How do you develop a visual identity and website that elevates the positioning of a reputable brand?

Popcorn Video

Website Design, Brand Identity, Logo Design

Background

Popcorn Video is a straight-talking, no-fuss video production company that’s all about explaining, inspiring and entertaining through the moving image – especially when it comes to learning and training. Based in Staffordshire, the team bring energy, clarity and a bit of edge to every project, and they’re genuinely fun to be around.

The aim

To attract a broader target audience and elevate the positioning of Popcorn Video, the team partnered with us to evolve the brand identity. The brand name has good recognition so we turned our attention to creating a new logo and website to represent the creative, fun and friendly team at Popcorn Video.

Social media mockup with 'We make video pop' on

Logo conception

Sometimes you have to go back to go forward. Which is why we focused on the shape of a popped kernel for the Popcorn Video brand logo. Evoking a feeling of comfort and nostalgia, as well as featuring on vintage cinema posters, we knew this was a key visual decision to move the brand forward and encompass it’s creative, fun and warm personality.

The popcorn shape holds the word ‘popcorn’ while the central ‘o’ becomes a play button to represent the brand’s key service offering. The letters are placed at varying angles and manipulated to fit the space. Combined, these elements give the logo a sense of movement – that the popcorn really is about to pop. Which got us thinking – what if it did?

So, we created a bouncy logo animation with a playful rhythm to radiate vibrancy and confidence. The animation is deliberately paced to feel energetic and full of life, capturing the essence of what makes popcorn… well, pop. It mirrors that sudden burst of movement when a kernel explodes, a visual metaphor for the creativity, momentum and spark behind the Popcorn Video team and the work they deliver.

We created a stylescape to demonstrate how the logo would translate across various customer touchpoints and deliver a real experience. This included guidance on photography styling and how and when to use graphics across materials.

Colour development

We presented inspiration boards to the client to share our initial thinking for the colour development of the Popcorn Video brand. This collaborative discussion helped the Popcorn team to connect with the idea of a retro cinema feel – particularly the classic red colouring of old cinema curtains and the beige that features heavily on vintage popcorn images.

To complement the core colour of the new brand palette, we experimented with different tones of blue. A dark blue was chosen for a punchy, straight-talking vibe to sit next to the red, whilst lighter tones of blue were added for use on top of the darker colours. We also lightened the beige colour slightly for future accessibility and versatility across the brand.

Designing the website

The Popcorn Video team produce creatively-brilliant, well-directed films for their clients. So, an impressive showreel had to take centre stage on the single page website. We included an option to play the full showreel, to allow the user to immerse themselves in the amazing work of the brand and experience the true impact of film.

The new colour palette was designed to work seamlessly across the website – both representing the creative core of the brand while delivering an accessible visual platform. The beige colour sits on the red and the blue with real impact, while the red is used on top of the beige as a convention for CTAs.

Building the website

We opted for a full-screen landing page experience to both engage the audience and perfectly represent the cinematic heart of the Popcorn Video brand. We created an opening sequence that “pulls the curtains back” and invites the audience in to view the whole brand experience.

While the website itself is built with future content revisions in mind, we built this initial version without defining strict content structures in a CMS which allowed us to immerse ourselves in the concept. We designed a page flow and content reveal specifically suited to the screen size and orientation for a seamless user experience.

Website footers often get left behind. But we think they can, and should be, just as impactful as the hero section as this is where we’re asking the audience to act. So, we pulled the full-screen convention of the website into the footer while keeping the main statement on-screen to maintain the Popcorn brand while encouraging people to get in touch.

Testimonial

"Thank you to you all for your fab work on our new branding and website. We love everything and are really excited to tell all our clients about it. It's been a pleasure working with you all on this very special little project of ours."

Nic Gresswell
Director, Popcorn Video

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