The CMG Graphics Hub, based out of WSB in Atlanta, led the package development, with it built on the Chyron Prime graphics platform.

Most shiny 3D elements are used in fullscreen animated elements, including opens, stingers, and wipes, with a focus on angular elements and diamond shapes, often with arrow elements inspired by those shapes.

Opens typically lean more toward a rather subdued color scheme with a series of arrow pointers entering the screen from opposite directions, while the station’s logo, rendered in separate 3D pieces, flutters into view. Only one station has launched a more complex open featuring additional station branding.

Some of the stations position the logo roughly in the left two-thirds of the screen, while others display it wider, stretching more into the openings created by the 3D glass and metallic elements to swap in local imagery to the right.

Opens also contain a line of marching text with various locales separated by pipes under the logo.

A similar look is used for various fullscreen animated elements, such as the “Right Now” stinger shown above. These tend to be more text-based and feature blue and silver shapes, with everything arranged inside a large central diamond, often sporting a silver arrow accent to the right. Some stations take these elements a step further by layering in photos. 

The text in these graphics is highly 3D and features what appears to be more of a matte face with more reflective sides.

Surrounding this are multiple angular elements, shown at various degrees of intensity and the option for a more subtle checkerboard-like pattern. There are several variations available and a thick silver arrow-like element often serves as a wipe.

For other portions of the package, including lower thirds, OTSs and fullscreen lists, a much flatter look is used, though there are some graphical tie-ins to elements found in the 3D design.

A ticker bar can be added to the bottom of the screen, capped with a thin yellow line on top with a white one below. Stations can insert branding or sponsor logos here as needed.

The far left of the screen is reserved for a bug and time and temperature that sits above the ticker, with layouts varying from station to station.

For example, WFTV in Orlando puts its red boxed logo to the left with a semi-transparent box next to it for a stacked time and temp.

Action News Jax (WFOX and WJAX, run by CMG via a JSA in Jacksonville, Florida) runs its logo along the top of the space, including having the option to add a “First Alert Weather Day” notation, and puts the current time and temperature below in a black bar.

WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina, opts to run its circular “9” logo in a slightly narrower space with the time and temp part of the ticker bar below.

Meanwhile, the lower thirds themselves use a blue rectangle with a white line running up the left side and most of the way across the top, which does an effective job at framing out the space and the information displayed in it.

Story banners run wider than identifier insert graphics and the second tier typically includes a yellow pipe on both sides of the text displayed here, which ends up subtly drawing the eye to it while also building a connection to that scrolling list of cities in the opens. Inserts for double anchors run the full width with a triangular arrow accent to the left of each name.

The lower right of the lower thirds features a sort of reverse L-shaped accent, drawing on the arrow-like elements in the animated fullscreens.

Roughly half of the blue bar also features a twinkling matrix of dots.

There is the option for an additional tier above the blue bar, typically shown in white or red for breaking news. Some stations appear to allow a slight gap between the lower third insert and ticker, which can be used to add a red accent between the two. 

For teasers, a two-line blue box can be added in the lower left corner, accented by two yellow L-shaped elements, again inspired by the arrows and angles in the open.

Another layout includes adding a full-width blue background with dot accents behind the ticker and roughly half the of the bug with a white box with a yellow underline used to house the headline text.

The package also includes an OTS template that occupies slightly less than half of the screen width and features a sort of stepped layout combining white, gray, yellow and blue bars to create a sort of frame for the topical imagery with a blue box below for additional text.

There is also a list-style option with a white header element, yellow accent and multiple shades of blue used for each item of text shown.

Fullscreen lists use an ultra-clean look with a blue header with generous breathing room along the top with space for lines of text, capped with a colored vertical rule on the left below. There is also the option to make the current point larger and bolder.

CMG has been steadily rolling out the new look the week of Jan. 8, 2024, with nearly every station in the group seeing the design launch. WSB, WJAX, WFOX, WPXI, WHIO, WFTV, KIRO and WSOC have all debuted the new design in one form or another.

