The Newsroom

CNN International & Domestic

(January 2006)

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AR
Arkamus
From Broadcasting & Cable

Quote:
CNN International Gets Makeover


By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/31/2006 12:41:00 PM

CNN International is revamping its on-air look Feb. 5, ditching its ticker, changing its fonts and bumping its logo to the top of the screen to make its appearance less cluttered, the network says.

The redesign, the network’s biggest in more than five years, includes a new logo, news graphics, title sequences, network IDs, on-air promotions and music.

“The uncluttered screen and enhanced concise graphics will now allow our video and journalism to breathe fully,” said CNN International Senior VP Rena Golden.

The changes, which go into effect at 6 p.m. ET on the 5th, are being made to help viewers navigate through the network’s programming. Headline fonts will be changed to block lettering, which the network says is easier to read, covers less of the screen and is more understandable to viewers whose primary language is not English. Fonts will be color-coded: Breaking news alerts will be black font on a yellow background, news is black and white, business is blue, and sports will be green.


To keep viewers focused on the on-screen story, the network’s scrolling news ticker will be replaced by a rotating news “flipper,” which will display one complete sentence or story at a time. Navigational graphics will tell viewers which programs are coming next and in the hours ahead. The network’s logo, the “CNN” graphic next to a globe, has been moved from the bottom right part of the screen to the top left. Its globe has been updated from a full sphere to a quarter sphere shadow within a box. The word “live” will appear over the shadowed globe for live stories.

CNN International, launched in 1996, reaches 186 million households worldwide but just 4 million in the U.S. It plans to introduce new sets in Atlanta, London and Hong Kong later this year.


I wonder who is responsible for the new look?
MO
Moz
Sounds interesting - particularly the 'news flipper'. I always find tickers very clumsy - though this allows less flexibilty in terms of sentence length, it makes for easier reading at your own pace.

And yellow for breaking news! Seems like they liked ITV's idea!

Not sure about a top left CNN logo though.
JO
johnnybegood
DIGITAL SPY
http://images.digitalspy.co.uk/screengrabs/400x300_cnni_screen.jpg

http://images.digitalspy.co.uk/screengrabs/400x300_cnni_pakistan.jpg

Good God! Surely these can't be them?
BB
BBC LDN
Moz posted:
Sounds interesting - particularly the 'news flipper'. I always find tickers very clumsy - though this allows less flexibilty in terms of sentence length, it makes for easier reading at your own pace.

And yellow for breaking news! Seems like they liked ITV's idea!

Not sure about a top left CNN logo though.


Not just an ITV idea - from the Digital Spy coverage of this news, it sounds like they've also borrowed N24's now-ditched concept of tagging one story at a time on the ticker (since replaced with a single 'headlines' tag for news in addition to BBC SPORT, business, interactive and 'BREAKING' tags). Sound like a logical progression of the CNN "infobar" tickers with "newsbar", "sportbar" and "bizbar"/"businessbar", which I always really liked.

From the preview graphics above, I can't help but be reminded of Channel 4 though, albeit with the increasingly common (and now seemingly obligatory) choice of Swiss/Helvetica typeface.
MD
mdtauk
Now that is a nice surprise...
MO
Moz
Looks a bit like a newspaper! I like it.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
I'm not all that fussed on the subtitle-style astons. I think they look a bit cheap. However, I do think it is time CNN had a major overhaul as it is looking a little stale now.
GE
thegeek Founding member
The boxes with narrow margins and varying lengths remind me quite a bit of MTV2 from a year or two ago. Interesting for a news channel, though...
NW
NewsWatch
The straps look horible! They look like the Channel 4 non-TV pres (although C4 looks a lot better).
AN
Ant
Oh, very bad. They look like digital subtitles.
BE
benjy
I think the graphics look fantastic - such a departure from what we are used to (especially for an America-based news channel). They are a natural evolution of the traditional astons we are used to now. I particularly like the Channel 4-style way in which the text is highlighted. It means that only the amount of picture necessary is obscured, and is also a much more dynamic and flexible way of displaying information on-screen - it is not restricted to the traditional 3-line method. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this style of graphic in the coming years.
RJ
Russell James
benjy posted:
. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this style of graphic in the coming years.


right then...wheres my pills?? o a gun even better


i personally think they are simply awful other then the logo box/area, that looks good. mabey i will wait, see them animated (IF they will be)

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