Sesame Workshop

Background
First known as the Children's Television Workshop, Sesame Workshop was founded on May 20, 1968 by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett to create the children's show Sesame Street. Until June 5, 2000, CTW produced shows such as 3-2-1 Contact, Square One, Cro, Ghostwriter, The Electric Company, Big Bag, Dragon Tales, and many other edutainment titles. On June 5, 2000, the company was renamed to Sesame Workshop to symbolise their move beyond producing only television shows and to capitalize on the Sesame Street brand.

1st Logo (July 18, 2000-August 12, 2007)
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Logo: On a white background, we see an abstract house with a roof and the text "sesameworkshop" outlined below. The window of the house is filled with yellow glitter. The house bounces and the roof explodes open, sending the glitter sprinkling all over. Some of the glitter remains to form a lightning bolt with a star on top, some sprinkles to the left to fill "sesame", and some sprinkles to the right to fill "workshop".

House and Roof Variants: Throughout the years, the house and roof vary in color, with the roof having a different color than the house; the outline of "sesame" is the roof's color while "workshop" is the house's color. The text is filled with both of the outlines' colors; a render example is sesameworkshop.

Here are the variants:
 * Green house and purple roof (most common variant).
 * Purple house and roof (second common variant). This is the first variant to contain the byline described below.
 * Blue house and roof.
 * Red house and roof.
 * Green house and roof.

Other Variants: In-Credit Variants:
 * The text "The nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street and so much more" (in the same color as the house) is shown below on occasion. A Spanish variant of this exists.
 * On some occasions, the "www.sesameworkshop.org" URL can be seen below the "sesameworkshop" text.
 * Another variant has been discovered using the purple house and red roof, and features a byline reading "A nonprofit educational organization" below the "sesameworkshop" text, and the "sesameworkshop.org" URL can be seen underneath the nonprofit byline.
 * A special variant was used for a short time in 2003. It features blue colored text reading Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit educational organization, puts the proceeds it receives from sales of Sesame Street products right back into its educational projects for children around the world. Underneath the text is a still version of the blue house and green roof logo and the website URL is underneath also in blue.
 * On many PBS prints of Dragon Tales, the text from the credits can briefly be seen over the logo at the start.
 * On Dragon Tales: Dragon Seek for PlayStation, the purple house and red roof logo is still.
 * Some have a copyright date, such as the Dutch co-production Sesamstraat.
 * On early-to-mid-2000s episodes of Plaza Sésamo, an image of the logo flies around with the Televisa logo.
 * There is an extended variant that is practically the URL and the "nonprofit organization" variants combined into one, where it fades in between the bylines (from the nonprofit one to the URL one). Another extended variant used on a Sesame Workshop trailer has the logo zooming out from the center and the animation playing as usual.
 * On Alam Simsim, the logo is on an  background with kids' drawings.
 * On the Japanese co-production of Sesame Street the logo is in-credit along with the TV Tokyo logo.
 * There exists a variant where the URL is blurred out.
 * On The Upside Down Show, the text "THE UPSIDE DOWN SHOW is a production of" is seen on top of the logo.
 * On 2003-06 (Seasons 34-37) Sesame Street episodes, the in-credit variant from 2001 is seen during the end of the 1992-2006 credit sequence.
 * At the end of Sesame English, a superimposed variant is seen.
 * On some VHS and DVD releases of Sesame Street, the logo is still. This one has no byline or URL underneath at all.
 * On Tiny Planets, the logo is to the left of the Pepper's Ghost Productions logo.

Technique: 2D computer animation. The logo was designed by Carbone Smolan; the animation was produced by The Ink Tank, animated by Tissa David, and colored by Richard O'Connor.