Action News Jax (WJAX and WFOX)

Motion Graphics

WJAX

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WSOC

Motion Graphics

WSOC

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WFTV 

Motion Graphics

WFTV

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WPXI

Motion Graphics

WPXI

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WHIO

Motion Graphics

WHIO

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WFXT

Motion Graphics

WFXT

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Motion Graphics

WTVD

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The implementation so far appears largely the same as at its sister stations, though with a notable distinction that the station is the only one in the group that doesn’t have a logo with at least the suggestion of a circle outside of the network logo.

Instead, WTVD, which brands on air as “ABC 11 Eyewitness News,” has a blocked italic “11,” so the logo entrances tend to shift the circular swirl animation to focus on the smaller ABC globe logo in the lower right of the numeral.

The graphics package, designed by Vivid Zero and driven by unspecified research findings from SmithGeiger, first debuted at WLS in Chicago in June 2023.

The post Raleigh ABC becomes latest to debut new group graphics look appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Motion Graphics

KTRK

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The look largely follows the design sister station WLS in Chicago debuted in June 2023, though with some tweaks, updates and new looks.

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The look was designed by Vivid Zero.

Thanks to KTRK’s red, white and blue logo, the base look of its iteration of the package uses those colors and forgoes the use of the gold used predominantly in Chicago, giving a glimpse on at least one way the look might be customized on a per-market basis. 

Chicago does use red for breaking news and other applications. 

KTRK’s opens and rejoins use a nearly identical layout but with Houston imagery swapped out in favor of Chicago landmarks in the various rectangular panes. 

The Houston outlet also uses the curved 3D spaces that were not part of the WLS launch, but have since worked their way into that station’s look as well.

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In Texas, the curved elements tend to show more of the curve, including the option for ribbon-like effect that serves as a sort of transitional element.

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“TV Avisen” airs on DR1, one of three of the public broadcaster’s channels, representing the “DR” initialism that the broadcaster is commonly known by.

“TVA” uses a red eye-shaped logo with some visual similarities to U.S. network CBS’s logo.

The new look was designed to be digital-first but also serve as a bridge between TV and the web, according to the network.

The network’s trademark red color and oversized versions of the shapes inspired by the broadcast’s logo are used across the design, including in fullscreens and on-set graphics. 

An anchor one-shot with a video pane in the lower corner above the lower third.

One hallmark of the design is an off-center anchor one-shot that appears to be meant to accommodate a “pop up” video pane that can appear in the lower left of the screen, typically above a lower third banner. 

This element runs footage that would typically run under a traditional VO, but keeps both the anchor and the footage on-screen the entire time.

View on Giphy

Other on-screen visuals include white lower-third banners tied to the screen’s lower left corner that never grow to full width. 

The white banner can be topped with a small red box featuring an animated loop of the eye icon that can drop into the corner of the screen when a white banner isn’t being inserted.

In that way, it serves as both a bug and branding element that smoothly animates between its positions.

Those white banners have a quick red-accented entrance animation that is a nod to “popping up” as well. Banners can feature multiple lines of text, with a label set in smaller, red all-caps. 

When the video pane is used, the headline shrinks down slightly and the clip element enters the screen using a similar entrance animation to the lower thirds.

While the package is heavily centered around the network’s trademark red and white, blue also plays a key role, including in the opening sequence where portions of the eye showcase a blue-tinted globe graphic, a change in the previous look that leaned more on a red-tinted world visual along with a lighter shade of blue.

Solid versions of the new blue are used for elements such as fullscreen maps and a blue box added to the lower left of the screen used to showcase top stories.

Variations also exist across dayparts that feature other muted shades, such as a light sage green. 

The look uses a suite of additional animations that include elements growing or shrinking in size to match the space needed for content, while leaning heavily on swipe-inspired transitions. 

Like the small logo in the corner of the screen, the open is also stocked with rotation effects, including solid and outline versions of what would be the “white part” of the eye. The iris or lens of the eye ends up morphing into the globe element, which then grows in size to sit alongside the “TVA” name and time of broadcast with the logo positioned dead center over the border of the white background and blue globe. 

Accenting the open are microtext elements featuring timestamps — though they are kept to a minimum. Also used are oversized typographic representations of the broadcast time and program name. 

The broadcaster did not switch to a new set, but did update its default video wall graphics to feature a blurred version of the network’s newsroom.

