Seven rebadging of secondary channels

[prl]

IanSav has drawn my attention to Seven's rebadging of its secondary channels, 7two, 7mate & 7flix.

The logos are now much more in the same style than the old ones, and use the standard "7" logo and lowercase lettering for the name, in more similar fonts.

I'd have normally just replaced them, but the rebranding now uses a common logo for both 7mate and 7mate HD.

Here are the three new logos:

7two_lw.png (2.46 KiB) Viewed 3773 times

7mate_lw.png (1.97 KiB) Viewed 3773 times

7flix_lw.png (2.16 KiB) Viewed 3773 times

The two old 7mate logos are:

7matehd_mp.png (3.35 KiB) Viewed 3773 times

7mate_fv.png (4.86 KiB) Viewed 3773 times

The question is: how should the logos be managed:

1. keep all the current logos;
2. move to the new logos for 7two and 7flix, and leave the old 7mate/mateHD logos in place to see whether Jasmeet_181 updates his logos 7mate logos and perhaps makes a separate 7mateHD logo (they haven't been updated since late April);
3. move to all new logos and use the same logo for both the 7mate and 7mateHD channels (including in markets that broadcast both); or
4. something else?

Also, are there any other logo changes that might be fixed at the same time?

[MrQuade]

If channel 7 are using the same logo for both Mate and MateHD, and the object of these icons is to stay as close to the broadcaster's branding as possible, then it is a tricky question.

One suggestion might be to stick with their branding for 7 mate HD, but put a small(ish) black box in the bottom corner of the icon with a white "HD" indication. That way, the HD part can be considered separate to the branding part of the icon, but you still get the HD indication.

The idea of sticking with the old branding doesn't "Feel" right.

[Gully]

If channel 7 are using the same logo for both Mate and MateHD, and the object of these icons is to stay as close to the broadcaster's branding as possible, then it is a tricky question.

One suggestion might be to stick with their branding for 7 mate HD, but put a small(ish) black box in the bottom corner of the icon with a white "HD" indication. That way, the HD part can be considered separate to the branding part of the icon, but you still get the HD indication.

The idea of sticking with the old branding doesn't "Feel" right.

I agree, so either do as they do or add the HD separately if you would like.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

[*]move to all new logos and use the same logo for both the 7mate and 7mateHD channels (including in markets that broadcast both); or

This.

Also, are there any other logo changes that might be fixed at the same time?

I think we should be consistent and also change the 9GemHD picon to match the 9Gem version, as Nine use the same onscreen watermark for both.

[Paul_oz53]

I'm indifferent to the changes but eventually a swap to the new seems inevitable.

[stevebow]

I personally prefer a "HD" in the logo to clearly distinguish a HD channel on the EPG. I think all the HD channel logos have a "HD" in them somewhere except SBS Viceland IIRC? If the official logo no longer has a"HD", maybe adding a separate "HD" along the lines of MrQuade's suggestion would do the trick. Although if it were too small to be clear there wouldn't be much point.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I think all the HD channel logos have a "HD" in them somewhere except SBS Viceland IIRC?

Both 7mate and 9Gem don't have "HD" logos. Neither does 7HD (though they have a "7 SPORT HD" one they use at times), nor 10 HD as I've just discovered.
Only 9HD, ABC HD, SBS ONE HD do.
So 4 HD services don't and 3 do.

[peteru]

I'd be happy if the picons did not have HD in massive font. I think MrQuade's proposal for just giving the HD channels a small HD badge, on top of the broadcaster branding, is a good solution.

Perhaps the broadcasters are intentionally not using the HD designation as they may be planning on dynamically switching between SD and HD content.

[MrQuade]

Just something like this one
https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/hd-movie-logo_74137

It only needs to be somewhat visible, and not intrusive.

[prl]

Perhaps the broadcasters are intentionally not using the HD designation as they may be planning on dynamically switching between SD and HD content.

Possibly, or just to play down the fact that some regions get 7mate in HD, while others get it in SD (and metro areas get both).

The HD branding is still in the channel name, though.