Music/Sounds: A stretching and "pop" sound for the roof with the sound of kids laughing (taken from the Hollywood Edge "Premiere Edition" sound effects library) as a bass clarinet plays, and then a short accordion riff.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * The in-credit version on Seasons 34-37 of Sesame Street has the final seconds of the 1992 hip-hop version of the Sesame Street theme playing, now shortened/remixed.
 * The Plaza Sesamó variant has a Latin-style piano theme and a child saying (in Spanish) that the show is a co-production between Sesame Workshop and Televisa.
 * In some cases, such as Season 38 of Sesame Street, Tiny Planets, and The Upside Down Show, it uses the closing theme of the show.
 * On the still variant, a breathy synth-chime theme is heard. This was used on Alam Simsim as well.
 * The trailer variant has stock music with different sound effects for the roof exploding and an African American female narrator saying "Learn more at sesameworkshop.org".
 * The extended purple house-red roof variant has the same stock music and a different female narrator saying, "Sesame Workshop: The non-profit organization behind Sesame Street and so much more. Learn more at sesameworkshop.org".
 * Earlier on, the sound effects from the first trailer variant were kept in before being removed in the logo's later years.
 * On certain Sesame Street DVDs, extra sounds accompany certain actions (i.e. the roof explosion, the sprinkling, etc.), which are usually silenced on the variant directly above.

Availability: Originally very common, but nowadays is more uncommon, bordering on rare.


 * The animated version was first seen on season 32 of Sesame Street, and the still version debuted on Sesame Street: Let's Make Music and Elmo's World: Singing, Drawing & More!.
 * At one point, it was to Sesame Workshop what the "Bars of Boredom" was to Sony Pictures Television, and appeared on many DVD and VHS releases from the company, and pretty much on every show PBS and Sesame Workshop distributed together, with the exception of post-2008 episodes of Sesame Street. It's no longer current, so you'll have to rely on Sesame Street and Dragon Tales VHS tapes and DVDs.
 * Green house-purple roof variant: Uncommon; it was seen on 2001-2002 episodes of Sesame Street, Tiny Planets, and seasons 2 and 3 of Dragon Tales (on which it also replaced the CTW logo seen on season 1 episodes).
 * Extended Variant: Can be seen on certain DVD releases of shows from Sesame Workshop from around 2004-2008, more specifically Play With Me Sesame.
 * Purple house- roof variant: Rare. It was seen on Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat, Play with Me Sesame, Seasons 34-37 of Sesame Street, and every direct-to-video production of said show from 2000-2004.
 * Red house- roof and house- roof variants: Scarce.
 * The former variant can be seen at the end of The Upside Down Show (the still variant), a Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat promo (seen on Canadian CinéGroupe Star VHS releases) and Sesame Street Sports for the PlayStation (both of which use the animated variant), both mentioned above.
 * The latter variant was seen on Plaza Sésamo, Ulitsa Sezam, Pinky Dinky Doo, Świat Elmo on MiniMini, and perhaps other foreign-language co-productions of Sesame Street.
 * The 2003 variant of the blue house and green roof logo is seen on three Sesame Street VHS tapes: Sesame Street: Sesame Sings Karaoke, Elmo’s World: The Great Outdoors, and Sesame Street: Three Bears and a New Baby.
 * The blue house and green roof version also occasionally alternated with the green house-purple roof variant on Dragon Tales.
 * Green house and roof variant: Ultra rare. The animated version was seen on Hikayat Simsim, which has been off the air since the early 2010s, while the still version was seen on Alan Simsim.
 * The logo made its final appearances on 2007 episodes of Hikayat Simsim, season 10 of Plaza Sesamó and August 2007 reruns of Sesame Street on PBS.

Legacy: A pretty iconic logo and a favorite among Sesame Street fans. It is one of the logos that frequently gets (usually low quality) edits and "bloopers" on YouTube.

2nd Logo (August 13, 2007-August 27, 2012)
Logo:
 * On Season 38 of Sesame Street, we see Abby Cadabby fly by as she forms the phrase "a production of sesameworkshop" and the "The non-profit organization behind Sesame Street and so much more" byline (all in green text) with her magical wand. Abby disappears and the background fades to black.
 * On the 2009 reboot of The Electric Company, the logo appears below the epilogue of the preceding episode (both of which are in-credit).

Technique: Fading for the first variant; none for the second variant.

Music/Sounds:
 * Sesame Street (Season 38): The closing theme of the show, which is an instrumental R&B remix of the Sesame Street theme song, accompanied by Abby's magic twinkling sounds.
 * The Electric Company (2009): The closing theme of the show accompanied by dialogue from bloopers of an episode.

