Draft:PBS (Graphics Packages)

NOTE: This draft is a pilot for a new format, to be used exclusively on pages for larger graphics packages used by television networks that go beyond their IDs. The sections are in varying stages of completeness depending on what's known about them; the variability of completeness is in no way intended to reflect on the quality of this page.

1st Graphics Package (1987-1988)

Examples from member stations

2nd Graphics Package (1988-September 14, 1989)

Extended usage

Some stations, such as WQED, continued to use elements of this graphics package well into the early '90s, with WFWA using its music well into the era of the 1995 graphics package.

Examples from member stations

3rd Graphics Package (September 15, 1989-January 3, 1993)

Designer: LePrevost Corporation

Creative Director: John C. LePrevost

Animation: Pacific Data Images

Hardware: Silicon Graphics 4D/25 TG

Examples from member stations

4th Graphics Package (January 4, 1993-July 20, 1995)

Designer: Telezign

Creative Director: Robb Wyatt

Executive Producer: Jan Phillips

Art Director: Anne St. Pierre

Photography: Fly Films

Director of Photography: Jim Riche

Music: Peter Fish

Hardware: Quantel Paintbox, unidentified motion control system

Viewers Like You bumper

Logo: Against a backdrop of multi-colored lights, the "Viewers Like You" serif is seen.

Technique: Live-action footage with superimposed titles.

Audio: Typically silent except for an announcer who says, "This program was made possible by annual financial support from Viewers Like You."

Availability: Seen mainly on pledge drive programming during the 5th PBS logo's usage. Specific examples include The Internet Show, Barney in Concert, and Victory at Sea.

Examples from member stations

5th Graphics Package (July 21, 1995-September 1998)

Designer: PMcD Design

Creative Director: Patrick McDonough

Executive Producer/Director: Scott Danielson

Animation: Tape House Digital

Lead Artist: Patrick Inhofer, Michel Suissa

Music: Elias Associates

Hardware: Grass Valley Group Kadenza, Silicon Graphics Onyx RE2

Graphics

Visuals: One of seven genre-based logos, which would form the basis for the 1996 PBS logo:

