NBC News Now overhauls graphics

The NBC News Now streaming service rolled out a logo and graphics overhaul on Nov. 18, 2021, that began the night before with the debut of “Hallie Jackson Now.”

‘Hallie Jackson Now’ look underscored with typographic elements

‘Morning News Now’ gets lighter, brighter version of NBC News Now’s new look

The new design carries on the flat look, use of oversized elements and Rockefeller Center imagery the network originally used, but switches over to a blockier look that’s accented with typography and various accents. The overall package was created by NBC News’ internal creative services department with new music also accompanying the launch. 

NBC News Now started using the new look after “Morning News Now” ended at 10 a.m. eastern and it rolled into the “NBC News Now Live” block typically anchored by Aaron Gilchrist and Morgan Radford, though Radford was off.

Until that point, the old logo, bug and graphics were used.

NBC News Now’s new logo still includes the peacock and is set in the company’s bespoke Wordmark font, but now includes more of an emphasis on “Now,” which appears in larger, all capital letters below “NBC News.” 

Meanwhile, a thick rule is used below, replacing the red box motif that the original look used. 

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The channel as a whole took on the same lower third design first seen on Hallie Jackson’s new show the evening before, which include a more MSNBC-style rectangle.

Other similarities with MSNBC’s look, which debuted in March 2021, include the use of oversized typography as a transitional elements and the use of the font Roboto in most cases.

Unique elements, however, include more emphasis on sideways animation, including having headlines or segment logos appear in the middle of the L3 against a white background before sliding over to the left as a dark blue box for the full banner enters.

When these labs are text only, they are typically stylized with an underscore at the end of the text, such as “Bottoms up?_”

Other options include having a stack of three dots on the far left either alongside text or a correspondent’s name and title.

NBC News Now’s stingers, bumps and opens were also overhauled, with photography of anchors at work and on location in dynamic collections of containers that slide, grow and shrink.

There’s also new music that adds a bit of a more serious, urgent tone.

The color palette of graphics has mostly dropped the use of red, with the exception of breaking news, which was used heavily in the old look, as shown in the old “NBC News Now Live with Alison Morris” open above.

Previously, NBC News Now lower thirds were blue, red and white (they turned to primarily red during breaking news) with text placed inside of bars that would extend across the screen at varying widths to accomodate the text inside.

Accents include underscore-inspired bars, dots, microtext, outlines of the NBC peacock and solid color boxes. Microtext can include references to the network or phrases such as “reporting facts_” and “_live coverage” with the underscore here as well along with a “typing” animation effect. Much of the microtext is set in Roboto’s monotype version.

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Also added in is a “twirling” animation effect that appears to be designed to mimic a colorful “loading” indicator while transitioning the peacock in all its colorful glory. 

Countdown style graphics, which were used in the previous look, have been updated as well.

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During one of their first times out, however, the animations appeared the struggle to keep up with the reporter and created a big of a dizzying effect at some points.