International Presentation

[W. Knight]

WETA (PBS in Washington DC) quietly sprayed a new coat of paint on their ribbon symbol, albeit not as fresh.

...and here's their anthem, used as a sonic identity in the production slates:

Sonic identity developed by Stephen Arnold Music. The new ribbon symbol and the accompanying brand elements were designed in-house by WETA's creative services department, led by Dylan Wilbur, as part of a modernization project WETA is embarking in their Arlington, VA headquarters, as well as the new PBS brand by Lippincott, and increasing fears that the 1997 logo was running into visibility concerns. The television branding was designed by... guess who... RenderOn.

More from NewscastStudio.

A fascinating read on the deisgn process. Judging by the logo concepts, I think there're some modern and fresh ideas in the bunch. For instance, the condensed san-serif one in the third row integrates the ribbon better, while the third one from the first row's font kinda reminds me of PBS' pre-2019 serif wordmark. 

Alas, this is a public channel, where they can't splash all their resources on a slightly more impressive look. IMO, the close relations with educational instituions sets the rebrand back to a traditional style. Still, they didn't slouch in other parts of the rebrand - I like the palette and layout in the WETA UK slide, in spite of the new tiled-crown symbol.