FANN Media

Practices

Services

Industry

Corporate | Governmental | Technology

Brief

Sharjah Media Arts for Youth and Children (FUNN, “art” in Arabic) was established by the Sharjah government under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi, wife of His Highness, the Ruler of Sharjah, to promote and support the Media Arts, such as animation, filmmaking and graphic design for the youth of Sharjah and UAE.

The aim of the organization is to be a leader in media arts education, through media events, educating the youth, and promoting interest among young people in the UAE. As it evolved, FUNN needed to redefine its brand and identity to reflect an elevated positioning and purpose, and appeal to a wider audience. As its offerings grew, FUNN found itself stuck with the perception of being more of a children’s after-school activities provider and less of a professional educator in media and digital arts, and a major promoter and player in the film festival industry. It was time for FUNN to rebrand and reposition itself.

Differentiation

The strategic approach to the rebranding exercise was to formulate a new brand purpose that spells FUNN’s true vision, being a platform of discovery – one that entices youth to explore, imagine and unleash their passion and potential. The new purpose is a reflection of the challenges and an alignment on the objectives; “We exist to grow a platform of media discovery that triggers the imagination of a passionate generation”.

The main challenges were in repositioning a brand with high perception and adoption in its market. We needed to redefine FUNN as an all encompassing platform without losing its current equity. We also needed to uplift its existing identity which was described as “childish” and create a dynamic, modern and appealing visual manifestation. The solution to the challenges needed to work in tandem in order to create the new FUNN. The world of Media & Digital Arts is changing drastically with the introduction of new technologies and concepts, and widening delivery platforms. Brand Lounge was tasked with revisiting the brand from the ground up; leading to a series of stakeholder interviews and multiple co-creation workshops – which redefined its strategy and brand identity to align with the vision of the leadership.

The name / The Logo

One letter goes a long way

As part of the evolutionary process, the name had to be addressed. We changed the “u” in FUNN to an “a”, establishing a proper phonetic translation of the Arabic word for “art” and avoiding the confusion with the English word “fun”. Thereby, FUNN now exists as FANN Media Discovery Platform – a perfect alignment with the brand purpose. The organization’s new strategy became about the stimulator of the youth’s passion, inspiring them to be curious and helping them imagine new ideas and new worlds.

The New Identity

The Logo & Descriptor

The FANN logo is designed to be a primary representation of who we are as a brand. It is the most memorable touch point and is intended to drive brand association with FANN.

In Arabic, our logo is considered a wordmark.

The logo is inspired by the fluid nature of media arts, as well as from a film reel — one of our main areas of focus. Furthermore, the circular nature of the diacritic dots are a nod to the circular platform that is used within our identity as a main supergraphic. Our brand identity relies on a brand descriptor that should appear in the majority of communications to help identify our brand as a “Media Discovery Platform”. Our descriptor is bilingual (English and Arabic) and is an important element in our visual language.

The Hero Supergraphic

The Platform

Our main brand supergraphic is named”The Platform”. It’s inspired by the diacritic dots within our logo and is intended to highlight what we are as a brand: a platform for media discovery. This graphic is our hero — it should be used in all communications and should appear very visibly. The Platform graphic is highly flexible and can be interpreted in many ways. One of these ways is

The Essentials

Typography

The essentials

Color Story

A Website to Discover

The Web Platform

Each of FANN’s 4 offerings – filmmaking, photography, multimedia and animation – have shifted from “workshops” into “platforms”, falling in line with the brand’s newly repositioned strategy and business model innovation. The platforms are showcased on the website as interactive displays which entice potential members audiences to sign up for classes, as well as engage the current members to engage with new offerings. FANN’s website is a digital space of exploration; a world where the audiences are triggered by curiosity and feel inspired to create.