With over 2.7 million subscribers, Rick Shiels has the world’s #1 golfing YouTube channel, and it’s continually growing. Our journey was to refine Rick Shiels Media’s strategy and brand identity, ultimately with the aim to expand the brand beyond the online space and reach new fans and audiences. Within that brief, we could also bring some depth and consistency to some of the graphical output of the existing online channels.

We started by defining the brand’s purpose and values, which are rooted in Ricks’ vision of making golf accessible and enjoyable for everyone, breaking down barriers, and evolving the perception of golf as an expensive and elitist sport.

Next, we began honing the core concept that would guide our creative direction.
We developed a central theme of “play,” inspired by the idea of making golf accessible, enjoyable and getting people out into the world to take part. The word play also alluded to Ricks brand’s origin on YouTube.

We created a graphical framework from a classic photo by Harold Eugene Edgerton
‘Bobby Jones with a Driver,’ which used stroboscope techniques to capture the moment of golf swing. We wanted to capture this dynamism of the motion throughout our visuals, and combined it with graphical representations of tracer lines (commonly used in golf to trace swing and ball trajectory).

We needed to integrate this concept seamlessly into the Rick Shiels’ YouTube channel without overpowering his content, and respecting the existing loyal audience. To achieve this, we focused on enhancing the visual language, introducing a consistent approach to typography and subsequent motion (including a bespoke typeface), scoreboards, leader boards and colour palette.

Rick Shiels Media now has a revitalised brand identity that is both cohesive and adaptable. By focusing on the core brand concept of “play,” down to the details within the RSM logo construction, they aim to continue to attract more golf enthusiasts and players to get involved in the sport. We provided guidelines for motion graphics and animation, empowering Rick Shiels Media to maintain consistency and build excitement across all their platforms, providing a foundation for future growth and diversification beyond the YouTube channel.