Parenthood: Building a Bold Visual Identity for Nature’s Most Powerful Story
- Dom Ho
- Aug 11
- 3 min read
All3Media / Silverback Films
"A premium creative campaign inspired by the raw power of parenting in the natural world."
Blacklist Creative was commissioned by All3Media to create the key art for Parenthood, a landmark natural history series from Silverback Films, narrated by David Attenborough. The series showcases awe-inspiring stories of animal parents raising their young across six continents, captured in unprecedented 8K detail over a three-year production.
Our task: to create a cinematic visual identity for the series and its five episodes that could resonate emotionally, communicate premium storytelling, and work seamlessly across print, digital, and large-scale formats.
The Mission
The brief challenged us to create artwork that would:
Feel cinematic, intimate, and premium
Centre the parent-child connection in the natural world
Reflect the diversity of habitat across five unique episodes
Avoid natural history clichés and over-stylisation
Deliver a cohesive suite of assets for online, social, editorial, and billboard use
The campaign had to work as a collection — unified by tone and structure, but flexible enough to highlight distinct environments and animal stories across episodes.
OUR CREATIVE RESPONSE
We approached this project as a balancing act between epic scale and emotional intimacy — letting the stunning photography lead, while developing a layered visual system to tie the series together.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
We began by immersing ourselves in the series' themes — parenting, climate resilience, and animal ingenuity — and rooted every visual decision in the core emotional idea: survival through connection.
Key creative responses to the brief included:
Use of direct-to-camera portraits of animal parents and young, to provide immediacy and emotional pull
A modular design system allowing each episode to feel unique while staying within one visual world
A strong type hierarchy and layout structure using specific fonts that flexed across formats and sizes
Natural backdrops chosen for authenticity — letting the environment inform tone without overwhelming the subject
Minimal copy, letting images speak for themselves as outlined in the brief
We also explored several strapline options aligned with the tone of the show. Each was tested in context to ensure it amplified, rather than distracted from, the visual story.
EXECUTION AND DELIVERY
Once the visual language was established, we moved into production:
Series Key Art: We selected hero imagery that best conveyed the overarching story — parent and child in a single moment of connection. This formed the visual anchor for the wider campaign.
Episodic Key Art: Each of the five episodes received its own artwork, with variations in species, landscape, and colour tone — all held together by consistent layout, lock-up, and branding.
Flexible Design System:
Scalable from billboard (3m x 3m) to digital banner
Supplied in square, portrait, and landscape formats
Delivered with and without title treatment and producer logos
Fully layered PSDs and working files for future use
Mockups and Presentations:
We created high-fidelity mockups for billboard placements, vertical executions, and MIPCOM stand graphics — ensuring each asset was evaluated in real-world contexts.
ANSWERING THE BRIEF
From start to finish, our process was grounded in direct response to All3Media’s needs:
Cinematic, premium tone – achieved through restrained design and high-res image use
Emotional clarity – every concept was rooted in the bond between parent and offspring
Consistency with flexibility – a visual system that held across the series while allowing each episode to stand out
Clarity across formats – adaptable layouts for social, OOH, print, and digital
Avoiding genre tropes – no over-stylisation or illustrated elements, just powerful photography
WHAT's NEXT
Our work on Parenthood sets a new bar for how natural history can be visually presented — bold, emotional, and built for impact. The visual identity helped position the series as a premium, globally relevant offering and has played a part in Parenthood being picked up by broadcasters around the world.
The response from All3Media has already led to conversations around future series artwork and brand development across factual and documentary genres.
At Blacklist, we don’t just create key art — we build emotional entry points into premium storytelling.
WANT TO CREATE SOMETHING WITH IMPACT?
Let’s talk about how storytelling and design can help audiences feel seen.
