State of the Union graphics combine old, new

Tuesday’s State of the Union address coverage saw a mix of repeat and new looks for the major broadcast and cable networks.

For comparison purposes, be sure to check out our 2014 coverage of the State of the Union.

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NBC News used a new graphics package that includes a circular logo tinted with blue and red bursts of color and elegant, clean lower thirds that used elements from the presidential seal as embellishment. The typeface Trajan was used throughout.

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CNN‘s look used much of the graphics from last year, including the rather garish seal-shaped emblem. The network did, however, also incorporated its new, flat-style graphics into the coverage as well, which looks a bit odd against the overly stylized look of the metallic 3D logo.

CNN also made use of its virtual studio technology for data analysis.

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ABC News also held over the same look — a rather cluttered and overly colorful look that also included a sidebar that included a rundown of topics.

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CBS‘s look was the same as last year.

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MSNBC‘s look remained the same, though with the addition of a “Bing Pulse” realtime viewer feedback bar appearing on screen. Similar technology was used last year by Fox News, but this year MSNBC was the sole broadcaster using a realtime polling system.

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Fox News kept its 3D rendering of the presidential seal in the lower right corner of the screen, but altered it to be a bit less shiny and also added vignetted American flag graphic to anchor the seal a bit better.

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PBS kept things super simple, with just the “PBS News Hour” logo in the lower right.

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Bloomberg aired its coverage under its “Bloomberg Politics” branding and used a rectangle-heavy graphics package in various shades of red, white and blue. Its lower thirds included tightly spaced text that included excerpts from the speech.

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British import BBC used its blocky China red “Breaking News” graphics and also included quotes and its normal ticker, creating a bit of a cluttered look. The bright, solid expanse of red detracted from the image of Obama, making it almost seem to fade into the background.