Andy Baker - Creative Director

A few months back, we decided it was time to update the look of the National Geographic Channel - we wanted to freshen it up while maintaining its "smartness" and make the channel feel less promotional. We changed our logo, the graphic colors and how we talk to our viewers. We choose to use the logo and colors that are used by the international National Geographic Channels. So, no matter where you watch the channel around the world it has the same logo and look. We felt that the more understated palette of gray, white, and our signature yellow, really showcases the spectacular imagery from our programming. We know that people who watch the channel enjoy informative non-fiction programs, and don't like to be "sold" on shows so we changed the way we talk to our viewers, using less hype to tell people about our shows, and to emphasize the incredible stories and information within the program.

To make these sorts of changes, it's a very time consuming process. The creative team has to review every place where the old logo and color palette exists on air or in print and then re-create it with the new logo and colors. New graphics, new copy and new guidelines for how an ad or commercial should look and feel can take as little as a few hours, or as much as several weeks!