Here you will find guidelines on what to expect in the artwork creation process, and what you need to provide to the Non-Branded Product Artwork Agency (NPAA) who will be developing the artwork suites for your titles.

Your cooperation and attention in this process go a long way toward ensuring we can create the best artwork for your titles, so thank you in advance!

We believe that great stories can come from anywhere, and that they can be enjoyed everywhere. Members have thousands of titles to choose from so quickly and accurately conveying the essence of the title so they can make an informed choice is a huge priority for Netflix.

Every member is different and what artwork resonates with them varies. That’s why we like to create a few versions of the artwork which show the title in slightly different ways. For example, we can vary expressions, contexts and depicted relationships while remaining accurate to the essence of the title. This approach allows us to remain authentic to the title, helping members pick something they’ll love, while providing enough diversity to connect with the different moods and need states of our members.

It’s worth noting that if artwork doesn’t accurately reflect the content itself, members are likely to abandon the title. This doesn’t help your incredible work get seen and it doesn't create the member happiness Netflix is after! That’s why we’re very careful about artwork that could be misleading (for example, it conveys the wrong tone, or suggests a secondary character is the focus of the story).

Communicating genre, plot, main characters, and overall tone of a title in the artwork is critical to help our members choose the right titles. As it might not always be achievable to communicate all of these variables at the same time, we will prioritize core genres and subgenres, ensuring they are conveyed in every image.

Main characters and recognizable talent should take the center stage, portrayed with clarity and appropriate representation. Secondary characters should be used with discernment — considering when and how often they appear in the content and should never be used without context to the main character.

Plot clarity can be conveyed primarily through emotional expressions and narrative-driven images.

Additionally, the Netflix Product demands and expects a lot from its artwork assets, and flexibility is at the core of everything we do. Each image is designed within a template called the Universal Base Asset, which allows artwork to fit within a variety of templates, facilitates localization in many languages, and surfaces creative differently to each member based on their viewing preferences and devices. These images will be seen everywhere from small, mobile phone screens to the latest and largest TV screens.

The UBA also allows all the amazing artwork you provide to look incredible even if the product UI changes (which it will)! A UBA can be adjusted to fit in any new space on the product, meaning your title will always be represented in the best possible light.

Using the raw assets and source materials you provide, one of our NPAAs will create artwork to Netflix specs and quality standards, ensuring that the imagery best represents your title and showcases various parts of the story that may appeal to Netflix members.

Aim for creative diversity in the asset suite

We always convey the core essence of the title in the artwork (meaning, the main character(s) and the core genres), but there is still room to bring diversity into the suite authentically. For example, we may show the main character with different secondary characters. We may explore a range of emotions. We may showcase different settings and contexts to give more clues to the storyline, setting or tone.

Key considerations to drive diversity in a suite:

• Avoid very minor variations of the same image or talent

• If we have strong IP, famous talent, etc. remember that’s most likely the key factor (e.g., if it’s a Godzilla movie, you most likely want Godzilla in every asset)

• Only represent prevalent aspects of the story

• Never deviate from what the content is really about

• Ensure the core markers are present when it comes to genre, plot and characters across the suite

One of the NPAAs will reach out to you in order to coordinate the receipt of raw assets and source materials so that they can create the artwork for your title. The Artwork Agency will then work closely with the Netflix Product Discovery & Promotion (PDP) team to develop the imagery. PDP will ensure that each title’s artwork accurately represents the content, meets Netflix creative excellence standards, and enhances the title discovery journey in order to allow the opportunity for the title to grow and find its audience on Netflix.

Whether you’re delivering one title or many, the NPAA needs as many of the following raw assets and source materials as possible for every title. For each asset, always prioritize the following:

• Highest-resolution possible

• Layered files and editable raw assets

• Good file hygiene (clear file naming & folder organization)

• Asset must be cleared for use in promotion of the title both on and off the Netflix service

• Asset must be adaptable to the Universal Base Asset

  • We find the best UBA suitable images are those of the highest quality and where most of the action is happening in the center of the frame. Talent is usually clearly visible and not cropped too tightly.

Key Artwork or Poster

This is a poster, or “key art”, that is used to promote the title in marketing promotions. Whenever it exists for a title it should be adapted to UBA specs and provided as a layered PSD file, meaning all text, logos, characters, and background elements should be separated within the file. Deliver the highest resolution possible, with no compression. UBA creation is essential so that the Key Art creative can be used in all product canvases and asset types, not just vertical artwork.

Note: we will not always include the Key Art on the product even if you provide it to us. For example, if talent is hard to see or the image lacks context on the genre of the title, we prefer to use images that do the best job of conveying the right context to the member so they can confidently press play and enjoy your title!