Arts and Entertainment: On a black screen, half of a blue vase painting obscures the left half, while a metronome ticks in the right half. As the metronome exits stage right, a modern dancer, from the intro sequence to Dancing, appears performing from behind the painting, and then framed footage of Derek Jacobi from I, Claudius also appears from behind the painting as an artist's palette appears from above, then a music bar from below, which touches the palette. The scene cuts to a yellow background, with a framed music bar with tap dance shoes on top and a brass trumpet in the upper-left-hand corner, and a framed portrait of an opera singer with the writing of a portion of T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding" upside-down in the upper-right-hand corner. The opera singer is replaced by a fingerprint as a framed video of Charleston dancers appears from the left and settles in the lower-left-hand corner. Finally, the fingerprint is replaced by a portion of the opening to Mystery!, while the trumpet is replaced by a smoking pipe. On the short version, the first three seconds are cut off, and the second section is removed entirely. On local stations, either the P-Head or a custom graphic used by the station may fade in below the frame with Jacobi inside it and to the right of the music bar.
Nature: A water drop hits a body of water, then a frame showing the same animation and more flips forward against a white background as a white feather floats down, a wooden rectangle appears from the left to settle in left-center, and a video of dolphins is shown before fading to blue. The scene cuts to a nest being lifted, which then appears in a frame against a black background with the same wooden rectangle in the center and footage of wildlife playing on either side. On the short version, only the first two shots are used.
Explore: At the top of the screen is a video of an approaching train, with a wooden frame and a wooden globe in the upper-left-hand corner. At the bottom is a variety of bluish and greenish rectangles in which the word "explore" appears. Between these two portions of the screen is a canoe. The next screen to be shown includes a teal rectangle with black slowly creeping into it, with video of a hot air balloon to the left and a cartography drawing, in teal on white, to the right. A framed picture of sun rays moves downward, and a framed video of a book's pages being turned moves towards the right, as a flashlight appears briefly before flashing out. Then, a black rectangle appears to the left, with footage of kayakers going along a river to the right. Finally, the footage is put inside a rectangle in the center going up to a framed teal picture. To the right is an empty kayak. A spinning globe goes upwards to the right. On the short version, only the second and fourth screens are used. On local stations, either the P-Head or a custom graphic used by the station may appear in the frame of the book's pages being turned and to the left from behind the footage of the kayakers.
Science: An x-rayed hand in blue appears to the left and moves to a frame in the lower-right-hand corner of a screen with a multi-colored but predominantly white background. The word "SCIENCE" appears above that frame as another frame, with a see-through video, moves downward. In the lower-left-hand corner of the screen, a ruler spins on a red background as the Moon fades in above. Next, on a green and yellow screen, a black machine moves towards the camera. Finally, a framed video of an astronaut zooms out to the upper-left-hand corner of the same background as the earlier screen, with a black stripe in the lower-left-hand corner and footage of Albert Einstein to the right. On the short version, only the first two shots are used.
Depth, Dialogue, Discussion: Against a white background, a red frame, a framed teleprompter from the October 17, 1994 edition of The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and a microphone appear. Black and white footage is overlaid over the teleprompter frame as the same spinning globe from Explore appears from the right and the background darkens and merges with a camera with four flashes. In the lens of the camera is a clock to the right with blue lighting. A windowsill appears from the top, framing footage of an anchorman delivering his report. On the short version, the bumper begins just before the four flashes. On local stations, the P-Head may appear in the windowsill, and a custom graphic used by the station may appear in the lower-right-hand corner.
Do-It-Yourself: Against a light yellow background with footage from The French Chef playing behind, a brush leaves a yellow paint streak on the left, while the upper-right-hand corner shows a framed animation of a carrot being prepared, and the lower-right-hand corner shows some clay being molded into a pot. Next, a framed animation of scissors snipping appears, with a fork and spoon to the right and some silver circular parts to the left. The same silver circular parts, enlarged, appear along a darker yellow rectangle to the left along with two squares, one resembling marble and the other resembling a shadow with "do it yourself" along the top edge, in the center and a framed wrench animation in the right. The marble square opens to reveal footage of someone drilling into wood. Finally, seven frames appear on the screen, showing the wrench, a hammer, string, a thimble, and footage of someone working with a plant, and sometimes nothing but solid color. On the short version, it goes straight to the fourth shot, followed immediately by the third shot.
Biography/Storyteller: Against a mahogany background with black markings, a framed front page of the New York Times depicting the lunar landing swings in from the left and is then shown from a distance, with an animated baseball and American flag in the foreground. Next, we pan across a picture of Union soldiers, with a framed red picture and an animated cannon in the lower-left-hand corner and a picture of Abraham Lincoln to the right. A red stripe appears in the center, with the initial animation framed, but this time with a glove catching the baseball. Black and white newsreel footage appears to the left. Finally, video footage showing a wheel appears to the left, with a Dorothea Lange photograph to the right as framed footage of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech moves towards the right. On the short version, only the last two shots are used. On local stations, either the P-Head or a custom graphic used by the station may appear above the framed "I Have a Dream" footage.

Trivia: Stations known to have used this branding on their IDs and/or promo tags include Kentucky Educational Television, KERA, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Maine Public Broadcasting Network, Public TV for East Tennessee, Vermont ETV, WCET, WITF, WNET, WQED, and WVIZ.

Technique: 2D and 3D computer animation and compositing effects.

Audio: Differs based on the ID.

Arts and Entertainment: A rhythmic tune followed by an Oriental-esque woodwind flourish. A classical guitar is strummed in a descending fashion as a soprano starts singing. Finally, a jazzy-sounding strings tune can be heard.
Nature: An echoing high-pitched piano tune.
Explore: A train whistle, overlapping a quick, somewhat dissonant-sounding piano tune, followed by tribal chanting backed by strings.
Science: A choir note held for several seconds, with a new age keyboard tune in the background.
Depth, Dialogue, Discussion: A dramatic tune with crosstalk at the start and a brass note near the end. On the PBS satellite feed, a voiceover at the start (same as in the Satellite Service ID) says, "When you want the whole story and all of the angles, turn to PBS."
Do-It-Yourself: A pizzicato tune.
Biography/Storyteller: A new age choir and strings tune. In the second half, applause can be heard, and MLK declares as part of his "I Have a Dream" speech, "Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee!"

Availability: Can be seen on Vimeo, oddly enough under the name "PBS 2000". Known to have appeared before programs on WSJK/WKOP and the Schedule X satellite feed, and after programs on WNET.

Blue background

Visuals: Against a light blue background, a yellow panel, a dark blue panel, and a red horizontal bar fade in as a second dark blue panel slides in from the left over the first dark blue panel and a second red bar slides in from below the first red bar. Shadows appear and disappear intermittently along the panels, along with shadows of a meteor, an hourglass, a ruler, a feather, a wavy water surface, and a palette.

Technique: 2D and 3D computer animation and compositing effects.