The ultra-modern set’s video wall is so wide — it wraps around two entire walls — that a single representation of the newsroom doesn’t fit. Instead, there are several repeating visuals centered on the newsroom’s suspended LED ring that peek through simulated frosted shapes inspired by the logo.

In a wide bump shot at the top of select broadcasts, the “TVA” logotype appears along with a countdown on the video wall with a subtle “flick”-style animation. 

As the countdown hits zero, the newsroom disappears from view with a left-to-right red and white transition effect.

The element appears to be carefully timed to when the when the open animation enters from the far right of the screen, moving from right to left and completing an imaginary ring in the 3D space that exists between the video wall and outer auspices of the studio shown in the bump. 

The video wall backgrounds are subtly animated to include flickering screens and people moving around, with the various layers of simulated frosted elements overlaid. 

Other video wall options include topical graphics, mostly devoted to imagery from the story in question. The broadcast can also added colored boxes for key points alongside the images.

The post Danish newscast ‘TV Avisen’ gets bold on-air update appeared first on NewscastStudio.

9&10 News switches to awkward and odd new logo

The new graphics follow the color palette the logo uses of blue and gold with a flat angular look. 

The exact angles used vary from application to application but do appear to be at least partially inspired by the sharp diagonal line on the right side of the station’s new logo.

The angles are used heavily in the open to showcase a montage of regional footage that use side-to-side animation to reveal the newscast title card.

The diagonal motif continues in the updated lower thirds, which feature side-by-side white and yellow elements that are divided with an angle. 

Angles are also found in other fullscreen backgrounds, with multiple lines of different shades and colors used to create triangular elements.

The package also makes use of dotted and other small icon accents, including some that are similar to the ones used by CBS News and its new owned station graphics package that is rolling out. Opens also include a small clock icon with the hands set to the corresponding start time of the newscast.

The station also updated its bug to a simple semi-transparent version of its logo with the time in a similar shape above. When displayed on top of lighter shades, the bug and time appear to have a slightly darker outline applied to them.

Like its new logo, the station is using Futura throughout its graphics package. The Web version of foundry Paratype is used on the stations’ website via Adobe’s Font service, formerly known as Typekit, according to an analysis of the underlying CSS and HTML.

Another common element in the new look is the use of outlined typography, including, most prominently in the time of the newscast spelled out in word form.

The same typographic style is also used in other parts of the new look as well as on social media graphics.

WWTV appears to be using a technique of applying an outline effect to an existing font, which results in slightly misshaped and odd angles in the strokes, such as the off-kilter “points” found in the “N.”

From a strict typographic standpoint, creating outlined type this way is essentially a “faux outline” version of the the font because it’s simply using the computer’s “best judgment” to draw an best approximation of what the letters would look like outlined.

The result is that the traced outline has to sit either inside, outside or along the middle of the original letters’ edges, so the result, especially at thicker widths like WWTV is using, is a look that can create some of the odd effects.

WWTV is hardly unique in using this approach, though it’s considered a big no-no by typography purists. 

The Paratype (abbreviated as “PT”) version of Futura used on the station site does not include an official outlined version. URW Type Foundry, meanwhile, does offer an outline version of Futura, but it has significant differences from the letters shown in WWTV’s graphics.

Outlined typography has become popular in recent years, with one each being NBC’s Peacock streamer. In this case, NBC commissioned a custom font, known as Peacock Sans, that also has a separately-drawn outline version rather than relying on a faux outline effect. 

A true outline font, such as Peacock’s, is drawn separately but typically based on the same letterforms its parent font has.

The station is using the same set as it did before the updates, though on-set video panels sport mostly new graphics. The station did not immediately updated its weather graphics from the previous look.

The post 9&10 News switches to new graphics that emphasize accents, outlined type appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Generally, we think of it as an amalgamation of real-time production techniques that combine physical subjects with digital “magic” to create eye-catching content.

But while VP has become a buzzword in recent years, it’s not entirely new. It wasn’t always known as “virtual production,” either. In fact, the earliest form of what we now call ‘VP’ happened 75 years ago in British cinema. Production designer David Rawnsley began using back projection in his ‘Independent Frame’ system, pre-planning extensive storyboards and models along with camera and talent movements. While his Independent Frame technology never truly caught on, the principles of virtual production remain the same today; using planned pre-visualization, tracking camera and talent movements, and simulating environments or assets in real time. 

