Creative Director Sharon Lock, and Designers Dan Herlihy and Andrew Niven worked to streamline and modernise the opening credits, working closely with the show’s set designer Rudi Thackray to create a complementary overarching look. Series Director Mark McQueen provided an edit of tantalising footage from the upcoming series to work with. Two passes were used to incorporate both a sleek chrome-like logo and the projected edit onto the logo. Inspiration for the colour scheme was derived from the early studio concepts, adding punches of red to the titles.

The existing cog in the show’s logo was removed to create a sleeker look. Designers Dan and Andrew reflected the show footage onto the modelled 3D logo using Cinema4D, compositing the render passes in AfterEffects. The overall aesthetic is dark and atmospheric, with connotations of a classic car ad: premium, aspirational and clean. Excess distortion was avoided, to land focus on the footage, with only small amounts of smoke and light effects added to finish the piece.

Top Gear is the latest in a string of title sequences created by Design Studio. See more here.