Behind the Headlines: How We Reimagined RTP’s News Identity

The email arrived quietly. No fanfare. No dramatic subject line. Just a familiar name and an unfamiliar weight. RTP wanted us back.

Not to iterate. Not to refine. But to rethink the very identity we had created only a few years before (just a casual request, right?!)

How do you reimagine a broadcast identity you already poured your soul into?

It’s a strange creative paradox. Familiar enough to feel like home, challenging enough to keep you up at night.

In 2021, Itsanashow Studio designed the broadcast identity for RTP’s newscasts. It was a defining moment for us. Our first major media rebrand and a powerful opportunity to reshape how an entire nation visually experienced its public broadcaster.

Fast forward to 2025: new leadership, new editorial direction, new timelines, and a new challenge. RTP came back to us with a bold request:

Reimagine everything. But make sure it still feels unmistakably like RTP.

This wasn’t just a visual refresh. It was a full strategic repositioning of RTP’s news identity, embedded in a broader, holistic transformation of the network, including new studios, restructured workflows, an updated program lineup, renewed editorial processes and a new generation of anchors reshaping the on-air presence. A shift in tone, a renewed commitment to public service, and an opportunity to strengthen the editorial and emotional bond with its audience.

And for us?
It was both an honor and a creative test. The kind you accept with excitement…and mild panic!

Could we surpass our own work? Could we elevate an identity that had been so well received nationally and internationally?

How do you reinvent a brand you know so well, without losing its (and your own) soul?

The Discovery Phase: Balancing History and Vision

The discovery phase was long. Extensive. Analytical. And emotionally demanding.

We kicked off with a deep, five-month discovery process, where we mapped expectations, aligned visions, and gathered insights.

This was more than alignment. It was diplomacy, strategic thinking, and…creative therapy all in one.

As a starting point we developed a Positioning Matrix to help define RTP’s role in the modern media ecosystem. Whether RTP should feel more institutional or more human?

A single sentence reframed the room:

“People trust RTP, but do they feel close to it?”

That question reshaped the entire conversation.

We mapped where the brand had been and where it needed to go. We analyzed perception, values, and tone, balancing authority and closeness, tradition and innovation, clarity and warmth.

What emerged was a crystal-clear insight:

Silence. Pens stopped. And suddenly, everything made sense.

This became our north star.

Vulnerability meets Strategy

This project unfolded inside a complex ecosystem. RTP’s internal team, a second agency managing the corporate identity, a new Direction of Information entering mid-process and our own team expanding from four to eight creatives across Portugal and Brazil.

The previous identity had been praised for its boldness and graphic strength. This time, the risk was different. We were not just redesigning. We were questioning our own legacy (identity crisis alert!!).

What was really at stake was not only aesthetics. It was credibility, narrative authority and the emotional relationship between a nation and its primary source of information.

We chose a deliberate evolution. We reintroduced real imagery, reinforced the symbolic presence of the globe and revisited classic broadcast elements often labeled as clichés. The intention was not nostalgia. It was transformation.

Not every phase was smooth. Alignment did not come instantly. Dialogues were intense. Doubt surfaced. Tension lived alongside ambition. So did caffeine. A lot.

The turning point arrived when we stopped seeking constant validation and committed fully to our strategic research and collective instinct. That moment of trust unlocked clarity, confidence and creative coherence.

That is when we knew: we were on the right path.
(Even though it was hazy and still a bit confusing, we were there)

Strategic Design Approach: Editorial Design Meets Emotional Resonance

Our mission was precise and ambitious. Honor RTP’s legacy while projecting its television news visual identity into the future of broadcast and digital media.

The new broadcast branding system needed to feel:

• Editorial: structured, precise, strong
• Digital-first: responsive, adaptive, scalable
• Human: warm, accessible, emotionally resonant
• And above all: trustworthy

We weren’t simply designing screens.
We were designing how trust behaves on screen. How it moves, reacts, scales and breathes within a modern news broadcast environment.

