BBC’s ‘Focus on Africa’ switches to new motion graphics, music

The BBC’s ‘Focus on Africa’ will switch to a modern look and sound on 5 June 2023, moving even closer to the news department’s overall design mandate.

The show, which was available on BBC News’ international feeds and on local stations across the continent, was previously a literal interpretation of a map with glassy 3D elements in a predominantly orange color palette.

Old “Focus on Africa” ​​title card.

Previous designs for the show also included the use of green and yellow, typically featuring backlit LED set elements shaded in yellow and orange.

This newscast had an overhaul of the open video wall graphics and music, but with the show title element changed from green to red, but with the same inset graphics and lower 3 minute mark as the rest of the network. 1 is still in use.

Like most BBC News brands, the show now uses the network’s signature red hue and flatter look, a move that brings the show together within the larger BBC ecosystem. .

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Also added an animated geometric element with four quarter circles. These shapes often rotate on the screen and resemble his 2021 icons that the network has introduced to distinguish different services.

This layout can be interpreted as the rough shape of Africa, the smallest of which was probably intended to represent the island nation of Madagascar or the Horn of Africa.

This element can be displayed as a stand-alone background design for branded video wall graphics, or as a way to frame out cutout elements for a topical look.

The show’s music was also updated to a cut with more prominent and signature elements, with distinctive percussion and strings. Previously, the music sounded more acoustic and some string elements felt like an afterthought.

Both versions of the music are inspired by the network’s trademark “pulsating” theme music, but the new version takes the sound in a slightly different direction in terms of tempo and pitch, making it sound more like a bed or a vamp. will be inaudible.