January 12, 2024

Cox stations debut new group graphics package with blend of flat design, 3D

Cox Media Group has started rolling out a new group-wide graphics package at its stations that leans toward flatter, cleaner design trends while still mixing in nods to glassy 3D looks.

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.