NBC News updating ‘Decision’ branding for 2026

NBC News is preparing an updated election look for the 2026 midterms that sticks to its “Decision” branding scheme but adds a new visual take.

Some instances of the new “Decision ’26” logo have begun appearing publicly in promotional elements on NBCNews.com, and a source confirmed to NCS that it will become part of a wider look used across the network.

NBC News did not respond to a separate request for comment on the design. 

The new logo removes the star-centric motif the network has used for nearly a decade. 

Instead, the new icon combines a take on the fourth feather from the network’s iconic peacock logo — allowing the forward-facing “head” of the bird to appear fairly prominently. 

Three red stripes extend off the right side of the feather, each in a different shape that also creates two “white” stripes in the negative space. Both the shapes and negative spaces left by the stripes seem to share some of the same geometry as peacock feathers. 

When viewed as a whole, the blue peacock feather element could be seen as a sort of “flag pole” or, thanks to its naturally thicker shape near the top, the blue star-filled union on the U.S. flag.

MS NOW’s ‘We the People 2026’ election branding. MS NOW is no longer part of the same parent company as NBC News and introduced the ‘We the People’ moniker 

In some ways, the three red stripes actually conjure some visual connections to the MS NOW main logo and “We the People 2026” lockup the network introduced earlier this year. 

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MS NOW puts ‘We the People’ at the center of its election night brand

MS NOW, which was formerly MSNBC, was part of NBC News until November 2025, when it was spun off by parent Comcast into Versant Media. 

In the past, NBC and MSNBC would often share the “Decision” branding for election coverage.

For typography, the new “Decision ’26” logo still uses a condensed sans serif, but the updated look feels a bit cleaner and lighter. 

The year, meanwhile, which typically appeared in a matching typeface, has been changed to a thick, elegant modern serif in italics. The updated look also drops the longtime practice of using all four digits of the year, with an apostrophe replacing “20.”

The “26” sports curves and other elements that match some of the lines in the flag icon. What isn’t entirely clear, however, is how the rest of the updated branding looks. 

One possible hint could be in a pop-up that’s been running on NBCNews.com — which features a beige background with a grayscale photograph of the Capitol Rotunda exterior and two red and blue fever chart lines. 

However, it’s not clear if this design may just be for this specific campaign, and as of this writing, NBCNews.com still features the old “Decision” look in most main areas of the site.

Before the change, NBC had been using various designs centered around a star motif — with a rippling flag icon added as well.

It also went through a handful of color palettes, though most recently the blue had started to skew more toward a lighter, powder blue shade, whereas the new design features a deeper, more royal or navy blue. The red also appears to have been shifted slightly a bit more — perhaps with a bit more orange undertones. 

MS NOW’s main logo uses a similar concept, while its “We the People” logo borrows parts of it to form the letter “E” in its design.

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The NBC News 2016 ‘Decision Night in America’ logo.

This earlier look for 2016 election coverage used a different font and a darker look.

Most recently, this often included just over half of a star-shaped outline parked next to the “Decision” wordmark, but there have been other interpretations of the shape over the years. 

In fact, the star shape has become so popular at NBC and MSNBC that the network has built numerous hard scenic elements, including desks and temporary walls, that incorporate the shape into the design. 

This stacked star desk, introduced in 2014, has been used for various political and election coverage over the years. 

Show her in 2024 in use on MSNBC in Studio 3A, this large curved desk has a dramatically angled base. 

Another take on the glass star look is this desk, shown here in Studio 3B-2, a space that NBC built for its New York Telemundo station but actually debuted on MSNBC before local Spanish-language newscasts moved in. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, NBC transformed Studio 1A, normally home of ‘Today,’ into an election set, bringing in additional scenic walls and other elements. The stacked star desk also got two larger units on either side to aid with social distancing. 

The star and stripe elements are both seen on this monitor cart, shown here in use during 2024 coverage in Studio 4E.