Tracks and Layers
01
Wake-up
Tracks and Layers, a Manchester-based motion and animation studio, approached us for a rebrand ahead of their 10-year anniversary. Known for their work with clients like CBBC and BBC on projects such as Blue Peter and Andy and the Band.
Despite their success, Tracks and Layers wanted to shift the spotlight from solely their client work to building a brand identity that reflected their values of fun, emotional impact, and adaptability. They envisioned a bold, recognisable identity to match their ambitions of becoming distinctive and innovative.
The challenge was clear: create a dynamic brand that would not only reflect their values but also elevate their market position, making Tracks and Layers as memorable as the work they produce.
02
Rise
The creative process began with exploring how Tracks and Layers’ three core pillars, fun, emotion, and adaptivity, could manifest in their brand identity. Inspired by animation software interfaces, this concept used keyframe shapes, layers, and timelines as visual elements. The adaptive system could flex and move, reflecting the studio’s ability to evolve creatively with each client brief.
This concept centred around a mascot, called Moti, who would visually express the range of emotions Tracks and Layers seeks to evoke in their work. Moti can change shape, colour, and expression to represent emotions like joy, anger, or sadness, using his eyes to convey this through expression. His morphing shape ties back to the core concept of adaptability. After an enthusiastic client presentation, we merged these ideas, creating a harmonious system where Moti interacts with the adaptable keyframe-inspired visual identity, adding a playful yet structured dynamic.
As an animation studio, motion was always going to be at the heart of this rebrand. Recognising that their brand is inherently designed to move, we ensured every element we created seamlessly integrated into a dynamic and fluid identity.
03
Shine
The rebrand has positioned Tracks and Layers as a standout player in the motion and animation space. The feedback from the team was overwhelmingly positive, with their Creative Director Mike Pettyt stating that the new identity “exceeded expectations and brought our values to life.”
Above all, Tracks and Layers now have Moti as the newest member of their team, embodying their personality with a relatable, human touch. The motion-first identity seamlessly extends into their new website, bringing the brand to life across every interaction and digital touchpoint, and as experts in 3D work, the team can now evolve and animate the system even further. We can’t wait to see how they continue to push it in the future. Mike Pettyt added:
“The entire team at Dawn have done an incredible job with the rebrand of our studio Tracks and Layers. With the finished article now in are hands and about to launch it’s been great to look back at how everything has stemmed from the initial strategy session showing that the whole team really understood what we were aiming for and have managed to create an identity, guidelines, website and library of assets that we can all get behind as a team and use to great effect to portray our studio vision and values to the wider world. The standard of the work, communication, processes and understanding from strategy through to design and execution has been top draw. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Dawn have done for us and look forward to working with them long into the future.”