Availability: Rare. Seen on Season 38 of Sesame Street and the 2009 reboot of The Electric Company; Hulu prints of the latter keep this logo intact; it was also kept on HBO Max prints until its removal. Like with the previous logos, check your recordings.

3rd Logo (August 11, 2008-July 14, 2018)
Logo: On a yellow background, the "sesame" text is seen. Next to it, various stills of CTW/Sesame Workshop characters appear one-by-one next to the logo, including characters from CTW/Sesame Workshop co-productions outside of the US. Characters include, from left to right:
 * Cookie Monster
 * Chamki (from Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian co-production of Sesame Street)
 * A claymation Bert (from Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures)
 * Big Bird
 * A claymation Ernie (also from Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures)
 * Abelardo Montoya (from Plaza Sésamo, the Latin American co-production of Sesame Street)
 * Kami reading a book (from Takalani Sesame, the South African co-production of Sesame Street)
 * Pinky (from Pinky Dinky Doo)

Then, the "workshop" text pops in letter-by-letter from right to left, replacing the characters. A still of Elmo fades in reclining on the second "O" in "workshop", and below that the byline "The nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street" fades in, and the URL "www.sesameworkshop.org" fades in with and below the byline.

Variants:
 * On season 39 of Sesame Street, the credits cross-fade to the logo.
 * A still version exists on Sesame Street: When Families Grieve.
 * Sesame Tree, Northern Ireland's co-production of Sesame Street, uses a special still variant that shows the Sixteen South logo and SW logos at the top with "Produced in association with BBC Northern Ireland" below it, along with a copyright date.
 * On international airings and online prints of Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, the logo is still and on a black background with the letter "A" on the top of the logo and the text underneath the logo reading "Co-production with NDR Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited and Misseri Studio" with a copyright notice.
 * Channel 5 airings of that show has the 6th Channel 5 logo next to the logo (which is stretched a bit) and the text with the copyright disclaimer now in a different font.
 * An early variant exists when Channel 5 aired the show's first season in 2008 where the logo and the text on the top of it is smaller and the text underneath is now stacked with the copyright disclaimer being different.
 * Another variant exists on the first season of the latter where the text "Produced by" at the top of the logo and the text underneath the logo now reading "in association with NORDDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK (NDR), CHANNEL 5 BROADCASTING LIMITED and MISSERI STUDIO".
 * An early variant has Elmo's fur in a brighter shade of red than usual and his body leaning up more.
 * There is also a variant with nothing below.
 * Shara'a Simsim, Rechov Sumsum, Shalom Sesame, and Sesame Square use a variant with Grover in place of Elmo. This also has Cookie Monster being replaced with Elmo in the logo's formation.
 * On 16:9 DVDs from Sesame Workshop and Seasons 40-45 of Sesame Street, a widescreen version cropped with vert-field of view is used.

Technique: Simple computer animation and effects.

Music/Sounds: The standard audio is a tuba tune with accordions followed by Elmo's distinctive laugh (done by Kevin Clash) when he fades in (the laugh is replaced with a deep boing on the Grover variant). On 2008-2015 Sesame Street episodes, the ending of the then-current Sesame Street closing theme is heard, with Elmo's laugh heard at the end. The Sesame Tree variant uses the ending theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On the Sesame Street: Old School DVD box sets and other Sesame Street videos released in 2008, the logo is silent.
 * On international airings of Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, we hear a clock ticking. When the show aired as part of 3, 2, 1 Let's Go!, we hear the very end of the show's theme.

Availability: Pretty common.
 * Seen on episodes of Sesame Street, from Season 39 (2008) to at least Season 45 (2014-2015). It can also be seen on later episodes of Pinky Dinky Doo and Plaza Sésamo.
 * The still variant appears on the special Sesame Street: When Families Grieve.
 * The Grover variant is seen on Shara'a Simsim, Rechov Sumsum, Shalom Sesame and Sesame Square.
 * The Sesame Tree variant is seen on said show.
 * DVDs such as Learning Letters with Elmo, Elmo's Rainbow and Other Springtime Stories, Elmo's Alphabet Challenge, The Cookie Thief, Elmo's Super Numbers and Learning Rocks also have this logo intact.
 * This logo did not plaster over the first logo on post-2008 DVD releases of Dragon Tales, even on reruns of the show, because Sony didn't have plans to keep the logos up to date.
 * It doesn't appear on The Furchester Hotel, which only uses an in-credit notice.

