CBS
In the Blink of an Eye
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Imbuing new life to an iconic brand
CBS is a global multi-platform media company that creates and distributes some of the most-viewed news, sports and entertainment content in the world. Founded in 1928, CBS has created some of the most beloved programs and iconic characters in television history. The company’s operations span virtually every field of media and entertainment, including cable, publishing, local TV and digital.
The objective was to unify the CBS brand top-to-bottom—content, business units and products—while evolving the brand identity to feel fresh, relevant and meaningful to a wide range of viewers. This meant working cross-functionally with several different teams and businesses within CBS to assess, establish and implement a unified brand and design strategy.
The CBS Eye
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William Golden created the Eye in 1951 using only circles yet the positive and negative shapes within the mark can be seen many ways. We drew our inspiration from this and deconstructed the mark into distinct elements as building blocks of our design system.
Core Behavior
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The core behavior is like a big bang: a burst of energy that expands out, then collapses back into the CBS Eye. This behavior spans across content—from news to sports, drama to sitcoms. Even in static form the movement is intuited; it’s a brand marker on-platform and off.
Paired with a five beat sonic signature based on the original "This is CBS”, the burst becomes an unmistakable brand mnemonic.
Audio Partner: Antfood
One CBS
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Company-wide, each sub-brand, product and business unit had established their own identity. Inconsistent use of typography, color, even the Eye itself led to a fractured brand and disjointed consumer experience.
By aligning the marks, we clarify the connection across categories and create continuity for our audiences. Sports, News, Entertainment and CBS Studios all create original content, but consistency in design, naming and attribution keep it all firmly linked to CBS.
“They understood the customer journey that we were really trying to create. And how to actually make that work, not only from a design perspective, but from a strategic perspective.”
Unified Variety
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Anchored by a few simple principles, the visual identity system allows us to create variation across our sub-brands and adapt to a wide array of content and formats while always feeling uniquely CBS.