A recent history

However, the history of virtual production that we will focus on begins at the turn of the 20th century. Once digital editing entered the picture, filmmakers could transcode the film to digital media and edit material even while it was still being shot. This eventually evolved into on-set editing, and then into adding VFX from personal desktops. As a result, rigid feedback pipelines became agile, fluid, and accessible in real time.

A glowing blue puck was used on Fox Sports’ live ice hockey broadcast in 1996 to make the puck more visible on screen, marking the first use of augmented reality (AR) during a live sporting event. This ‘FoxTrax’ system was billed by Fox as “the greatest technological breakthrough in the history of sports,” bringing live AR into the homes of millions of sports fans.

Just a couple of years later, in 1998, an NFL live broadcast displayed a yellow line to denote a ‘first down line’ location on the field. This was quietly revolutionary. Before then, sports fans would squabble amongst themselves over whether their team had earned a first down until they heard confirmation from the commentator or referee. With this simple yellow line, the NFL changed the way we watch the game. It offered real-time feedback to viewers about the state of play in a way that not even in-person spectators could see – and marked a turning point for the use of virtual production in live broadcasts.

Later, advancements in filmmaking technologies led to the use of virtual cameras for pre-planning camera moves and simulcams, which superimposed virtual characters over live-action in real-time. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellow of the Ring (2001) and James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) are some of the earliest examples of these VP technologies in Hollywood filmmaking.

Convergence of circumstances

After initial breakthroughs in real-time CG, AR, green-screen, and other live graphics started becoming commonplace in the late 2000s. With advancements in visual and consumer technologies, the public could have AR in their pockets – from Google Maps Live View to Pokémon GO. 

Gaming technologies also improved to the point where graphics started becoming truly immersive. GPUs and graphics cards have become faster and more powerful, and game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity have made significant progress. Released by Epic Games in 1998, Unreal Engine has evolved from being a game rendering technology into a real-time graphics engine that pushes the boundaries of photorealism across industries.

As a result of these technological developments, streamed content, social media networks, and gaming apps emerged as challengers to traditional cable TV, creating a shared social experience – and mainstream content creators had to push their boundaries to keep up.

From the earliest applications of AR in live broadcast, we now see this technology used across all forms of sports broadcasting. In addition to enhancing viewer engagement like these NFL team mascots, graphics can also be used to incentivize brand investments, like this Halo Infinite x Oregon Ducks AR experience.

Virtual studio techniques, such as those used on the Weather Channel, can bring something as simple as a weather report to life. Viewers can be fully immersed in the current weather conditions as presenters are thrust into the middle of a storm. With live 3D graphics overlaid onto a green screen, we can watch the talent interacting in real-time with the virtual environment around them, enhancing our engagement.

The rise of XR solutions, which use large LED screens to display virtual environments controlled in real time, has made virtual production mainstream. Popularized by The Volume of The Mandalorian (2019) fame, we’ve seen LED screens used increasingly across Hollywood productions, such as The Batman (2022), as well as in the advertising world, as showcased in the Nissan Sentra car commercial. 

Broadcasters are also turning towards XR, with China Central Television and the BBC integrating it into workflows.

The future of media production

There is no doubt that soon, virtual production will be regarded as a standard media production.

Real-time tools are lowering the entry bar for all types of content creators outside of typical production and education environments. Ideation and creation stages are getting shorter, and hardware is becoming less expensive, which has enabled VP to become far more accessible.

We see that demand for new talent is growing with universities and other educational institutions implementing virtual production into their curricula. This is something that we are addressing with the Pixotope Education Program. 

Outside of the broadcast world, use cases will vary from educational content creation, online marketing and sales, to influencers, streamers, and more. Many VFX studios have already started integrating real-time CG into their workflows, and we’re sure to see more independent studios producing content using VP. Particularly exciting for storytellers and viewers is how next-level VP techniques like real-time data input can enhance viewer engagement. 

