Hearst continues evolution of ‘diagrid’ look with Florida debut

A Hearst station in Ft. Myers, Florida, has rolled out the full update to the group’s evolving “diagrid” group graphics package.

WBBH, the market’s NBC affiliate, debuted the “Diagram ’24” package Aug. 22, 2024.

Hints of the overhaul started to pop up at other Hearst stations earlier in the summer of 2024.

The new package, sometimes referred to as “Diagrid 3.0,” takes a flatter, cleaner approach to the diagonal motif that’s been a hallmark of the group’s look dating back to at least 2012.

The pattern, inspired by the distinctive side of the Hearst Tower in New York City, the parent of Hearst Television, incorporates a variety of triangular and angled elements.

The original version of the diagrid package used heavily-beveled geometric backgrounds along with glassy accents and light bursts and highly angular lower thirds. The second version, which rolled out in 2018, pulled back a bit on the glassy elements and significantly streamlined the lower thirds.

Now, the latest version opts to incorporate the diagrid pattern more as a background textural element as well as through its motion language.

Larger triangular elements with overlapping segments in varying shades of the primary background color, typically red or blue, are incorporated subtly into fullscreens, while animation incorporates larger, oversized triangles and angled elements in varying degrees of opacity as well as angled lines.

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The lower third banners no longer have any angled outlines, instead relegating that look to the backgrounds. The bug and time and temp box has moved all the way to the right side of the screen. There’s also still room for a label in a lighter section of the banner, but this is shifted to rectangular, with the remaining space devoted to headlines and identifiers.

Diagonal elements are most prominent on the right side of the screen — namely in the bug box and label background, where they blend in with the colors behind them.

One distinct element is how the lighter angled element behind the lower third label extends into the upper left corner of the bug box. When banners aren’t shown on-screen, the small white segment remains there, which serves as a way to outline the box’s real estate. Taken more literally, it also literally points viewers to where the primary action is happening. 

In addition to the new graphics, WBBH also switched to “Strive,” the shared group music package, but with a different cut.

WBBH was sold by long-time owner Waterman Broadcasting to Hearst Television in 2023.