Options for streaming services who strive to include and represent ASL signers are rare. Enter Signed Studios, who saw an opportunity to do better, envisioned a premium streaming service that would celebrate ASL viewers and creatives—and engaged La Visual to develop and launch an entire brand identity for their content platform.
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Title, role
The approach: Clear vision and open spirits
As part of our brand illumination process, we conducted extensive market research and interviews to identify a unique position for this new streaming service within the industry. And, to ensure that our brand addressed both the needs and views of the ASL community, we collaborated with talented ASL creatives throughout every stage of brand development. We learned more about pain points and preferences for ASL signers and viewers of visual media. We explored nuanced aspects of culture, language and physical expression to better understand their context and meaning. We committed ourselves to deepening our insight and fostering a sense of authenticity and ownership to ensure our final product resonated deeply with its intended audience.
The solution: A brand everyone can see and believe in
When it came to naming the brand, we brought together a large and multidisciplinary team of hearing and ASL creatives to generate names that held meaning and relevance for the ASL community. We collaborated with prominent ASL talent to ensure that the brand name would generate the right kind of excitement and communicate an additional layer of meaning when viewed through the cultural lens of ASL signers. And so the newly-christened VSYN+ was born.
We left no creative stone unturned during our brand development workshops, either. We explored a wide range of concepts in pursuit of a brand identity that would be both visually appealing and genuinely representative of the ASL signers in all their diversity: from deaf and hard of hearing viewers to interpreters to CODAs and SODAs and even just hearing people with an interest in learning a new language. We curated our visuals and language carefully, and engaged in multiple rounds of feedback and revision—even more than our typical, already highly meticulous process—to gain a broad range of feedback that would represent different perspectives within the ASL community.
Designing for inclusivity also meant looking at the entire branded environment—from web to experiential—from the perspective of an ASL viewer. For customers requiring additional help, for example, the typical chatbot and phone call experience is clearly insufficient. To ensure signers can receive support in their preferred language, VSYN+ provides live ASL-based help for issues requiring more support. To ensure consistent, excellent experiences for users receiving help in ASL, we outlined behavioral, conversational and visibility guidelines for VSYN+ service representatives.
As VSYN+ continues to grow—expanding its library of content, planning its original content and improving its product and expanding its interpretation options—its work will continue. La Visual will remain an enthusiastic partner in the evolution of VSYN+ as it changes the world of visual entertainment: one movie, one TV show, one sign at a time.
