Twitch Brand Refresh

In 2019, Twitch refreshed its brand for the first time: a sharper, more flexible identity for a platform that had outgrown its original look and was reaching a much larger global audience. Much of it would be seen in motion, in animated marks, type, and the campaign that launched it.

Role
Motion Design
Period
2018–2019
Responsible for
Motion language for the brand system
Shipped
Motion system for marks, type and campaign graphicsThe launch brand filmA Cinema 4D gradient engine for creator colorsCreative direction for the campaign’s production
Team
Byron Rex Phillipson, ECD, Twitch • COLLINS, Brand Design & Strategy • MediaMonks, Production

Background

By 2018, the Twitch brand was well known, but its first identity felt dated and was hard to stretch across a growing number of markets and surfaces. It was time to refresh the brand for a greater scale and a new era.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Turning a static identity into motion

Twitch brought in COLLINS to lead the new identity, brand strategy, and visual language. They shared static work often, and I turned it into motion, so we could build on each other’s explorations as the identity took shape.

The Glitch as an app icon on a purple-to-teal gradient
Twitch social post with the Glitch avatar above a League of Legends Worlds headline
An extruded Glitch on a lit street sign mounted to a building
An enamel Glitch pin on a denim jacket collar
A TwitchCon community badge with a gradient Glitch

Static executions from the COLLINS identity guidelines.

Making Twitch feel like Twitch

Twitch is a copy-driven brand with a distinct voice, so the system had to define how words appear, how long they stay on screen, and how emphasis builds. I treated timing as part of the writing, letting type snap, jump, or build in a rhythm closer to chat than to a corporate brand film.

Keeping the Glitch alive

The Glitch icon needed personality without becoming a character. It could shift, stretch, and respond, but it still had to read immediately and hold up across every brand application, so I steered away from anything too soft or playful.

A flexible gradient engine

The refresh paired Twitch purple with a set of creator colors. I built a custom Cinema 4D setup that could run the extruded wordmark and Glitch through any color combination without rebuilding the animation, so the identity could speak to individual creators while the motion stayed consistent.

Twitch logo before and after
Dynamic Twitch logo system

Putting the system into production

The identity launched with Twitch’s first brand campaign. I created and shipped the brand film, then gave MediaMonks, Twitch’s production vendor, creative direction and review through the rest of the campaign so their work stayed true to the motion system.

The result was a repeatable way to animate Twitch’s marks, copy, colors, and campaign graphics across formats and production teams: immediate, expressive, and recognizably Twitch.

Media coverage

Credits

  • Executive creative director: Byron Rex Phillipson
  • Art direction: Sam Johnson
  • Copy: Evan Freitas
  • Identity and strategy: COLLINS
  • Campaign production: MediaMonks