TVSpy
Viewers waking up to the “Today” show on Tuesday may have noticed a difference in the show’s graphics package. After a long holiday weekend, as people headed back to work and students started a new school year, “Today” unveiled a new, fresh look for its lower-thirds, ticker, and other on-screen graphics.
“The new, cleaner look, gets rid of the sharp ‘ribbons’ and somewhat choppy animation of the old package,” notes NewscastStudio, “in exchange for white boxes accented with color, similar to the look at MSNBC.”
The new graphics package is noticeably more confined than the old one, which regularly had graphics that stretched across the entire widescreen (16:9) frame. All of the new graphics are situated inside of the 4:3 frame. As one commenter noted on the AVSForum message boards, “it is very, very 4:3 safe.”
During the show, a main white strip with the ‘Today’ logo and website is a fixture on the screen and, when not housing an occasional news ticker, is often left blank. One wonders if this now commonly unused space may one day be used to incorporate more web-based features such as commentary from viewers using social media.
For now, “Today” is using their Facebook presence to gauge viewer reactions to the changes. One user questioned the purpose of the frequently blank main graphic: “the lower box really seems to serve no purpose (no time, no temp), so why have it up there?” Another user was excited about the morning show’s new look: “very sharp, very nice, fresh and awakening too.”