American Broadcasting Company logos
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U.S.
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The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) has used a variety of logos since 1948 to identify its television network.
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[edit] Early logos
One of the earliest logos for the television network was a microphone with the letters "ABC" aligned vertically within it in capital letters (the then-current logo for the ABC radio network), and the letters T and V on either side of the microphone with an announcer saying "This is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company". (It is doubtful if the logo was used on the air, since ABC television began in 1948.) In 1948, the network used a logo consisting of a map of the United States with the words "American Broadcasting Company" superimposed, and also used a logo designed to look like a camera lens with the capital letters "ABC" within it.
In 1953, after ABC's merger with United Paramount Theaters (a former division of Paramount Pictures), a new logo featured an eagle and a circle of 13 stars surrounding the letters "ABC". Eventually it was animated to reveal the ABC script in the center of the shield.
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In 1957, the network introduced a new logo, known as the "ABC Circle A," consisting of the lowercase letters "abc" inside a larger lower case "a". Another variant of that logo was introduced in 1961 with bolder lowercase letters inside of the big "Circle A" which was used alternately, especially as a logo on the letterhead of some of their network photo press information sheets.
[edit] ABC Circle logo
In 1961, Paul Rand designed a new logo which was introduced in the fall of 1962,[1] at the beginning of the 1962-63 season, which was first seen after the October 19, 1962 episode of I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, as the production/closing logo card. This is the current "ABC Circle" logo, now used for nearly 50 years, of a simple circle with the lowercase letters "abc" in an ultra-modern (for its time) typeface inside. The typeface used is a simple geometric design inspired by the Bauhaus school of the 1920s; its simplicity makes it easy to duplicate, something ABC has taken advantage of many times over the years (especially before the advent of computer graphics).
Several variations of the ABC Circle logo have been used since then. In 1963, the letters "abc" were multicolored, a red "a", a blue "b", and a green "c", to emphasize color programming. In 1969 and the early 1970s the logo was animated with several concentric circles in a "tunnel" effect. In 1975 an orange ABC Circle logo rose over a reflective ocean-like surface to coincide with the slogan "Welcome To A Bright New World." In 1978, the logo appeared in a starfield inside a spinning rainbow. In 1983, a golden ABC Circle logo appeared on a blue diagonally striped background. In 1987, the circle consisted of thin multicolored diagonal stripes. In the late 1980s until 1996, three-dimensional computer animation was used to manipulate the logo.
There was also an animated opening for ABC Color programs from 1964 to 1967. The first version had an instrumental score, while the second version used beginning in the 1965-66 season had the announcement "This is an ABC Color presentation!"
[edit] ABC identities through the 1990s and early 2000s
In 1997, the network began using a minimalist identity consisting an animation which turns into a small simple black and white ABC Circle logo on a yellow background, with the words "We Love TV." underneath. A new four-note theme tune to create a sound signature on par with the NBC chimes, CBS's three-note sound mark, and the Fox Fanfare was introduced at the same time, and has been updated with every TV season hereafter. Later variations of the identity used the words "America's Broadcasting Company" and "America's #1 Broadcasting Company".
In 2000, ABC launched a web-based promotional campaign focused around its circle logo, also called "the dot", where comic book character Little Dot prompted visitors to "download the dot", a program which would cause the ABC logo to fly around the screen and settle in the bottom-right corner.[2] The network hired the Troika Design Group to design and produce its 2001-2002 identity, which continued using the black-and-yellow coloring of the logo and featured dots and stripes in various and promotional and identification spots.[3]
Later in 2002, the appearance of the logo was amended again, this time being more colorful looking and returning to full-color photos in the promos. This series would finally end in 2003, when Squares started becoming the new theme. In 2005, the circle motif returned (with streaks of light and sparkles formed using the ABC logo) with the introduction of the new "Only on ABC" slogan, but in 2006-2007, the largest change to ABC's appearance occurred.
The 2-D logo is still in use to identify ABC Radio, but was licensed to Citadel Broadcasting after the ABC Radio sale on June 12, 2007.
[edit] Current ABC identities
For the 2006-2007 season: ABC's appearance across all 3 platforms (entertainment, news, and sports) received a major revamp - the ABC logo used on-air and online (except in "simple" settings and on the network bug during non-sport programming) got revamped with a more modern look. In addition, Promos still used the sparkles+light streaks theme (but every promo used a different color scheme that fit in with the show; Lost for example always had a teal color scheme), and all ABC News programming used a new animated bug. During ESPN on ABC programming, the new ABC logo would appear on the SD feed in opaque (on the HD feed however, a significantly smaller version of the opaque logo was used). The on-air bug during primetime programs varies between the genre of the show. Dramas use a very translucent bug which is hardly visible, where sitcoms, reality, late night and daytime use a very clear, glassy and more visible bug.
On September 24, 2007 with the official launch of the 2007-2008 television season on ABC, the company began using a redesigned logo bug on the SD and HD feeds, featuring the new glossier logo which debuted alongside the new "Start Here" campaign. Another significant change was instead of the light streaks and sparkles used for the previous two years, the logo was now accompanied by a liquid water motif with splotches of liquid float past the ABC logo. This was often accompanied by a ribbon swishing around the logo (similar to the CBSpirit idents exactly twenty years earlier). In the summer of 2008, the logo bug on the HD feed during entertainment programming was moved to within the 4:3 safe area of the screen, in line with the other four major broadcast networks to allow 4:3 downconversion for converter box and cable/satellite viewers without digital-compatible televisions. In 2009, ABC completed its digital master control facilities and all programming was optimized to display in high definition.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Rawsthorn, Alice (2009-03-06). "TV and its role in popularizing modernism in America". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/arts/06iht-design9.html.
- ^ Elliott, Stuart (2000-10-02). "ABC tries to bring its longtime 'dot' logo into prominence with a new campaign". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/02/business/media-business-advertising-abc-tries-bring-its-longtime-dot-logo-into-prominence.html.
- ^ Lupton, Ellen. Inside design now: National Design Triennial. p. 180. http://books.google.com/books?id=Qg4RSmCw4UQC&pg=PA180&dq=abc+circle+logo+%22paul+rand%22&hl=en&ei=WTlBTN2XEcH-8Ab4h6jlDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=abc%20circle%20logo%20%22paul%20rand%22&f=false.