Brand, motion, typography, color, composition…
Everything had to operate as a coherent, future-ready ecosystem.

The Return to Real Imagery

One of RTP’s key requests from day one:
Bring real-world imagery back to the heart of the RTP’s newscasts identity.

In an era dominated by AI-generated visuals, deepfakes and misinformation, this choice became both aesthetic and ethical. Real footage became a statement of truth, transparency and journalistic integrity.

This rebrand goes far beyond visual renovation. It redefines how credibility and authority are perceived on screen.

It reinforces RTP’s authority as a public broadcaster.
It connects viewers with the tangible, the human, the verifiable.
It becomes a visual statement:
“This is real. This is trustworthy. This is your public service broadcaster.”

RTP’s leadership shift

Midway through the project, RTP’s leadership shifted. New decision-makers, new perspectives, and inevitable adjustments followed.

Naturally, there was hesitation. We were deeply advanced, timelines were tight, scope had crept... But through open dialogue and mutual respect, the new direction embraced the work already in progress. Changes were made collaboratively, without compromising the core vision (Nor our sanity…most of the times)

It taught me one crucial lesson.
Trust your study. Trust your instinct. Defend your vision with clarity and respect.

Creative leadership is not about control. It is about responsibility, direction and integrity.

And occasionally, about breathing deeply.

Motion Language: UI meets journalism

Motion was one of our strongest storytelling tools.

We created a system of microanimations inspired by everyday digital gestures like swipe, scroll, tap, zoom. Movements already embedded in how audiences consume information daily.

A swipe gesture, for example, mirrors the transition between breaking headlines and developing stories. A subtle zoom reinforces investigative focus. A scroll movement reflects the continuous flow of information across regions and timelines.

These gestures weren’t aesthetic flourishes. They translated user interface behavior into editorial rhythm, shaping a motion branding system that feels fluid, instinctive and journalistically precise.

By blending UI behavior with journalistic intent, we crafted a motion language that feels like journalism should: reactive, adaptive and deeply human.

A system that feels alive, responsive, and deeply aligned with RTP’s new editorial direction.

Our Core Design Pillars

Some of the most impactful decisions were not immediately visible on screen, which is great, because subtlety is underrated.

We embraced a cinematic, modern aesthetic anchored in the symbolic power of the globe. This universal broadcast element was reframed through atmospheric lighting and controlled presence to feel minimal yet expressive.

For typographic identity, we selected Mozaic as the base for all logos. Its friendly yet refined geometry offered precisely the balance between authority and accessibility required for RTP’s positioning.

Every newscast logo belongs to a cohesive family, unified by an element inspired by RTP’s historical horizontal logo lines. The Red Toggle became the maestro of the system. It defines rhythm, drives transitions, and unifies the entire visual landscape.

The reorganization of newscasts names and branding structure required a complete rethink of hierarchy and grid logic. The family system only became clear once visual coherence and strategic sense emerged (oh lord…the pain!).

We create a Living Editorial Grid, a responsive, dynamically animated grid envisioning connecting television, digital platforms and social media through a shared structural language.

Color was a sensitive territory. Designing a palette that evolves throughout the day while respecting RTP’s heritage demanded debate, refinement and trust on both sides (a matter of sensitivity…let’s just say...we had opinions.)

A glass-inspired aesthetic further reinforced transparency and depth, while controlled light and texture brought dimensional presence to every frame.

The Openers Identity

These openers represent the most visible manifestation of the system in action.

RTP’s broadcast ecosystem historically defines opener typologies by channel and time slot. Despite programming shifts and leadership transitions, the core structure remained intact.

RTP1 and RTP2 present a cinematic, authoritative identity grounded in real imagery and layered storytelling.

The Telejornal opener, the most iconic in national television and the longest-running daily news program on Portuguese TV, stands as a cornerstone of the country’s broadcast identity (a legacy dating back to 1959). Its rhythm, narrative arcs and visual pacing had to feel instantly familiar yet visibly evolved. Once the responsive grid structure was introduced, alignment became clear. We deliberately refined the visual language of Portugal’s flagship news program as a strategic foundation, allowing the remaining segments to unfold cohesively from that same visual logic (for us and for RTP, after a long period of despair, which was finally followed by a collective sigh of relief!).

