PBS Unveils Updated Logo, Brand Identity

PBS has revealed updates to its classic brand, including a refreshed logo with a bold color palette, custom typeface and illustration style.

The new identity will roll out throughout 2020 as PBS celebrates its 50th anniversary. Audiences will see a new look and feel that spans broadcast, mobile and digital, making it easier to identify and rediscover PBS content across platforms. The new logo is an evolution of the brand’s classic symbol, reflective of the diverse perspectives PBS offers through its content.

It is paired with “PBS” rendered in a custom type that’s more modern, prominent and designed to be highly legible as it migrates across platforms. The new brand identity also features a new signature color, PBS Blue, designed to convey a sense of trust and integrity.

PBS worked with Lippincott, a global creative consultancy, to create the new logo. The robust two-year process factored in the diverse considerations of PBS’ audiences, member stations and partners to ensure a consistent and connected user experience across all platforms hosting PBS content.

Over the next year, nearly 70 percent of local PBS member stations will also be adopting the new brand identity.

“We believe PBS represents the best of what media is capable of, and this brand refresh demonstrates that,” said Connie Birdsall, global creative director at Lippincott. “We built the new visual identity to be flexible and modern for a brand that sits at the center of both broadcast and digital media, providing memorable visual brand cues that highlight PBS programming and unify local and national communities, who all share a love of PBS.”