Stills from the Content

Your NPAA will be able to provide the best stills using our incredible Netflix tools so you don’t have to worry about providing them. But if you do have them…

Providing high-resolution stills from key moments in the content itself is really beneficial to creating the most relevant and compelling artwork for the title. We recommend providing a minimum of 10-15 stills. If provided, they need to be creatively diverse, meaning they are showing different scenes and situations of the main cast and moments from the title. Center focused assets work best for the Universal Base Asset and artwork across service.

Members really resonate with stills because they are the truest reflection of the actual experience they will get when watching your title.

Stills cannot be created via screen shots as they will not be high enough resolution. The still images must be from the video itself.

Marketing, Gallery, Unit, or Other Photography

If you have any additional assets or photography available for your title, it makes for great creative source material that can be used in artwork. When available, please provide the highest resolution possible, and ensure that everything you provide can be used freely in promotion of the title on and off the Netflix service. However, note that we do not need and cannot use any backstage or behind-the-scenes content, so don’t provide it.

Please note that pure studio backgrounds often need some additional background context added in to give the member the best sense of the title they are about to watch.

Universal Base Asset (UBA) is a flexible artwork template that can easily fulfill any of our on-service product canvases across TV, web and mobile. By ensuring that all promotional artworks are delivered in the UBA format, we are also able to future-proof your titles against any future UI enhancements. We provide our agencies with two UBA templates, UBA Horizontal and UBA Square. UBA horizontal is more commonly utilized for product needs.

We understand that not all images are immediately UBA-friendly. To adapt these artworks into UBAs for delivery, our artwork agencies may extend the background of these images, while ensuring that all background extensions are authentic to the environment and context of the content.

Examples of background extensions to fit images into UBA - for illustrative purposes:

Additionally, not every center-focused asset is UBA friendly. We must ensure that the main focus of the image is within our safe zones. See below for examples of non-UBA friendly assets:

The NPAA that you partner with will be able to determine how to best make your artwork UBA friendly so that it appears properly on service.

Title Treatments draw our members in. It is a distinctive visual element that displays the title in a clear way and helps our members choose. When title treatments are legible, it hints at the title’s ‘world’ and genre/prestige. By ensuring that logos are visible on Netflix (regardless of devices), we are able to serve up your content with clarity. It is important to note that title treatments that may work for off-service may need to be refined lightly for increased legibility on service to ensure your title is presented clearly.

Three main things that guide TT clarity on Netflix:

We need you to provide the title’s logo or title treatment, ideally in a vectorized file such as an AI, EPS or PDF. This is important so your logo does not lose quality when scaled. Please also provide the name of the font(s) used in the logo.

Rasterized files are only acceptable if they are high-quality, high-resolution (more than 2500 pixels wide), and free of any additional objects or elements.

If available, you can also deliver any localized logos or title treatments. The same file expectations apply.

Scale

Ensure that the logo is utilizing the scope of the logo canvas to create strong readability.

Color

When the original color of the provided logo does not read well across canvases - NPAA should optimize the best color choices for both dark and light logos to enhance readability.

Design Issues

Keep the integrity of the original design of a provided logo - we should simplify heavily stylized logos - removing strong gradients, logos within containers, etc.

Character Artwork

If you are providing kids’ titles to Netflix, please provide the NPAA with any final, character assets of the main character(s) so that we can leverage these in the creation of character-specific artwork.

Purpose & Use

Character Base is an asset that represents a title in the Netflix Kids space (ages 0-12). It’s usually a singular character, or 1-2 characters. The image is used in three ways:

1. Full body

2. Half body crop

3. Circle crop

When providing raw assets to your NPAA, please be mindful of the below needs.

Requirements:

• Full body image

• Facing camera

• No text, objects, border effects

Here are a couple of examples that work wonderfully on our product:

Here are a few examples that would be rejected:

Video Content

If you have high-quality video assets such as a trailer or other promotional videos, they can also be used as source material to create artwork. The file should ideally be 2GB or greater in file size, and 4:2:2 quality, to ensure these are assets that are appropriate to pull stills for artwork from. Please provide those to the NPAA, as available.

Note that the NPFP collects all final, high-resolution content for delivery and use on the Netflix service. NPAAs do not take delivery of any video content for use on the Netflix service, but in some regions they might collect final, high-resolution video assets that may be used in promotion of the title off of the Netflix service. These video assets must be cleared for promotion off-service (content, music, imagery, etc.). Upon delivery, please call out specific scenes, talent, etc that we should not use for on or off service promotion.

Each NPAA may work slightly differently, so be sure to have a conversation about file delivery and expectations when you begin your engagement with your agency partners. The following are high-level guidelines to ensure a smooth process:

• Align on how the file transfer will take place - are you posting the files somewhere the Non-Branded Product Artwork Agency can download them, or is the Agency providing you with a location that you can upload at?

• Practice good file hygiene in delivery! Organize each title’s source materials in a title-level folder. Within that folder, please organize subfolders for items such as Key Art, Stills, Logos, Photography, etc.