Newspeak has started up in New York City as a “young” design boutique specializing in motion design, art direction and identity development. Founded by Erik Montovano, its creative director, he is joined at Newspeak by Andreea Prichea as exec producer. The company’s initial projects are a major show package for mtvU —MTV’s 24-hour college network, and show packages for three Vh1Classic series.
Newspeak designed, created and produced the show package for the mtvU series, MEET OR DELETE, which recently debuted on mtvU, mtvU Über at mtvU.com and mtvU Mobile. The show, developed with Hewlett Packard, follows college students as they size each other up and decide if they'd like to meet, based solely on the contents of their hard drives.
MEET OR DELETE is the first MTV Networks' show to roll out internationally (Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America) and utilize virtually every MTV asset, including mtvU, mtvU.com, MTV, MTV.com MTV2, broadband channels mtvU Über and MTV Overdrive, MTV wireless, the MTV Store and the massive MTV 44 1⁄2 high definition TV in Times Square. Newspeak needed to combine elements of HP's soon-to-launch global ad campaign and mtvU's core design aesthetic for the overall graphic look.
"Newspeak did a good job of listening to our needs and developing on-air graphics that immediately grab the viewer's attention, making him or her feel like they're diving into the deepest reaches of another's hard drive," said Rodger Belknap, senior design director, MTV Networks. "The graphics effectively integrate mtvU's look and feel with HP's global ad campaign — we were very pleased with the end result."
Newspeak designed, created and produced show packages for three recently launched Vh1 Classic series: NEWS FLASH CLASSIC TOTAL and CLASS OF...
CLASS OF… is a half hour show highlighting artists of various genres of that year. The opening graphics needed to be adaptable to different genres and years. The graphics for “Class of…” are not meant to reflect a specific real classroom or school environment.
For NEWS FLASH, Vh1 wanted to reflect music and news, while, at the same time, maintaining anonymity and generality. Newspeak's challenge was to incorporate and give the feeling of news and music visually.
The graphics for CLASSIC TOTAL incorporate “blocks” to express the various music blocks featured within the show. The generic graphics had to represent specific blocks of music, producers, directors, etc.
Vh-1 creative director Jim Fitzgerald said, “Erik and I have a relationship that goes back to Showtime. I know Andreea from that time as well. What I like about Newspeak is the willingness to try new things and push it creatively. Whether it’s for the launch of LOGO; VH1 Classic Newsflash (which plays constantly) or Erik’s work for the first two season’s of “Hogan Knows Best,” there is always room for creative give and take and flexibility in the work style and that’s what keeps these guys on my radar.”
Montovano is a School of Visual Arts graduate, and remains an occasional substitute teacher for SVA's broadcast design class. Earlier in his career, he worked as a permanent freelancer at Showtime, where he assisted in the launch of ShoNext. At Comedy Central, Erik worked on that channel’s reality show spoofs. He later moved on, and began freelancing for numerous NYC-based design companies.
He was approached by Home Shopping Network (HSN) to help push that popular brand. He was later asked to work on the exploration of — and the foundation for — HSN’s sister channel, America's Store.
A member of an experimental motion design magazine entitled, SMILEFAUCET, he is always conscious of the artistic process, and the different mediums in which to explore them. His awards include recognition by the AIGA, BDA, The New York Festivals (world medal) and GRAPHIS MAGAZINE.
Prichea worked as an operations manager for an international web development, creative, interactive marketing company, with clients including Citibank and Pfizer. Interested in the artistic side of design, she first started freelancing as a producer for Montovano in 2003.
Her interest spurs into the aesthetics of design and, especially, motion design. She also teaches Philosophy at Baruch College.
Founded in 2006, Newspeak is a design boutique that speaks individually to its clients. The company specializes in motion design, art direction, and identity development for television programs, networks and channels, as well as for corporate and multi-media presentations. In addition to MTV and VH-1, the company’s clients include Adelphia, Comcast, HBO, Showtime and Hill Holiday.
Newspeak is located at 100 West 23rd Street, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10011. The phone is 917/546-0843, and the website is
www.newspeak.tv .