RTP Notícias delivers fast, adaptive and continuous 24-hour news coverage. Unlike the generalist channels, whose visual language aggregates the day’s headlines, its identity was deliberately designed without real-world imagery. This decision reinforces its role as a permanent, live and ever-updating news channel, prioritizing immediacy, clarity and temporal relevance over narrative compilation. Its visual identity includes a living gradient that evolves throughout the day alongside a strong globe presence.

Notícias 21 (formerly 360) embraces a minimal, digital and nocturnal tone designed for in-depth late-night analysis (maybe our fav!)

Portugal em Direto highlights cultural richness and regional identity, reconnecting viewers with the human narrative of the country (meanwhile, it got tweaked last-minute by RTP's team... it might’ve lost a bit of its charm, but the essence is still there. It is what it is!)

Meteo, Economia, Manchetes and Desporto operate as micro-worlds, each with distinct rhythm, symbolism and editorial logic (Short but super charming. Really playful and expressive in terms of motion design and visual composition.)

Each opener expresses its own voice while strengthening a cohesive television news visual identity system.

RTP Notícias: From Logo to Living News Channel Environment

In addition to the visual identity of the newscasts, we were also responsible for developing the on-air bumpers for the newly positioned RTP Notícias (formerly RTP3).

While another agency handled the corporate rebrand process, our work focused on translating the final channel logo into a living, on-air identity capable of expanding into a full television environment.

Once the final logo was approved, we defined the motion logic that would shape the channel’s personality. The animation language had to breathe news: incisive, immediate and unmistakably editorial.

Given that the news identity and motion system were already deeply developed, a natural visual dialogue emerged. The structure of the RTP Notícias logo echoes the logic of our Red Toggle and responsive editorial grid, allowing us to build a refined visual system that maintained coherence between the channel branding and the broader newscast ecosystem.

A carefully balanced color palette was introduced, combining RTP’s signature blue, news red accents, deep blues and a restrained grayscale spectrum. This chromatic system reinforced an atmosphere of sobriety, authority and credibility, aligning the channel’s tone with its public service mission.

The use of focus and defocus, drawn from the glass-inspired aesthetic, within the motion language further reinforced the metaphor of journalism as a window to reality, enhancing the perception of authenticity while maintaining visual continuity across all RTP Notícias on-air elements.

The result is a channel identity that feels aligned, strategic and cohesive, ensuring visual consistency between the information programming and the 24-hour news environment.

The Rebrand in Action: A Unified Broadcast Ecosystem

We developed a complete branding and motion design system for RTP’s entire news division, spanning RTP1, RTP2, RTP Notícias, RTP África, RTP Madeira, RTP Açores and RTP Internacional.

This system reaches millions of viewers daily across national and international territories, reinforcing RTP’s position as a trusted television news authority.

Rooted in transparency, objectivity and credibility, the new identity redefines how trust is visually communicated on screen.

Our approach merges broadcast storytelling, editorial systems design and UI-driven motion logic into a future-ready visual language where brand, motion and strategy operate as one.

Each opener with its own identity nuance, yet all part of a cohesive whole. Typography balances clarity with authority. Color communicates institutional strength, following the light's mood throughout the day. Motion expresses the rhythm of living journalism.

Reinvention with Integrity

Rebranding your own work isn’t easy.

It’s a humbling exercise. It’s revealing. It forces you to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and what a brand truly needs to grow.

But in the end, that’s what makes it meaningful.

That’s what we aimed for RTP.

This project sets a new benchmark for broadcast branding and television news visual identity, reinforcing how design, motion and strategy can redefine trust on screen.

And we’re proud to say: you can still feel the soul of RTP in every frame.

Want more details?
Explore the full case study here.

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