When thinking of idents for music television channels, you may tend to envision explosions of motion graphic eye-candy that, after a while, tend to look a little samey. With that in mind, designer Ryan St. James from London-based brand identity/design studio English & Pockett sought to create something suitably left-of-center for "Flipside", a block of programming airing on the VH1 European network devoted to international alternative, electronic and indie music.

The show was relaunched in March after a period off the air, and this time around, the brief from MTV Networks called for something "cutting edge but not too modern" - a description that fit one of St. James' three iterations for the rebrand to the letter.

"Their brief was actually quite open, but they did show me what they had before, which was rather minimal," says St. James. "I had the idea from the outset that I wanted it to look like someone was interfering with the VH1 signal, like pirate video interference. The show airs near midnight, so I figured it was the sort of the time of night where something weird could happen. Doing something high-gloss didn't seem to work."

That's not to say that St. James' work for "Flipside", including the show's open, bumpers, closer and lower-thirds, is anything near amateur. By taking grainy live-action shots, editing them into a montage and then comping into them a 3D "Flipside" logo that spins and flips like a Rubik's Cube, St. James achieves his aim of creating something at turns "gritty and twitchy" and "voyeuristic." Static blasts disrupt the open at random intervals, seemingly melting the image on screen, as the shape-shifting logo is seen from different vantage points - through doorways, behind posts - taking on irradiated hues for split-seconds as if it's being x-rayed. It all adds up to a visual vibe that St. James describes as "a bit Twilight Zone".

It's a remarkable piece, given the fact that St. James had to teach himself 3D tracking and animation on the fly while working on the project. Using Cinema4D for the animation, MatchMover Pro for the tracking, and then compositing everything in AfterEffects, St. James worked on the project alone for a month, save for a mate who contributed sound design. "It was quite a learning experience," he laughs. "There were some late nights with a few manuals."

Those late nights paid off, as St. James' debut for English & Pockett is reaping praise from assorted international design blogs. "It's the first thing I've had on air," he says. "I didn't really expect people to be this interested in it, to be honest."

English & Pockett http://www.english-pockett.com
VH1 European http://www.vh1e.com