago by Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan and Tom Brady, the brand has been cemented as a category leader in what they do and needed the branding to match the lofty goals of the company.
Religion of Sports is, above all else, this brilliant collective of storytellers. And much of their work is focused on doing what they do best — storytelling. Robin was brought in to distill their brand vision and crystallize their identity into something that would resonate with their audience and introduce them to adjacent fanbases.
The new brand narrative was influenced primarily by Religion of Sports' thesis that they are those believe in the power of sports as “true believers.” If you’re a sports buff, you get it. But the ambition has always been to reach beyond the traditional fan and introduce new audiences to the impact sports have on everything around us. Robin took who Religion of Sports were at their core and created a declaration of intent to the agnostic, something that could also act as a rallying cry internally.
From a design perspective, refreshing their marks came first. Robin inherited a number of wordmarks that we would pare down and refine. This primary wordmark uses letterforms that feel like they could be carved in marble, like something you’d see in a modern interpretation of a coliseum. This felt metaphorically appropriate as the landmark is symbolic of both sport and lore.
The ‘ROS’ letterforms are encased in a diamond shape in the primary logo — a mark internally referred to as “The Shield.” It’s shape is inspired by the brand’s original mark, a combination of “<” and “>” symbols, as sports are for so many not greater than or less than religion, they are religion. The shield sits at a 16:9 aspect ratio, representing the screens Robin views ROS storytelling through.
Robin privileges slate visuals to drive much of our system, and as such, thhe typography (Roc Grotesk by Kostic) does a lot of lifting in collateral. Robin felt the human moments of ROS storytelling needed appropriate representation in the brand, and accordingly loved the almost humanist touches across the range of widths and weights in this typeface. Robin used type as a means of injecting personality into all design ephemera, helping to showcase the tonality of the story at hand.
All the above coupled with a custom grid framework we created based off of The Shield gives Religion of Sports the visual flexibility to evangelize all types of content, while also providing a clear system that ties everything back to the brand.
The thrust of the narrative is that Religion of Sports tells stories that make believers. The story always comes first in Robin's design system, as that is ultimately what’s going to convert someone to the Religion of Sports. What Robin designed is a way to consistently tie that story back to the storyteller.
Robin's Creative Director Brendan Bilko describes the new Religion of Sports' feel as "The subtlety of an art exhibitor coupled with the kinetic energy behind what’s being exhibited". The website successfully launched the week of February 7th to coincide with production announcements at the begining of Super Bowl week.
