Fox5 San Diego "Big Bay Boom"
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Broadcast Package
High-impact broadcast design for FOX 5’s Big Bay Boom, creating a dynamic on-air package for San Diego’s iconic Independence Day celebration.
Fox5 San Diego
2 months
Big Bay Boom is San Diego’s largest Fourth of July celebration and the largest on the West Coast, an iconic waterfront fireworks event watched by hundreds of thousands in person and broadcast live across the region on FOX 5, KTLA and many more Nexstar stations. The telecast needed a graphics package that matched the scale, energy, and civic pride of the event while maintaining the credibility and clarity expected of a major-market news station.
The challenge was to create a bold, celebratory visual identity that felt distinctly San Diego, coastal, vibrant, and patriotic, without slipping into cliché or overpowering live coverage. We called it GLAMericana! The design had to support fast-moving broadcast workflows, integrate seamlessly with live cameras and sponsor elements, and remain flexible enough to carry hours of programming across intros, lower thirds, transitions, and segment bumpers.
Under tight seasonal timelines and the technical demands of a live fireworks broadcast, the core problem was clear: how do you build a graphics system that elevates a citywide spectacle on television. Making sure to enhance the energy of the event while staying functional, legible, and newsroom-ready in real time?
We designed the Big Bay Boom package as a celebration system that was built to feel explosive on screen while remaining disciplined enough for live television.
Visually, we leaned into bold patriotic color and light bursts inspired by the rhythm and expansion of fireworks themselves. For transitional elements we leaned in to graphic language established in other Fox live event offerings. In this case we gave a nod toward the Fox World Cup graphics package (a collaboration I'd been on for Fox corporate previously). Motion language was designed to feel energetic and anticipatory, echoing the cadence of the live show while never distracting from anchors, field reporters, or the skyline backdrop.
At the core was a flexible broadcast toolkit: a cinematic open, animated transitions, lower thirds, sponsor integrations, bugs, and modular elements engineered for live production. Every asset was designed with clarity and legibility in mind. We included strong type hierarchy, clean information zones, and safe-area awareness to ensure performance across varying lighting conditions and live camera feeds.
Because fireworks telecasts are unpredictable, timing shifts, weather changes, live cutaways, the system was built to adapt in real time. Graphics could scale up for high-energy moments or pull back to support commentary, maintaining visual cohesion throughout hours of coverage.
The result was a bold, city-proud, Emmy winning, on-air identity that elevated FOX 5’s presentation of San Diego’s most iconic Independence Day event.
