With counterforms and negative space, Hymn’s reimagined brand for RTS Tataki goes ‘outside the box’

In Romandie, the French-speaking region of Switzerland, everyone knows Tataki. As their tagline exclaims – TATAKI EST PARTOUT (TATAKI IS EVERYWHERE). Named after a speedy method of preparing cooked fish, this popular digital media platform for 15-25-year-olds offers fresh, fast-paced content about urban life, pop culture, and fashion. What everyone may have missed is that it’s distributed by public service broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), the sole French national channel in Switzerland. That is, until now. Following their major revamp (in collaboration with design agency Hymn), RTS were eager to highlight Tataki as part of their broadcasting family, and the Lausanne-based design agency was the go-to choice in crafting the rebrand of the sibling company. Hymn, working in tandem with thse RTS design team, had to find the right balance in their approach – highlight Tataki’s position in the media landscape (funded by the TV license fee) and its connection with RTS, while preserving the brand equity and the core spirit of the Tataki world. For starters, they redesigned Tataki’s logo, and the RTS box (logo) was added to the corner of a new wordmark, connecting it to the broader RTS visual system. The cornerstone of the design strategy was ‘typography with a dual identity,’ where Hymn worked with newglyph’s Ian Party on a customised version of the RTS Neue typeface (RTS’ bespoke typeface), which features throughout the identity. “By introducing counterforms and altering the shape of the characters,” explains Founder & Creative Director Alexandre Henriques, “we created a visual contrast that stands out – an identity within an identity.”