In terms of other transformative technology, we’ll likely see VP workflows move further into the cloud. The Pixotope Live Cloud, an industry first in VP cloud-based platforms, gives users a pay-as-you-go service that is always available. This enables easy up-scaling and down-scaling, helping to effortlessly create segmented content, such as developing variations of sections that employ different graphics. When anyone can create and control AR graphics live using a cell phone, it offers infinite opportunities for creativity.

But there is still more progress to be made, and VP is far from its endpoint. In the short-term, we will see advancements in hardware and software:

• Graphics cards will become more powerful.
• Complexity of systems will be reduced.
• Calibration and line-up will be simplified across VP workflows, such as for camera tracking in LED stages.

In the long-term, the evolution of AI could see it help VP workflows by acting as a virtual film crew or providing intelligence to AR asset performances and personalities.

We believe virtual production is the future of media production, and there’s no better time to take advantage of this industry shift. While there is plenty to come in the future of virtual production, current innovations and accessibility mean that it is the perfect time to take the leap into using VP in your broadcast or live workflow. 

The post Column: The past and present of virtual production—and where it could go next appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The new ABC Owned Television Stations package is the product of three years of development with consulting firm SmithGeiger, which conducted extensive research for the redesign effort. 

The look moves toward a flat design aesthetic with opacity and overlays, losing the lens flares and 3D found on many ABC stations.

SmithGeiger’s creative services division, Vivid Zero, led the design effort and has created a toolkit of design elements for the stations, with each finalizing implementation and customization at the local level. This ultimately means each ABC-owned station may have a different finished product while sharing the same DNA from the initial research.

Vivid Zero has quickly become ABC’s go-to design team, having recently worked on network programming including “The View” and the 2022 rebrand of “Good Morning America.” 

ABC Owned Television Stations declined to participate in this story but NewscastStudio was able to confirm details with multiple sources across the station group.

ABC launches ‘Unlocked’ streaming channels in major markets, revamps website

The debut is expected in phases as each station completes implementation.

CBS is also working on a new group package for its owned-and-operated stations with the launch planned for fall.

Sources indicate to NewscastStudio that the timeline at CBS is in flux after key staff departures and as the design has not been finalized. That design is expected to follow the larger “deconstructed eye” branding that has already debuted across entertainment, sports and news programming in various forms.  

ABC is the last network group to switch to a shared graphics package, with CBS, Fox, NBC and Telemundo having standardized looks across their owned stations. Fox and NBC also have creative services hubs that service their owned stations, while CBS does not.

This is unlikely to change with the new CBS package or the ABC updates, partially due to union contracts.

First pieces of the new design

WLS is the first to debut pieces of the new ABC design, with it appearing on June 8, 2022, during the station’s “ABC 7 Eyewitness News at 4 p.m.”

It’s not uncommon for stations to switch over weather computer systems to new looks either before or after other new graphics roll out because they often run separately and require significantly more integration given how they have to tie into real-time data.

The control room and newsroom editorial system handle news graphics while weather typically stands on its own and creates its own graphics, with the control room just taking a feed from a designated terminal that forecasters can control independently.

The new look uses the updated ABC globe alongside the station’s longtime Circle 7 logo, both of which appear in a flatter look.

With both of those elements being circular, the look takes advantage of that as the axis of the updated entrance animation for headers. 

View on Giphy

The quick sequence starts with a single, solid white dot that splits to become three before a swirling effect reveals the Circle 7 logo along with the network logo. This sequence, with the exception of the swirl, has some notable references to the bug animations in ABC’s Aperture look, 

The three-dot sequence is also used as a decorative element in header bars and other locations. 

Colors are typically blue and gold with dark overlays and white text, plus red mixed in for “alert” purposes. Yellow is typically an accent color, used in thin separators or footer bars.

Elements such as header bars use a subtle blue gradient, similar to WLS’s current graphics package, which has been in use since October 2013 and uses heavy 3D elements along with glassy, metallic elements and lens flares that appear to the antithesis of the new look.

View on Giphy

After this element, a solid bar slides out from the logo, with the header appearing as any additional elements unfold downward, sometimes in segments.

View on Giphy

In other cases, elements animated in with a horizontal effect that also includes yellow, blue and white bars.