4th Logo (August 18, 2018- )
Logo: On a white background, the words "SESAME WORKSHOP" in grey write themselves in, as two lines draw themselves in simultaneously from left to right as well (a yellow one with a hump in it above the words and a straight line below the words). The "TM" symbol also appears next to the "P". The end result resembles the Sesame Street sign.

Variants:
 * A 4:3 variant exists on HBO Max prints of older episodes of Sesame Street.
 * At the beginning of Esme & Roy, the logo is completely white, and is right next to either the HBO logo, with a light orange "&" symbol in the middle. "Present" is seen below the logos in the same colour. It is on an background.
 * Season 2 of that show replaces the HBO logo with the HBO Max Originals logo.
 * A similar variant appears on the specials The Monster at the End of This Story and Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets a Puppy has the two logos in its respective colours with "Present" and the "&" sign now in a different font.
 * The two logos is removed on international prints at the beginning of the two specials.
 * International airings of Esme & Roy replaces the two HBO logos with the white Nelvana logo appearing next to the logo
 * Esme & Roy used a still version with "SESAME" and "WORKSHOP" stacked on top of each other.
 * International airings of that show uses an animation of the variant, here the two lines drawing the same, but the flash appears at the same time.
 * On Helpsters the logo is on a blue background with two camera lens on the top and bottom.
 * At the beginning of Helpsters the word "PRESENTS" is added below the logo and the background is pink
 * On the 2019 reboot of Ghostwriter the logo animation is different and appears in white and in a black background.
 * In the beginning of the 2019 reboot of Ghostwriter the logo is small with "PRESENTS" underneath and smaller like the logo above.
 * Starting with Season 51 of Sesame Street, we see the Sesame Street logo form out of CGI, which then settles down. Then the logo pans upwards to the Sesame Workshop logo drawing itself in.
 * On Through Your Eyes the logo is still and appears in a black background and in white.

Technique: 2D animation designed by Trollbäck+Company, who also animated the Fox Entertainment logo and the current ABC IDs.

Music/Sounds: A 3-note xylophone tune (similar to the NBC chimes) based on the first 3 notes of the Sesame Street theme. Otherwise, it's the end theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variant: HBO Max prints have music used on the copyright screens from older episodes, namely the "Funky Chimes" and the "Calypso" theme playing over the logo. Similarly, the audio from the previous logos also remains intact on episodes from that era.

Availability: Current.


 * The logo first appeared on a Variety news article on June 20, 2018. Its first on-screen appearance was on Esme & Roy on HBO Kids and HBO Max in the US and Treehouse TV in Canada.
 * It can also seen on episodes of Sesame Street from seasons 49 to 52 and has been spotted plastering older logos on older episodes.
 * This logo also appears on Mecha Builders, Helpsters, the 2019 reboot of Ghostwriter and Through Our Eyes. With the following logo's introduction, this logo may be retired in the future.

Legacy: Another logo within the modern trend of "simplicity", and as a result, some find it very generic. The two lines on the top and bottom give it a suspicious resemblance to the Cookie Jar logo. Others may appreciate the simplicity and the resemblance to the Sesame Street sign, however.

5th Logo (June 21, 2022-)
Logo: On a black background, two - gradient coloured lines are drawn from opposite sides, slowing down in the middle before speeding up again. As they speed off, the "SESAME WORKSHOP" text from before in fades in while the screen zooms up closer. When it stops, the background colour changes to a grey-white gradient and the text becomes, and the lines, which turn yellow and , slightly move away from the text before bouncing back to their normal positions. As this all happens, a copyright notice (in VAG Rounded) pops in.

Technique: 2D computer animation designed by Trollbäck+Company.

Music/Sounds: A reverse reverb followed by a xylophone note and then a 2-note guitar.

Availability: Brand new. Debuted on Welcome Sesame: A Digital Special Event and replaced the previous logo on Sesame Street beginning with season 53.