The 5 Best TV Network Logos

When I've thought of good logo design, TV network logos have never been the first to come to mind. Because of this, I've decided to go out and try to find five that aren't awful.

And, really, after looking, these are about as good as they get.



VH1
Say what you want about the channel, which has become little more than a vessel for trashy reality shows. This logo, in terms of more modern design, is aesthetically pleasing and has some cool modern typographical touches. It also uses Helvetica as its primary font (one of my faves), so it gets a vote there. The color combination in this particular iteration is contemporary, which is the intention, I imagine. The network is, after all, for the youth, or so I hear.



TV Land
Going from Brooke Knows Best to Dad Knows Best (don't worry if you don't get it): Since their logo change, TV Land retro-modernized its logo, enlisted Harry Shearer's classic voice and became a great deco representation of the era around which their programming is centered. The logo itself looks like an old '50s space age TV set you might've seen on "World of Tomorrow," and while I can't really identify the font they use, it is reminiscent of the heavy type styles, all-caps technique and bold faces of the era. Just remember that next time you're catching up on Howdy-Doody.



The Travel Channel
I don't travel much, but if I did, this is the TV channel I'd want to park myself in front of to teach me how. This isn't my favorite logo of the bunch, but I liked the bright colors, and it has some clever elements, like the 't' character that also swoops to make a 'c' character, and also swoops to mimic orbiting a globe, which, presumably, is what one does when they travel. I wouldn't know; I'm too busy watching TV.



QVC
QVC is to TV retail what Skymall is to mid-flight retail, both booming industries I'm sure. Still, I had quite low expectations for their logo while I was looking around. Even now, I don't really know if this made the list because I was so pleasantly surprised, or if it is actually a decent logo. I'm not a big fan of 3D elements in logos, but I like that it was utilized for an actual purpose in this one. The logo is clean, the type is consistent and sensical. The entire logo feels very balanced, not like that stupid novelty merchant's scale I bought from them last year.



The Science Channel
I love science, but science often does not leave room with its incessant pragmatism for things like pleasing design. But the Science Channel does a fair job correcting this. The reasoning behind the design of this logo seems pretty obvious to me. It mimics the look of an element from the periodic table's visual chart. Sciencey, yes. But I also really like orange, and clean fonts and crisp, unobtrusive nature of the positives and negatives. The curviness in the lettering of this font might come off as generic, but I think its contrast with the square of the frame and the clean coloring makes it all meld together very well. Now if only they'd have more shows about Legos.