L.A. Material Visual Identity

Last year we got an exciting email in the inbox. A talented group of Angelinos were creating an independent media company to decode Los Angeles. In their own words, “Our city is one of the most fascinating in the world — a glorious, ludicrous marvel. It can feel like the best or the worst version of the future, depending on the day… difficult to navigate or comprehend…. So we’re building a digital news outlet that aims to make Los Angeles legible.” Thusly, L.A. Material came to be. The L.A. Material team is a mixture of heavy-hitting Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, veteran editors, and prominent LA voices in entertainment and culture.

Today L.A.M. produces a daily newsletter and weekly podcast, each with distinctive, incisive, and dishy stories about the real Los Angeles. One day you’re reading about Ghost Town (employing former gang members to clear homeless encampments in Venice); Then you’re reading the mystery of the ever-broken escalator at the AMC Burbank 16; And the next day you’re reading about $14M worth of payouts to settle retaliation lawsuits against former LA County D.A. George Gascón.

We were honored to be brought on to bring the media company’s visual identity to life. From strategy and creative direction to a core visual identity system and podcast art. Along with the L.A.M. team, we created something that leaned into sun-drenched color tones and gritty, smoggy textures. Want to subscribe to L.A. Material’s newsletter? Use our referral link here so we can get some sweet Material merch.

Scope

— Strategy
— Logo, Type, Color
— Brand Guidelines
— Podcast Artwork

Credits

Creative Director: Amy Hood

Designers: Amy Hood, Jen Hood, Jose Sojo, Zevy Blokh

Motion: Jose Sojo

Client-side: Julia Turner (Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder), Julia Wick (Editorial Director and Co-Founder), Sarah Wick (CEO and Co-Founder), Hayes Davenport (Creative Director and Co-Founder,), and Nikki Fancy (Operations and Marketing Consultant)

The Logo

The L.A. Material team really wanted to hearken back to iconic news and media mastheads of yesteryear, while also forging a look all their own. We landed on a custom wordmark that is bold, toothy, casual, and somewhat eccentric – just like Los Angeles. Check out the video below for a behind-the-scenes look at the process leading to the final logo. It’s ASMR for the vectorly inclined. In smaller instances and on avatars, a coyote serves as a mascot of sorts. Coyotes, wild and cunning as they are, know their way around L.A. better than anyone.

Typography and Color

The typography for L.A. Material required functionality as well as tonal resonance. Instrument Sans is a bold, legible neo-grotesque perfect for headlines and sub-headings. Bitter is a slab serif typeface ideal for long body copy and provides and editorial feel. While most news outlets skew red and blue, L.A. Material carves a distinct path with a vivid blue reminiscent of the Eastern Building, green pulled straight from a freeway sign, and an iconic orange that demands attention.

Photography Treatment

To give L.A. Material an iconic visual presence across internal decks and marketing materials, we created a gradient map photo treatment to flood the brand’s core color palette across iconic shots of Los Angeles. It makes for a distinctive, memorable visual cue that differentiates the media company from more traditional news outlets.