Updated: ITV News astons

Creating astons and straps is one of my weak areas, but I think this is quite an improvement on what I usually come up with, even though it is a little dull.

The big thing a few years ago was to create graphics that would clearly inform people of breaking news and information. Today, news channels need to do that without overcrowding screen with brightly coloured blocks of text and annoying animations. For these mocks I've took some of my inspiration from Sky News' new graphics, but reduced the percentage of on-screen clutter even more by trying a few other things.

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/27OCT05/aston_01.jpg

The blue bar you see here is the info bar - during a report or a live link-up to a news reporter, this bar would display the topic of the report, then more information about that report.

The name aston appears above this, or on the same line as the blue info bar if there is no info to display. The name aston is just one line but I think that is all that would be needed, the text is small but clear and readable. The backing for the text is white, with a gradual fade of transparency to the right.

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/27OCT05/aston_02.jpg

The clock is displayed in the lower left of the screen. Each story on the ticker is contained in it's own slightly transparent blue box.

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/27OCT05/aston_03.jpg

Breaking news flashes right across the screen to maximise the chance of drawing your attention to the screen, while still keeping clutter to a minimum.

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/27OCT05/screen.jpg

Most of the time, this is all you'll see in the way of graphics. Reports going out, name aston appearing, and just the info bar and ticker.

Click for MP4 (1.4 MB)

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They are nice. Well done. Please keep going!

Very nice! I like the way they look and could easily see them on a TV Screen.
I also like the look of the ticker, divided into sections, it works really well and clearly very different to the current mis-mosh of a look

http://www.gorillaenterprises.co.uk/upload/uploadFiles/keep-4star.gif

Improvements Possibly a little to big and "glossy". I'd perhaps reduce them a little and expand upon your ideas, Other than that there very good.

Very nice work, Lee! These are clean and well presented graphics. I think they would look brilliant on screen. Great animation too. However, I'm not all together keen on the 'Breaking News' strap.

There needs to be two different colours when the 'Breaking News' is on screen. Perhaps black for behind the 'Breaking News' and red for the info?

On the whole though, super.

http://www.gorillaenterprises.co.uk/upload/uploadFiles/keep-4star.gif

Nice job, Lee! Being mindful that this is the news, and not entertainment program, per se, these graphics are just the ticket. Simple, functional, and well designed.

Much improvement on the current set. Great work!

Great Mocks there Lee , I seen thesse on your site aswell.

Any chance of a Studio maybe ?
I am hoping ITV News will change the set a bit maybe, adding desks for a type of newsroom feel or changing the background to a newsroom lookin.

Sorry Lee; what programme did you use?

Hi all, still working on these. Here are some more changes, in the first part there's a streak of light above the ticker that would move across slowly, soon ditched though because it didn't look right and was too Sky News.



I'm not keen on making these any smaller because they're quite small now - the text would still need to be seen on TV from across a large room. I may have a go with a new idea soon.

I used LiveMotion 2 which is meant for flash really. I'd guess you could do the same with almost any flash program.

I quite like these, and the way you've broken up the ticker is particularly innovative I think. It's a simple design, but it works really, really well. It conveys the necessary information to the viewer, but doesn't go overboard either.

In short: another great mock from Lee S - who would have guessed!

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_01.jpg

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_02.jpg

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_03.jpg

Again these are probably too much like the Sky News set (or more of a regional set, if Sky had regions), but this is the kind of thing I'd do to make the ITV studio seem less empty. Desks or a newsroom area wouldn't work in the ITV News studio because its too small. They'd only be able to fit about 4-8 desks in there, and it would look daft.

As ITV News have virtual reality capabilities, it wouldn't be too difficult to put a mini news wall on the front of the desk. I'd much prefer something real, or maybe at least two big screens at either end of the big news wall, so that when talking to someone away from the studio they can at least see who they're talking to, instead of trying to fool the viewers.

Currently, at the start of the programme the presenters walk down the catwalk - Mary to the desk, Mark only half way. In this set, they would do the headlines from the same place (the middle of the news wall), but after the logo forms or the titles there would be a wide shot like below. Mark would walk to the left to do the first story, Mary to right and round to the desk (which does not spin!).

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvidents/mocks/itv/news/5NOV05/studio_04.jpg

Very nice.

What more can I say?