While WLS still has the ability to insert live cameras from around the region behind weather graphics, the new look focuses more on stylized, slightly blurred backgrounds ranging from wide cityscapes to a view of pedestrians hurrying by in the rain.

Many times, thanks to the new entrance animations, viewers are treated to brief glimpses of these backgrounds without anything on top of them.

There were cityscape views like these in the old look, but they tended to only remain in the background for the beginning of the sequence, with a loop of fluffy clouds set against a blue background replacing them.

View on Giphy

The new weather graphics appears to drop the use of 3D models of the city that change the lighting and atmospheric effects to match the forecasted weather in favor of doing this with photographic-style imagery, such as adding a semi-transparent cloud layer over the same city view.

View on Giphy

This approach is subtler than the simulated views of the city and also lacks the ability to showcase key buildings or landmarks as well, but also feels a bit more realistic.

The vantage points tend to remain the same during these segments, rather than rotating around the city as it did before, a feature that did allow the station to showcase multiple areas of the city.

The new graphics package transitions to Proxima as its primary typeface. At WLS, the station has used Helvetica heavily, including in weather maps. This is expected to be the new font across lower third insert graphics as well.

This Live Doppler 7 Max view actually combines multiple radar sweeps, including the one ABC 7 owns (which is the one to the right of DeKalb). 

ABC 7 Chicago owns its own radar, known as Live Doppler 7 Max, and maps featuring this scan get a significantly condensed header element — to the point of almost being more of a “label” or “bug” in the upper left corner of the screen.

The previous Live Doppler 7 Max look, as shown the day it debuted in 2016, features a more complex logo and blue bar that often felt like it took up too much visual real estate. It’s shown in ‘max mode’ here, signified by the yellow. sweep and tower icon. 

It does not appear ABC Chicago will be dropping its AccuWeather co-branding, but it has updated to a much simpler layout that takes up a smaller footprint on the screen. 

The AccuWeather bar now mostly appears on a dark gray bar, as opposed to the orange the station had been using (and is key part of AccuWeather’s brand standards), but it now features the sun icon to the left of the logotype. 

Another big change is the 7-day forecast board, which now extended the full 16:9 width of the screen. 

The old 7-day outlook layout.

The design keeps the vertical columns that have been a mainstay of these layouts at hundreds of TV stations for decades, but reimagines it, again, with more photorealistic imagery instead of the previous icon style.

While simple monotone icons still remain at the top of each day’s column, the entire column is now filled with an animated depiction of the conditions in a look that’s not dissimilar to the Apple iOS weather app.

This isn’t the first time a station has used this approach, but the application is notable because, in certain cases, the imagery can stretch across multiple columns. For example, if two days in a row are cloudy, there’s a single animated cloud background inserted that extended across both, separated only by a thin divider line.

For cases when there are dramatic shifts in conditions, the columns rightfully change at the border.

View on Giphy

The extended forecast design also uses a distinct entrance animation that includes each column increasing in transparency, becoming slightly larger and then sliding gently into position.

The new look also includes a provision for “AccuWeather Alert” days, distinguished by a red header and underline. Weekends get a small triangular accent and white bottom border, while non-alert weekdays feature a blue border element long the bottom of the layout.

Similar layouts can be used for shorter forecasters, such as a 12-hour one, with windspeeds inserted instead of low temps.

The current graphics package at WLS debuted in 2013. Other ABC-owned stations have seen updates since, such as KABC in 2015 or WABC in 2016.

NewscastStudio’s Dak Dillon contributed to this report.

The post ABC Chicago’s WX graphics first piece of new group design mandate appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Motion Graphics

WRIC

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Created in-house by Nexstar’s creative team led by Rey Rodriguez, senior art director, the package is known internally as NDC-3, with the initials being short for the group’s graphics hub known as the Nashville Design Center.

While WRIC is the first of Nexstar’s stations to debut the look, it is reportedly available for others to use in the future. 

View on Giphy

The design is centered on a blue and white palette that blends well with the station’s yellow “8” numeral logo. Red is used as a secondary color in some portions while becoming dominant for breaking news opens and stingers. It also makes prominent appearances in the form of square outlines that are often used to form a horizontal repeating band.

