Sky News

Why not have a yellow/gold background and black text?
It can be used it mainly down to the execution - in saying that Sky News are clearly not able to execute decent graphics - judging this dog's dinner.
I also had to laugh at seeing Juliette Foster in a previous image on this thread. Yet another bad judgement from those inspirational bosses at Sky News. At least something is consistent at Grant Way.

I do agree they stand out- I was working last night and didnt know the graphics were changing, but noticed out of the corner of my eye something was diffrent on screen. But then News 24's graphics are quite good when flicking channels and reading from the other side of a room whilst looking a lot nicer.



Well the logo is almost identical and they both spin round and hideous animations- a logo that spins for no reason?

So after a love affair of 18 months my time of watching sky news will end on Thursday. Bye.

I assume you mean bad judgement to let her go. Amen to that, along with everyone else from the old Sky News crew. About the only new addition I like is Faye Barker.

Anyway, back to the slaughtering in hand.....

I won't go into detail. All I will say is that the quality of the new lower third is indicative of the channel itself in recent time - much worse than it used to be. Sad eh? Sky News used to be my most watched channel once. Seems like so long ago, when Bob Friend seemed to spend half his time trying to make Anna Botting laugh. Then, Sky News was something special, something different. Not any more....

Oh dear. How to p!ss off your sponsor: don't show their logo and tag line.

http://www.gorillaenterprises.co.uk/upload/uploadFiles/skty-oops_.jpg

At least I don't need reminding which channel I'm watching:

http://www.gorillaenterprises.co.uk/upload/uploadFiles/skty-ott_.jpg

In all seriousness, I know we love graphics changes on here and pay really close attention to them, but this is a disaster not just because of the garish colours and misaligned logos, but because they don't do what graphics are meant to do.

I used to whinge about N24's previous graphics because they scrolled on and off slowly, covered up the picture, the tower got in the way and it was a mess to view. Watching the train crash story unfold on Friday, the new graphics excelled - smart, tidy, informative and understated. They were there when they needed to be but left the majority of the screen free to show the pictures of the train. After all, we're watching the news - more often than not the dramatic footage really tells the story.

This is where Sky have lost it. As others have said, you now can't even watch a report without your eye being distracted by the spinning logo, and the fast scrolling ticker. The date stays on for what seems like an eternity so if you're glancing up to see what time it is (like many do in the mornings) then you'll have to wait until the date fades out.

Finally, and this really annoys me, what's with the "MORE AT sky.com/news" on the astons? Amongst all the huge text it's quite hard to read and also, I think it's a lie anyway. Sky News has never had a comprehensive website and I really doubt that there will be any more on the train crash on the website than has been featured on the bulletin. If anything, you'd get more on the TV than on the website I'd say.

Anyway, that's my view. I'm just glad I'm not a news cameraman for Sky. I could take the best, most dramatic action shots of a story and then have to put up with them being obscured by clutter and primary colours on screen. I'll say it again - let the footage tell the story Sky, please!!

It's interesting you say that, because from what I remember of Friday night, as soon as there was any video trickling through, it was announced by a huge 'LATEST PICTURES' strap obscuring a fair part of the picture. I would've thought that kind of incredibly informative subtitle to the actual footage could've been relegated to a LIVE-style bug.

Although these graphics being a lot more bright and bold these are actually smaller than the old ones I think.
Thats because the old name strap went above the topic strap and it was very high so it depends how you look at it.

Well there's good news for the younger members here, at least all their Sky News mocks stand a chance of being better than what is being broadcast.

I hate to say this, but parts of the new look are growing on me - I actually like the ticker and the colour of it, but I hate that cheap glass look on the logo and the misalignment of just about everything. I understand wanting to have bold graphics like this, but there are certainly better ways of going about it. As has been said, I don't think the designers are to blame here.

For what it's worth I believe we are seeing the beginning of the end of Sky News using television as it's main platform of broadcast. I think that for the most part Sky News will be an internet channel within 2 years. If I could bet on this I would put a couple of hundred quid on it.

For television I think the change of graphics style is a major blunder on Mr Ryley's part, little wonder the channel is currently advertising for the post of Creative Director!

