Zona Design programming & promotion packages for Animal Planet.

Hispanic-owned design agency ZONA Design, Inc. created programming and promotion package elements for Animal Planet’s Horse Power, a new program targeted to teens and young women. Horse Power premiered on Animal Planet in February.

Horse Power follows America’s top teenage riders as they and their horses compete for the Maclay National Championship, the biggest junior equestrian competition of the year. Horse Power explores what it takes to make it both in high school and the ring, the pressure and sacrifices of the riders’ families, the athleticism and bravery of the horses, the dedication and ambition of the coaches, and above all, the emotional bond between horse and rider.

For Horse Power, Animal Planet was looking for a playful program open to introduce each of the riders and their horses to their audience. ZONA, the New York-based innovative design agency known for the way in which it strategically integrates color, typography, composition and choreography in the execution of projects, once again demonstrated their creative range with lively and energetic programming and promotion packages.

“I remember what it was like to be a young girl fascinated by horses. To hold the attention of our demographic we created a strong, graphic, visual attitude to connote horsepower, not glittery pony. We needed to quickly identify each of the competitors and their horses and so took great pains with the storytelling and pacing. These kids are competing and, in addition to their remarkable equestrian skills, there is an element of luck in any competition so we incorporated the horseshoe as a symbol of good fortune and pushed the idea a bit further with the addition of four leaf clovers. Flowers, stars, graphics reminiscent of stickers, interesting blocks of colors, both bright and earthy, and composited live-action footage from the show all give the packages a fresh, honest, clean feeling. Sirens Media and the Animal Planet programming team created an outstanding program which had great elements of storytelling, editing and programming footage shot on HD,” explained ZONA Creative Director/Designer Zoa Martinez.

“ZONA Design and Zoa Martinez have a great ‘POP’ sensibility that lent itself perfectly to the packaging of this program targeted at teens and young women,” stated Animal Planet VP/Creative Director Gheri Arnold.