The studio handled the concept, design, and animation for the rebrand, which centers around the visual theme, "Modern Tradition."
The GAC redesign takes inspiration from the colorful patchwork look of quilts and from the rugged feel of honky-tonk bar signage. Titles, live-action footage provided by the network, western imagery and Troika-shot still photography are layered together, along with peeling paint textures and stencil lettering effects.
Troika also delivered a toolkit of elements - made up of still photography of instruments, Americana mattes, and paint textures - for the network to use in future branding efforts, as well as two music packages. A light acoustic package is designed for daytime programming, while a harder, honkey-tonk one is designed for evening programming.
Troika executive creative director, Dan Pappalardo, says the studio aimed at highlighting the network's dedication to music while speaking to both traditional and progressive country fans.
"Our solution addressed all mandates," he notes. "Modern Tradition, to us, meant embracing traditional iconography within a fresh aesthetic. For GAC, this was realized by combining musical instruments, cowboy icons and weathered textures with clean layouts, unusual juxtapositions and vibrant, unexpected colors. We didn't want to run away from the expected. We wanted to have fun with it."
Troika credits include creative director/designer Reid Thompson, designer Heather Kim, executive producer Holly Eddy, associate producer Jessica Ferguson and lead animator Mark McConnell. Craig Stouffer and Jim McDaniels were animators on the project. Daniel Garcia served as logo designer. Tim Samuel was editor and Rob Cairns handled compositing.