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Mollie’s creates a music bar in the famous Granada Studios.

At the base of Mollie’s Manchester, the latest city-centre hotel from value-luxe hospitality brand Mollie’s, sits Studio IV , a new music bar housed within the iconic Granada Studios, designed as a stage for emerging bands, DJs and contemporary live entertainment, bringing fresh energy and cultural relevance to the venue night after night.

The brand identity was created as a respectful nod to the building’s rich broadcasting heritage. Its name references the famed Studio 4, immortalised in the language of live television (“we’re going over now to Studio 4 for a live update”) while the logo draws inspiration from the visual language of brands from those years, creating a sense of authenticity rooted in place.

While Studio IV needed to stand apart as its own destination, it was equally important that it retained a subtle connection to the wider Mollie’s world. The placement of the IV to the right-hand side of imagery suggests the possibility of a larger, unseen form, hinting at an M as much as an IV, creating an intentional visual ambiguity. Its styling also borrows from the distinctive character of Mollie’s own m forms, establishing a quiet but deliberate brand relationship.

Studio IV also needed to align with the modern nostalgia positioning of Mollie’s, but not be the same, so we leaned into the 70’s film genre, reflecting the films of the 70’s, such as Play Misty for Me, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bullet etc, as well as some 70’s art-house jazz vibes.

Photography was developed to evoke the atmosphere of 1970s television culture, using scan-line treatments as a playful reference to analogue broadcast technology. This aesthetic not only reinforces the Granada Studios heritage, but also creates a visual rhythm that connects seamlessly with both the Mollie’s and Studio IV identities.

Copy and tone of voice are playful, and rooted in music culture, with music metaphors such as 12 ‘bar’ blues, 4 beats and then to the bar, hitting the right note and sound bar.