Could someone please explain the practical idea behind the spinning cube logo? It serves no purpose but to make the logo move on it's own. In my opinion it's a gimmick and nothing else!

I am personally very annoyed at the fact that the clock bug spends half it's time displaying the date. I used to glance at the Sky News screen from time to time to do nothing more than see what time it was. I am not really interested in being reminded of the date, I usually know that anyway. Major mistake!

Saying all that, the cube logo spins at a faster rate than the clock/date changes. I know it would make the whole thing look even more like Fox News, but if the time and date were stuck to the bottom of the cube and changed at the same time, I might get over the change of logo and clock bug change.

As for all the black backgrounds - I think this is a display of the migration to internet broadcasting. Given the fact that James Murdoch is rumoured not to be exactly warm to Sky News at the moment and the channel faces the loss of millions of potential viewers, the timing of a radical change like this is not good. Sky also sent out a Press Release last week to tell us that it had appointed someone to sell the channel internationally. Sorry lads but BBC World and CNN have already been there and are very strong!

I am not a graphic designer and I don't know what is trendy at the moment but, am I correct in thinking that the lettering on name straps for presenters is centred to the area of white strap and not the centre of the TV screen? I saw one for Nick Powel this evening and it certainly was right of centre.

I don't think this will not be the end of Sky News and I am sure that the hard working people there will put out a good service, but I think there is going to be major thinning there in personnel and equipment over the next couple of years. From RTS News Channel of the Year to Internet Based News provider of the Year?

Agree or not?

I am sorry but these new graphics are absolutely vile, I love 3d graphics normally, but the colour scheme and the font is all wrong!

I noticed that as well, I think it's meant to be the centre of the strap, but it looks well out of place on 4:3. As for not being a graphic designer, the vast majority of viewers aren't, so if they're not putting out something that we'd like to see we've every right to complain I reckon.



Maybe not as soon as two years (as you quoted earlier in the post), but they are giving the website the same attention that Active got a few years ago in terms of constantly plugging it. But there's a lot of work to be done on the website before it could become a dependable news outlet. Then again, you could say the same for the actual channel! I'm not sure what direction Sky News is going in, and right now, I doubt they do either.

I love the guy who said in the Viewpoint page that he liked the new graphics and thought they made the 'news channel' worthy of its name. He's absolutely right! Here are some more ways to make Sky News look like a news channel:


- Add an "ALERT" logo that comes up on top of the tower logo, so we know when to pay attention. Or constantly.

- This new logo, as well as the existing headlines, should stand free and not touch each other. Haven't you heard of "margins"? It's a basic idea of graphic design. That way you can see through the gap, too. Add a gap when you have more than one line. Or constantly.

- The tower logo shouldn't spend so much time not moving. It's wasting space there unless it's rotating more often. Or constantly.

- Sound effects. Please, PLEASE introduce some louder sound effects, and more often, so I know when the news is breaking (surely news should make noise when it breaks?) If not, AT LEAST make the spinning logo make a noise when it turns. Or constantly.

- Can we have some weather info at the top of the screen? I want to know what to wear, and need to know any time of the day. And for those of you arguing over celsius versus fahrenheit -- I have a simple idea: Show them both! And if you're not sure if this is "NOW" or "TOMORROW", well show them both too. Still not sure? I don't have a problem with labels, you know. Add some labels to say that when it comes up. Or constantly.

- You guys are so precious over colours. Haven't you heard of the basic idea of "balance"? You need at least one colour from each group to make it balanced. Sky News are nearly there -- they need to add some green though. I'm not sure which item should be green (let's ask a journalist, they'd know). If they can't decide, just take something like Coming Up and make it change every few seconds. Or constantly.

- We should roll these changes out one at a time -- there are many good ideas here. Who are we looking at? I don't know the names of that presenter, unlike you experts. Or the politicians. Can you PLEASE put their names up on the screen more often? Or constantly.

- Finally, let's solve this Freeview problem: Just add advertising. We should have Qatar Airlines on the screen, maybe ... I think the top-left corner isn't being used anymore? We should have that up there sometimes, or constantly.

I LOVE SKY!!!!

CK.