CNN Gets New Graphic Look
News "flipper" replaces scrolling ticker, CNN logo to appear in bottom right of screen
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/14/2008 7:01:00 PM
CNN is revamping its graphic look in an effort to makes its news updates easier for viewers to read and understand. The biggest change to CNN’s previous graphic presentation, which has been in place since 2004, is to replace the narrow scrolling news ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen with a wider “flipper” graphic that presents information one item at a time.
The flipper, which has been created with CNN’s existing Vizrt graphics technology, will make its debut on Monday morning at 6 a.m. ET with American Morning. A flipper will also be introduced Monday on sister network CNN Headline News.
Presenting static headlines one at a time will make the news more digestible for viewers than a moving ticker, says Bart Feder, SVP of current programming for CNN.
“It’s easier to read, understand and absorb the information,” says Feder.
As part of the flipper switch, CNN is also getting rid of the horizontal banner graphic that was placed above the scrolling ticker and indicated which story was being presented in the main video part of the TV screen, such as “Senate Kills Auto Bailout.” Those headlines, as well as the CNN logo and associated branding, such as “CNN=Politics,” will now be presented as small graphic overlays over the video. The main CNN logo will also now appear in the right bottom portion of the screen to both HD and SD viewers.
The information presented in the flipper graphic will alternate between the type of news headlines traditionally presented in the crawl and information related to the main story being presented on-screen. Headlines will be presented in the “update flipper” with white text on a black background, and they will refresh every five seconds. The “topical flipper” will present several lines of information related to the main video story with black text on a white background, and will cycle every 10 seconds.
The information presented in the flipper can either be driven by producers through their Avid iNews newsroom computer system or delivered in automated fashion using RSS feeds. The same type of flipper graphic has already been used successfully by CNN International since February 2006, and won’t require any changes to producers’ workflow.
The flipper will free up more space for the main video and will require less bandwidth in the transmission path than the scrolling ticker. And while CNN producers have been able to present a line of story-related information within the banner, the flipper will allow for more information and will allow it to be refreshed more quickly.
“We can present more real-time text related to the story, and it’s very clean and uncluttered,” says Feder.
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i dont generally like it, but i'm getting used to it. the black text/white background flipper is hard to read and i often catch myself squinting at the screen to read it. although i havent really gotten a chance to see it in hd yet so it may appear to be a huge improvement
Naif Littles - 1/12/2009 10:18:00 PM EST -
About time they got rid of the stupid scrolling thing!It's almost as if they followed Lewis Black's advice; focus on whats being reported and not have 2 or three bits of news on screen at the same time! I like the new look, reminded me of BBC when I first saw it.
Jorge Mejia - 1/7/2009 2:25:00 AM EST -
I love the new look! I have always wondered how the country (USA) that
produces cool and well designed products such as the iPHONE and iPOD
continued to present on-air designs that look tacky. Less is more. CNN
International's simple / clean design has been a great success with
viewers, the refresh of CNN USA was well overdue.
For those that want to live in the past, watch the ugly graphics on FOX
News!
Mark Fahey - 12/31/2008 7:17:00 PM EST -
Seems to deliver less into, not more. Although the old ticker was often a distraction, presenting stories unrelated to what was going on, above. I say bring back the ticker!
Adam Smith - 12/16/2008 10:38:00 PM EST -
This new look is a huge improvement from the last lower-thirds and
ticker they had. I give credit to CNN for finally getting rid of their old
set. I hope to see new on-air show graphics that will flow better with
these. The CNN logo and live box is okay, but I think it is redundant to
have another box off of that showing the name of each show, we know
what we are watching and it can become distracting with the animation
loop over time. But overall, this is such and improvement, I'm glad they
finally caught up with CNN International's simplicity. It's the new era of
broadcast design these days. Obviously some of these other people
who commented have no idea about design in general. They like the
"puff paint and sparkle" graphics that are hideous, and terribly
designed. Oh well.
Paul M. - 12/16/2008 12:09:00 AM EST
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