The package’s fullscreens also use textural backgrounds of squares arranged in grid patterns, including ones where squares flicker on and off.

Some of these grid patterns get that glassy look — and even the ones that don’t get the full treatment still get an overlay blending mode that suggests glass or metal.

Although WRIC relies heavily on in-studio video walls with topical graphics, the new graphics do include a traditional OTS overlay. The template includes a clear space for up to two lines of text as well as a ‘window’ for the story imagery that’s framed with a square pattern effect that mixes various transparency levels. Red accents also help draw the eye first to the image and then the headline. The chunky font used to spell out ‘Red Flag Laws’ is used commonly across WRIC’s video wall graphics.

Meanwhile, the grid is retooled as clusters of blocky 3D elements that take advantage of subtle shadowing and leverage the vanishing point to convey dimension throughout the package.

This concept is also used in the station’s updated lower thirds that use the open-source font Lato for typography, a typeface that also appears in other parts of the new look. The design also has a condensed sans serif that appears to be carried over from a previous package as well as the distinctive font the station has used since dropping its previous logo in 2016. 

This font is used for both the word “News” in the 8News lockup as well as the Storm Tracker 8 logo with notably diagonal ends on the horizontal strokes found in letters such as “T” and “E” that has similarities to the typeface the ABC network frequently uses in its branding.

Richmond ABC loses distinct logo, gets new graphics

The foundation of the lower thirds features a series of blocky elements that build a sort of platform for the text, including a narrow segment that juts out of multiple layers to the left serving that draws the eye there and, by extension, the banner’s lettering.

The edges of these elements feature a blend of deep blue and white gradients that manage to keep the look on the flatter end while still suggesting hints of metallic and glassy surfaces. 

In addition, the entire design runs on an animated loop that incorporates angled segments of light that interact with the underlying elements — along with more traditional light bursts that glide along the sides of the blocks. One point of the animation also features a micro version of the grid pattern that adds another layer to blend with the lighting effects.

While this entire block base provides an obvious clear zone for on-screen banner text, the background color appears to leave the 3D space and become more of a traditional insert graphic container sans any 3D as it runs into a red vertical line that separates the banner from the bug, which, in turn, features a solid blue background.

In some ways, this creates an M.C. Escher-esque effect of toying with perspective, but it also appears not only to improve legibility by keeping the text and bug on their own layer, at least visually, that seemingly isn’t affected by the animation or lighting effects.

Likewise, fullscreen lists of text are contained in a white-gray gradient box that manages to convey the feeling of being created from multiple solid blocks behind combined but purposefully avoids overusing 3D effects.

These screens also use a bold red line along the left side of this container that draws the eye to the content next to it.

View on Giphy

The package’s animation, transition and wipe elements are crafted to echo the feel of the design, including an effect that borrows both the square outline and solid square shapes in its mask.

View on Giphy

Another variation includes a cluster of rotating cubes that morph into vertical segments with varying degrees of transparency, creating a connection to the glassy references. 

View on Giphy

The lower third design also uses an entrance animation that creates the effect of various segments of the design entering from either the bottom or left side of the screen, giving the effect of the graphic being built on-screen.

Animation is also heavily used in the package’s opens and stingers, which include “breaking news,” “just in” and franchise variations in a variety of layouts.

View on Giphy

Assets designed more as opens, typically identifiable thanks to the station’s FCC-required ID text on them, tend to use dramatic off-axis viewports of what appears to be a wall of glassy segments, solid blocks and text within the 3D-space that rotates from the top of the screen to bottom revealing a final look with a sort of L-shape frame for larger text and logos.

These layouts also typically include two lines of microtext or DNA-like hashmarks that intersect at a right angle, creating another take on the box look.

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Another version, used more for stingers, features a primary look with the 3D blocks forming more of a sidebar on the left side of the screen, with the rest of the space filled with a corresponding image with varying amounts of the grid patterns. The entire sequence, however, starts with the viewport zoomed in on the sidebar and a portion of the text, which purposefully runs off the screen. 

In instances where the background is a photo or video clip, the text is typically set inside of a solid color banner that extends the full width of the screen with line of red boxes moving across the screen. 

