The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American broadcast network founded in 1926. Its visual identity is dominated by the peacock, a symbol introduced in 1956 to promote color television and officially adopted as the network’s corporate logo in 1986. The current mark, updated in 2022, retains the six-feathered peacock with a bolder wordmark.
Design and History
The original peacock was created in 1956 by NBC art director John J. Graham and Herb Lubalin of the design firm Sudler & Hennessey. It featured 11 brightly colored plumes and was used to announce color broadcasts, appearing at the start of color programming on shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. It was never intended as the network’s primary logo, which at the time was the animated “snake” ligature mark designed by Graham in 1959. [1]
In 1976, NBC hired brand consultants Lippincott & Margulies to create a new identity, resulting in a red and blue geometric “N” logo. Viewers, however, preferred the peacock, and in 1977 research from NBC’s corporate planning department recommended its use as a logo. The “Proud N,” which embedded the peacock within the letter N, marked the bird’s first use as a brand identifier in 1979. [1]
In 1986, as part of NBC’s 60th anniversary, the network commissioned Chermayeff & Geismar to redesign the peacock. Designer Steff Geissbühler simplified the mark to six colored plumes with a single notch in the violet plume indicating the beak. The redesign also turned the peacock to face right, a change NBC has described as reinforcing the network’s reputation for looking toward the future. [1] The new logo was introduced publicly in 1986 and the “Big N” was phased out by June of that year. [2]
Since 1986, the peacock has undergone several adjustments. A 2011 version widened the spaces between plumes for better legibility in smaller and digital formats. A 2013 update introduced a new wordmark. The current logo, adopted in 2022, features a heavier weight of the NBC Tinker typeface and a slightly larger beak to improve legibility in smaller formats. [1] The 2022 update also brightened the mark’s colors and reworked the wordmark so its weight and rhythm better match the peacock. [3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The six plumes of the 1986 peacock represent the six business divisions of NBC at the time: NBC News (yellow), NBC Sports (orange), NBC Entertainment (red), NBC Television Stations (purple), NBC Network (blue), and NBC Productions (green). [1] The original 1956 peacock, with its 11 colorful plumes, was created to entice viewers to switch to color television, which NBC began broadcasting compatibly in 1953. [1]
Designer Steff Geissbühler described the 1986 redesign as evolving the peacock from a literal representation to a symbol. He noted that the previous “N” mark was not reproducible at small sizes, did not work well on camera, and was too complex in form and meaning. [4]
Typography and Design
The NBC wordmark has used several typefaces over the decades. A 2011 version used NBC Futura, an in-house typeface. In 2013, the wordmark was set in Sweet Sans Pro, which was later replaced in 2018 by NBC Tinker, an in-house typeface named in honor of former NBC chairman Grant Tinker. The current 2022 logo uses a heavier weight of NBC Tinker. [1] NBC Tinker is based on the font Sweet Sans with key customizations made for NBC by Capacity Studios. [5]
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