Troika Design Group

Hey Everyone,

When I was looking at places to intern in LA for last spring, I came across the Troika Design Group, which is a television design and branding agency based in Los Angeles. They are responsible for creating image and branding for many of the major broadcast and cable networks, including ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT, and The CW, to name a few. According to a New York Times article, Troika was part of the $50 million identity campaign created for the launch of The CW back in 2006.

The reason that I chose to blog about the Troika Design group is that they are responsible for some of the most well known show branding and identity campaigns on television. 3D animation over the past decade has become a major part of branding and creative services for stations, shows, and networks.

One of their most recognizable products is that of SportsCenter -- ESPN's flagship show (here's their page on it), which is initially how I discovered them. SportsCenter's graphics package is likely the most recognized graphics package in sports, and possibly in television as a whole. The detail that the graphics package has is incredible. It isn't common to see a good rotation of graphical elements throughout a show, where it's not the same effect from segment to segment. Examining the graphics package, you find new areas of details that you had not seen previously, such as tiny rotating cylinders that are only on the screen for a tenth of a second.

Under their "About, Studio" section on their website (sorry, there's no way to directly link to it) they have a video about who they are and the process they go through to design a brand identity for a television show or network, nearly all of which incorporate 3D graphics now adays

Earlier generation of the SportsCenter graphics package from Troika, found on YouTube