American Broadcasting Company Logos - ABC Circle Logo (1962-present)

ABC Circle Logo (1962-present)

In 1961, Paul Rand designed a new logo which was introduced in the fall of 1962, at the beginning of the 1962-63 season, which was first seen after the October 19, 1962 episode of I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, as the production/closing logo card. This is the current logo, now used for 50 years, of a simple circle with the lowercase letters "abc" in a typeface inside.

Numerous variations of the ABC Circle logo have been used since then including (but not limited to):

• In 1963, the letters "abc" were multicolored, a red "a", a blue "b", and a green "c", to emphasize color programming.
• There was an animated opening for ABC Color programs from 1964 to 1967.
• In 1969 and the early 1970s, the logo was animated with several concentric circles in a "tunnel" effect.
• In 1975 an orange ABC Circle logo rose over a reflective ocean-like surface to coincide with the slogan "Welcome To A Bright New World." In 1978, the logo appeared in a starfield inside a spinning rainbow.
• In 1983, a golden ABC Circle logo appeared on a blue diagonally striped background. In 1987, the circle consisted of thin multicolored diagonal stripes.
• In the late 1980s until 1996, three-dimensional computer animation was used to manipulate the logo.

In 1998, the network began using a minimalist identity consisting an animation which turns into a small simple black and white ABC Circle logo on a yellow background, with the words "We Love TV." underneath. A new four-note theme tune to create a sound signature on par with the NBC chimes, CBS's three-note sound mark, and the Fox Fanfare was introduced at the same time, and has been updated with every TV season hereafter.

In 2000, ABC launched a web-based promotional campaign focused around its circle logo, also called "the dot", where comic book character Little Dot prompted visitors to "download the dot", a program which would cause the ABC logo to fly around the screen and settle in the bottom-right corner. The network hired the Troika Design Group to design and produce its 2001-2002 identity, which continued using the black-and-yellow coloring of the logo and featured dots and stripes in various and promotional and identification spots.

Later in 2002, the appearance of the logo was amended again, this time being more colorful looking and returning to full-color photos in the promos. This series would finally end in 2003, when Squares started becoming the new theme. In 2005, the circle motif returned (with streaks of light and sparkles formed using the ABC logo) with the introduction of the new "Only on ABC" slogan.

But in 2006-2007, the largest change to ABC's appearance occurred. The logo used on-air and online received a major revamp with a modern glacier blue look in 3-D. During ESPN on ABC programming, the new 3-D ABC logo would appear on the SD feed in opaque. The on-air bug during primetime programs varies between the genre of the show. Dramas use a very translucent bug which is hardly visible, where sitcoms, reality, late night and daytime use a very clear, glassy and more visible bug.