[prl]

I think I'll go with using all new logos, and add a white HD in the bottom corner of the 7mate logo for 7mate HD. I'll probably lift the "HD" part of the Seven HD logo and shrink and recolour it.

[Gully]

I think I'll go with using all new logos, and add a white HD in the bottom corner of the 7mate logo for 7mate HD. I'll probably lift the "HD" part of the Seven HD logo and shrink and recolour it.

Sounds reasonable.

[prl]

Here's a suggested 7mate HD picon. The layout has the advantage of having the same footprint as the 7mate logo, so it scales the same way. With a black background so that the "HD" is visible.

7matehd_lw.png (2.18 KiB) Viewed 3689 times

[prl]

If 7mateHD retains a "HD" as part of its logo, I suggest that the same principle be used for 9Gem HD, and retain the current picons for 9Gem and 9Gem HD for consistency with 7mate.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

If 7mateHD retains a "HD" as part of its logo, I suggest that the same principle be used for 9Gem HD, and retain the current picons for 9Gem and 9Gem HD for consistency with 7mate.

... and 10 HD too?

[prl]

If 7mateHD retains a "HD" as part of its logo, I suggest that the same principle be used for 9Gem HD, and retain the current picons for 9Gem and 9Gem HD for consistency with 7mate.

... and 10 HD too?

Yes. Logopedia still has what it says is a current Ten HD logo, even though Ten doesn't seem to use it.

[Gully]

Looks great, Peter.

[prl]

Thanks, Gully.

[peteru]

Consistency is certainly a good design goal and something that you can do much better than the broadcasters. At the end of the day you need to see what the results look like, but the strategy sounds good to me.

[MrQuade]

What about a version where the HD is less part of the branding?

MateHD.png (1.49 KiB) Viewed 3672 times

[prl]

My rationale for having HD in picons even when it isn't in the official logo is to help inform users (e.g. if they have the channel name switched off in the EPG). I think that's more important than sticking rigidly to channel branding.

[prl]

What about a version where the HD is less part of the branding?

It means that it scales to a different size than the 7mate picon. While that's also the case with the other SD/HD picon pairs, I thought it would be nice to avoid it.

But it's certainly a possibility.

[Paul_oz53]

Prl, I like the suggestion.

Just to be clear, I also like the idea of including HD in the picon whether the network uses that branding or not. However, this is a first world issue of the highest order!

I don't use the service name so the picon is the easy way to be sure we're watching the best quality picture. But I'm also alert to the resolution in the right hand corner so this is not critical by any means.

[peteru]

The picture quality difference between HD and SD should be so obvious that no HD indicator should really be needed after you've seen the picture. If it isn't, then the source quality is so poor that it doesn't matter if you use SD or HD.

The benefit of having the HD badge is mainly for instances where you only use picons to select a service and don't have any other clues. Having those HD badges always in the same position and using the same style greatly improves their usefulness.

[prl]

I've put the new Seven picon setup into the picon repository. It should be in the next firmware update.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I've put the new Seven picon setup into the picon repository. It should be in the next firmware update.

Is it because the the "HD" tag is in white that I can't see it -
https://bitbucket.org/beyonwiz/picons-a ... ehd_lw.png
Whereas the LCD version does show because of the black background?
https://bitbucket.org/beyonwiz/picons-a ... ehd_lw.png

Also, were you going to change 9GemHD and 10 HD?

[prl]

I've put the new Seven picon setup into the picon repository. It should be in the next firmware update.

Is it because the the "HD" tag is in white that I can't see it -
https://bitbucket.org/beyonwiz/picons-a ... ehd_lw.png

Yes.

Whereas the LCD version does show because of the black background?
https://bitbucket.org/beyonwiz/picons-a ... ehd_lw.png

Yes.

Also, were you going to change 9GemHD and 10 HD?

No, I was going to keep them, consistent with 7mate HD & 9 HD.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

It should be in the next firmware update.

It is now

[peteru]

If/when upstream isn't (very) broken, the turnaround on new picons tends to be about a day, sometimes as little as an hour or two. It can't be done in under 30 minutes.

Today it was 3 hours.