The NBC logo is an iconic design, known for its stylized peacock. It was introduced in 1956 to promote the company’s transformation in early color broadcasting. The logo has been drawing people’s attention due to a hidden peacock in the white space. There are colors arranged like the bird’s feather, making the design unique and memorable. But the company has recently made some subtle changes in the logo design.
NBC (National Broadcasting Company) is an American broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of NBC Entertainment (a division of NBCUniversal) is amongst the world’s most reputed media and entertainment players. The unique peacock feathers are the main attraction of the NBC logo.
Recently, the company has made subtle changes in its iconic logo, which is being discussed much in the media.
The company has solid reasons for tweaking its logo.
What does the NBC logo mean?
The NBC logo is identified by its colorful peacock image. But what is the NBC logo meant for? Why was the peacock chosen as the visual version of the company’s logo identity? The company had forayed into color television broadcasting back in 1956. Then, NBC’s parent company RCA started manufacturing color TV sets.
All these developments are why the company adopted the peacock as a symbol for the new color era. So, the abstraction of the peacock indicates the richness of color.
Why refresh a logo?
Most brands with a massive global presence refresh their logos from time to time. That is because such brands wish to convey that the consumers are working with and buying from an updated business. Also, a redesigned logo signifies that the company is evolving with time, keeping up with the pace of the rapidly changing world.
Older companies, in particular, run the risk of being outdated and conventional. They know why a logo is essential for loyal customers, and that’s why they want to keep old logos for consistency. So, they tweak their old logos to make them look modern.
Why did NBC refresh its logo?
NBC has been redesigning its logo since 1926, and the most recent tweak was in December 2022. But the company had started its brand refreshing campaign much earlier, at the end of 2021. The company officials wanted to enhance its shows’ versatility, scalability, and consistency.
The idea behind the renewal of the logo was to work on the brand’s scalability and make the logo look uniform across all platforms. In this way, the logo would have the same great impact in all sizes.
“The NBC brand refresh is a love letter to audiences everywhere, driven by NBC’s innovative spirit while celebrating the network’s powerful legacy,” said Juliet Garrett, senior vice president of NBC Creative Design, on the logo refresh efforts.
What has changed for the NBC logo?
The White Background Was Removed
The logo underwent a significant change in how it appears to viewers. This time, the design has no white background around the peacock’s feathers.
The company wanted to remove the white outline of the peacock feathers images because the viewers’ attention was more on the white line and less on the content. After removing the outline, the logo brought viewers’ focus to the content. As a result, people can now think they are watching the network’s content.
Broadened Space Between The Feathers
Previously the logo had a narrowed space of thinner lines between the feathers. The distance between the two feathers was kept smaller because of the somewhat subdued and darker feather colors.
The space has been broadened, and the lines appear thicker between the feathers. The broadened distance could be due to the lighter colors used in the feathers. So, the combination of lighter colors and thicker space signals a brighter mood and happiness for the viewers and brand users.
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More Prominent Peacock Beak
Another change incorporated in the NBC new logo pertains to the peacock beak. This time, it has been made much broader and more prominent. The beak is now more outward and looks like a dominating element in the entire design. Previously, it was a little subdued and was unnoticeable as it merged with the rest of the design.
Note that a peacock is hidden in the negative space of the logo design. This hidden peacock is the chief feature of the logo, making it an iconic and attractive design.
The peacock’s neck, head, and beak are much broader and immediately noticeable. This design tweak gives the peacock a personality.
The new peacock version also gives flexibility and scalability to the logo. It can now acquire the best look in case scalability is an issue.
NBC had told in its brief about this change, “The new peacock style will be used singularly across all platforms since it is versatile, scalable, and unique compared to the prior versions.”
Use of Rich Colors
The updated NBC logo has the same brand colors of the feathers this time as well. But they appear brightened up. The company had a darker hue to the colors in the previous version. That has changed to the lighter houses. So with this color change, the logo looks brighter and lighter.
“In modernizing the brand with quickly recognizable iconography and rich colors that reflect the spirit of our shows, we are enhancing versatility, allowing scalability and building consistency — while connecting to the newest member of our family, Peacock,” Juliet Garrett pointed out that the company was incorporating rich colors to modernize the brand.
Due to technological requirements, the company has frequently changed the peacock colors over the years. For instance, print applications cannot always match the RGB, CMYK, or HSV color spaces. So, such color inconsistencies do happen and are part of branding efforts.
Also, the company wanted to eliminate the glossy effect of the peacock that had gone out of fashion. Instead, brighter colors and flat designs were trending, so the company opted for the new color changes.
The logo colors stand for the company’s different businesses and directions. For instance, yellow stands for its news section, and orange for its sports wing. Red stands for entertainment, purple for radio, blue for network, and Green represents the company’s production business.
Bolder Font with Wider Spacing
The company also made changes in fonts. This American commercial broadcast TV & radio network giant used the NBC Tinker font, which was created for the company. It updated this font and made it look bolder, keeping with the other peacock logo changes.
Besides, the font turned bolder and the spacing between letters also got slightly wider. Here is how the font width and spacing look before and after the changes.
A reason for the change of font was that the previous lettering needed to be sufficient to convey the intended company statement fully. Also, the stroke width did not mesh well with the peacock icon’s shapes and spacing. Another reason for bolder and heavier typography was that it was trendy.
So, these are the significant changes that NBC made in its logo recently after a long time. These subtle changes show that the brand wants to be seen as a modern business by its target audience.
Are you also pondering about redesigning your small business logo? That could be the right step in building a brand identity amongst modern consumers.
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Here Are Some Quick Tips For Creating Logos
Now that you might be looking forward to creating a logo or tweaking your old one, you should know what makes a great one. A logo must engage a target audience and interact with them.
Here Are Some Essential Logo Design Tips You Should Follow:
- Know Your Target Customer – Research your niche and industry to find out who is the set of people in need of your product or service.
- Research Your Competitors – Make sure that you have researched your competitors. Study their logos and other branding materials so that your logo looks different in your niche.
- Know Your Brand Message – You should have your brand message in your mind while designing a logo. So, have the message written on paper before starting your logo work.
- Choose Colors and Fonts Wisely – These are two vital elements that can make or break your logo design. Pick the colors that can evoke your business message. Choose those fonts that help convey your brand personality.
But if you want to spend less on creating your logo or redesigning it, you should opt for Designhill logo maker. This DIY software comes equipped with a vast library of colors, fonts, and your industry icons.
Provide your design information to the software when you want to create logos using a logo maker. Then, the tool comes up with a range of logo ideas. You can pick one good idea and customize it further using the tool. This is your cost-effective way to create your logo all by yourself.
Designhill also lets you run a logo design contest with your brief for the designers. Dozens of talented designers from across the globe will send you their logo ideas.
You can then pick the best logo for your brand. That is a great way to access multiple designers for your logo project. Overall, your logo cost is affordable when accessing different means to create your logo on this platform.
Alternatively, you can work with one designer of your choice to work on a one-to-one basis to complete your logo design work.
Wrapping Up
Like many other established brands, NBC recently tweaked its famous peacock logo. The aim was to refresh the logo’s look to keep up with the latest trend and attract the audience of the new generation. The company made subtle changes, such as lighter colors, broader spacing and font, and a bigger peacock beak. These changes have refreshed the logo.