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For stingers that appear more frequently and are less likely to have corresponding imagery, the background remains in the blue glassy box texture and text simply floats above this, accented by another row of red boxes.

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There is an alternate, longer open look that uses a more intricate off-axis wall of elements that include city imagery and bottom-to-top animation that suggests the side of one of the buildings featured in the background. 

In addition to the graphics used during the bulk of its newscasts, redesigned weather graphics were also unveiled.

These layouts draw inspiration from the primary look, but tend to all but eliminate the 3D effects, likely a move to help keep the emphasis on the maps and on-screen imagery being used in the forecast. 

In many weather elements, including first weather stingers and the station’s “most accurate” reopen, backgrounds are created using a variety of angled elements that appear to be inspired by the vanishing point elements in the 3D aspects, flat rectangles in a variety of shades and some arrays of semitransparent boxes. 

In addition to the graphics used during newscasts, the redesign also includes a matching look for the station’s network and syndicated programming promos.

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This includes stingers featuring words such as “tomorrow” along with the fullscreen graphics most stations insert at the end of provided spots to localize them as well as a way to list upcoming shows in a schedule format.

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These looks tend to feature backgrounds created using a blue field of 3D boxes with roll-down animation that transitions to an L-shaped bar with a window on either the left or right side of the screen for imagery, including additional box elements for talent photos.

The post Richmond station’s new look blends subtler 3D with traditional accents appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Hosted by Christian Fraser, the show is designed around guests to bring perspective and context to the big stories of the day.

The show has its own unique open, while making use of the BBC’s primary news graphics package for insert graphics and banners.

For its branded look, “Context” features a muted blue accented with the trademark BBC red.

The show’s name is spelled out in the broadcaster’s bespoke font BBC Reith. The logotype also features three muted, intersecting boxes behind the lettering, with the strokes of the box meeting specific vertical and horizontal parts of various letters.

The center “T” also features an extended middle stroke that, along with the horizontal line that forms the top of the letter, serves as the “hub” of the boxes.

A variety of box and line elements complete the look, including concentric rings and matrix grids.

The concept of intersecting facts, ideas and topics forming the complete picture is played out on screen visually with intersecting circles boxes that change color and rotate into the logo in the show’s various animations.

Studio shots are kept simple, with Fraser seated at an anchor desk and blurred cityscape background behind him and a rectangular OTS-style graphic camera right that features its own unique animated entrance.

Given the panel nature of the show, a variety of box layouts are also used but have been kept simple and clean, a tactic that keeps the focus on the guests rather than the graphics. 

The “Context” graphics package was created in-house under the direction of creative director Mitra Turani and designer Stelios Thoukidides. The design work also has the distinction of being completed remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on office staffing levels.

The post BBC’s ‘Context’ illustrates intersecting components of a news story visually appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc., WRCB notes the change came following feedback received from viewers and online users wanting a more modern appearance. 

“Our new name comes directly from the feedback we received from our viewers and online users,” said Callie Starnes, the station’s general manager. “The pandemic has also shown us how important community is. This rebranding signals to our viewers that we understand their priorities and are right here with them in their communities to help.”

The rebrand also consolidates former sub-branding and design elements into a single identity, the station notes. 

“We have heard from viewers consistently over several years about their desire for a modern look and more local content,” said Megan Roberts, news director. “We are adding resources to our newsroom to increase the number of local stories you see in our newscasts, on our website, and in our apps.”

Along with the design updates, the web address of the station has also been updated to Local3News.com, with the newsroom expected to add a larger digital footprint in the year ahead. 

The overall “Local 3” logo design is similar in nature to the rebrand of Morgan Murphy Media’s WISC, which includes a play-button style design. 

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The new broadcast design package features a flat-design style with layers created from the logo’s play-button shape, designed by Hothaus Creative. 

This rounded triangle becomes a key element for transitions and movement in the design and features a bit of depth thanks to gradients and glossy edges. 

Motion Graphics

WRCB

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Set Design

WRCB

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The station’s set has also been updated with the new branding elements with matching video wall graphics. 

The post Chattanooga’s WRCB drops ‘Eyewitness’ for ‘Local 3,’ new look appeared first on NewscastStudio.