Audio: A peaceful brass tune with a few English horn and violin riffs thrown in. Sometimes, the music from the red and yellow backgrounds was used instead.

Red background

Visuals: Against a red background, a light gray panel, a dark red panel, and a yellow horizontal bar fade in as a second yellow bar slides in from below the first yellow bar. Shadows appear and disappear intermittently along the panels, along with shadows of a trumpet, a windowsill, a camera, a screwdriver, and a sculpture of some sort.

Technique: 2D and 3D computer animation and compositing effects.

Audio: An African-style new age tune with flutes, cellos, a choir and a piano. Sometimes, the music from the yellow background was used instead.

Yellow background

Visuals: Against a yellow background, the shadow of a turquoise horizontal bar is already present just before the bar fades in followed by a light gray panel and a dark green panel. Shadows appear and disappear intermittently along the panels, along with shadows of a picture frame, a wooden beam, a meteor, and a Civil War-era field artillery cannon.

Technique: 2D and 3D computer animation and compositing effects.

Audio: A piano/guitar tune with bongo drums beating in the background.

Coming Up Next

Extended usage

Some stations, such as WNET, continued to use elements of this graphics package even after the next was introduced, with Public TV for East Tennessee using it until 2003. PBS itself was known to use bumpers from this era during the next graphics package's tenure.

Examples from member stations

6th Graphics Package (September 1998-June 30, 2000)

Designer: Lee Hunt Associates

Creative Director: Bob English

Executive Producer: Jane Potenzo

Animation: Manhattan Transfer/Edit

Lead Artist: Kieran Walsh

Hardware: Silicon Graphics Indigo2 IMPACT or Octane

Viewers Like You bumper A

Viewers Like You bumper B

Visuals: Against a computer-animated green sky background, black text reading "Viewers Like You" fades in, then out to make room for "Thank You" in the same font.

Technique: Compositing and computer animation.

Audio: A guitar rearrangement of the 1998 PBS logo's theme in the key of G.

Coming Up Next A

Visuals: Against a computer-animated green sky background, one person passes to another a placard with "Next" on it, which fades to a clip from the next program. Next to the second person is a third person already holding a different placard, on which the program's title fades in.

Technique: Compositing and computer animation.

Audio: A guitar rearrangement of the 1998 PBS logo's theme in the key of E. The voiceover depended on the program.

Coming Up Next B

Visuals: Against a computer-animated green sky background, one person is passed a placard on which the next program's title fades in. Other people fade in and out holding the placard.

Technique: Compositing and computer animation.

Audio: Same as Coming Up Next A.

Examples from member stations

7th Graphics Package (July 1, 2000-July 21, 2002)

Designer: Razorfish

Creative Director: Bob English

Executive Producer: Jane Potenzo

Animation: Razorfish

Lead Artist: Jean Brennan

Coming Up Next

Examples from member stations

8th Graphics Package (July 22, 2002-September 26, 2009)

Designer: PMcD Design

Creative Director: Patrick McDonough

Executive Producer: Dana K. Bonomo

Producer: Joanne Tolkoff

Director: Trez Bayer

Animation: Liquid Light, AFCG

Lead Artist: Kieran Walsh

Music: Alex Lazarenko

Compositing: Edgeworx

Editor: Mark Nickelsburg

Examples from member stations

9th Graphics Package (September 27, 2009-November 6, 2022)

Designer: EyeballNYC

Creative director: Limore Shur

Executive producer: Ben Spivak

Director: Jory Hull

Prominent colors

Blue

#091E23 (used for show title backgrounds)
#103339 (used for show time backgrounds)
#076F96
#3DE7A6 (used for show time highlights)
#FFF525 (used for headers and show title highlights)
#FFE9BC
#FFFFFF (used for episode titles)

Green

#0D2402 (exclusively used for show title backgrounds)
#112E02 (used for headers)
#194202 (used for show time backgrounds)
#94F908 (exclusively used for show time highlights)
#A8D000
#A1CB43
#FF9300
#FFDC1C (used for show title highlights)
#FFE9BC
#FFFFFF (used for episode titles)

Orange

#FF7300
#FFA009 (used for show title highlights)
#FFE9BC
#FFFFFF (used for episode titles)
#340324 (used for headers)
#2C031E (used for show title backgrounds)
#52044A (used for show time backgrounds)
#DE5EBC (used for show time highlights)

Magenta

#25022C (used for show title backgrounds)
#4C054C (used for show time backgrounds)
#E2015D
#FD05A8 (used for show time highlights)
#FFC30D (used for headers and show title highlights)
#FFE9BC
#FFFFFF (used for episode titles)