NBC updates MSNBC logo to match all the other ‘tinkering’ it’s been doing

MSNBC updated its on-air graphics package to feature a new iteration of its logo starting Monday, Dec. 4, 2023.

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The new logo is largely an update on a 2021 version that featured the NBC peacock alongside the network name in all-caps using a proprietary font called Wordmark.

The 2021-2023 MSNBC logo.

The new version of the logo replaces the peacock with the redrawn version of the famous icon that NBC started rolling out about a year ago.

It features an updated color palette and slightly more space between feathers. It also eliminates the use of a white border around the icon in most cases.

The network name, meanwhile, has been replaced with another bespoke font, NBC Tinker, the typeface that has been used for the television network logo since 2013, though when the peacock was updated in 2022, the network began migrating to a new bolder, more spaced out version of “NBC.”

Tinker is named for Grant Almerin Tinker, who lead NBC from 1981 to 1986. It was based off the font Sweet Sans but with key customizations for NBC by Capacity Studios.

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Since then, the NBC television network, NBC News division and NBC News Now streamer have all switched over to Tinker.

The most recent change was Now, which switched in November.

MSNBC has switched to the new version of the logo in its bug, social media and the graphics package for “MSNBC Reports,” the dayside programming brand it introduced along with the 2021 logo update.

For blocks of “Reports” that have a permanent anchor, the show is officially named “(Anchor Name) Reports,” though the graphics that appear within each block typically are a mix of both the named version and generic one. 

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Much like the changes at NBC News Now, MSNBC appears to have largely taken the original graphic project files and swapped out the logo and switched select on-screen typography to Tinker.

This includes switching to Tinker for the “(Anchor Name) Reports” titles that appear through opens, stingers and transitions. The package also makes use of oversized NBC peacock elements and lettering, much of which has been updated.

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What didn’t change is the network’s use of Roboto in its lower thirds and select video wall graphics. NBC News Now also uses Roboto in its L3s.

Other updates included updating the “MSNBC” logotype on the virtual set extension video wall backgrounds the network uses, though topical graphics still use Roboto and other fonts.

Outside of most New York-based editions, including José Díaz-Balart’s hour from Miami and Andrea Mitchell’s hour from Washington, D.C., the network name is replaced with the city name below the peacock in these designs. This is also in Tinker.

The network continues to use VideoHelper’s “We Are Forever” from the “Win Or Go Home” album as the theme for “MSNBC Reports” hours with other shows using their own music, logos and unique fullscreen graphics but still sticking with the same lower thirds.

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Some of the changes to the MSNBC logo began appearing the weekend of Dec. 2, 2023, including the network logo in the footer of NBCNews.com changing over quietly.

Initially, MSNBC did not update its website with the new logo, but an update rolled out later in the day Dec. 4.

Along with the new logo, the navigation bar shifted from dark blue to a brighter shade. The new shade still has the effect of swallowing the violet, blue and green feathers, to varying degrees, due to a lack of contrast and the network’s new practice of no longer outlining the peacock.