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By 2021 Hulu had grown fast in the US, and its brand, product and marketing did not yet work as one system. The wordmark was already well known, so the job was not a new logo but, in the studio's words, giving existing equity more meaning.

Research into the name led to an old Chinese meaning of hulu as a gourd, the holder of precious things. That became the Vessel, a flexible container shape that holds content, guides the product interface and gives Hulu a way to express itself, sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly. The distinctive green moved to the front, used to create ownership and punctuate stories. Four principles steered the work: always a story, do it different, simply essential and delightfully human. Deadline reported that the marketing push would run through the year and that the company wanted Hulu to feel fun, modern, simple and straightforward.

DixonBaxi design director Astrid D'Hondt told Design Week the Vessel takes its rounded corners from the u in the wordmark and stretches from expressive to discreet: a frame around characters in brand films, a highlight in the app, a spotlight on Hulu Originals. Graphik replaced a mix of typefaces, the green stayed as the key differentiator, Zelig Sound made a sonic identity, and a waffle-free voice is punchy in ads but dialled down in the app. The studio worked with Hulu's in-house creative team, Greenhouse.

London studio DixonBaxi created the system with Hulu's brand, product, campaign and strategy teams, as It's Nice That and Deadline both reported.

The response was muted. A Design Week reader called the lozenge something that could have been designed in the eighties, and on Reddit subscribers mostly ignored the identity to complain about the app, 4K and DVR.

Adweek and Deadline supplied the business setting. Hulu had 39.4 million subscribers and, with its live TV bundle, ranked as the fifth-largest US pay-TV operator, but it faced newer rivals such as HBO Max and Paramount+, and Disney was folding FX and Searchlight titles into it after buying 21st Century Fox. The One Hulu system aimed to make Hulu the place people start streaming. Hulu said research showed people navigate by symbols and want to move from stress to relaxation, and that its green was a source of power; it described the green frame as a vessel, a holder of precious things. The launch spot featured Kris Jenner, Andra Day and Aaron Donald, with an originals push planned for the summer.

Leaving the logo untouched was the smartest decision here. Most streaming rebrands start by redrawing the wordmark; this one started by asking what the brand should hold. The gourd story is a little precious, but the Vessel works as a practical device, which is rarer than a good origin myth.