NBC Logos Over the Years: Evaluating the Redesigns
How NBC rebuilt the peacock and the geometric N, what each redesign changed in the artwork, and what that means when you evaluate or prepare a vector logo file.
Contents
The essential answer
NBC’s identity, for anyone comparing historical marks or preparing artwork, is the peacock lockup that has represented the television network since the color era, with one major detour into a geometric letter N. The version almost every current file is meant to match is the 1986 six-feather bird: flat color, closed shapes, and an optional wordmark, later given glossy dimensional treatments and then flattened again for digital use. Evaluating the redesigns means reading that geometry, the feather count, and the color model of each generation, then checking whether a given file holds live vector paths, a placed picture of the bird, or a raster export.
Redesigns that still define the mark
The mid-1950s peacock, drawn for the arrival of color broadcasting, presented an eleven-feather bird. John J. Graham’s design made the network’s color story visible. As production artwork it was an illustration: many parts, interior drawing, and a silhouette that lost clarity as the mark shrank. That is the generation in view when a historical still shows a full decorative tail rather than six large color leaves.
In the mid-1970s Lippincott & Margulies replaced the bird with a capital N assembled from two trapezoids, one red and one blue. The construction is two closed polygons and two flat fills, which is simple to cut as vector paths and easy to confuse with other geometric letter marks. The design also collided with an existing Nebraska educational-television N, after which the network retired the letter as a standalone identity.
Chermayeff & Geismar restored a peacock in 1979 as a six-feather abstraction, tying the colors to the company’s divisions. In 1986 Steff Geissbuhler redrew that idea into the seated bird still in use: six teardrop feathers in a fan, a simplified body facing right, and a wordmark that can sit under or beside the symbol. Screen-era updates added bevel, gloss, and three-dimensional light. Later digital redraws stripped much of that modeling so the same 1986 silhouette could hold in small interface use, news motion, and print.
What each redesign changed in the artwork
| Generation | Artwork structure | What it means for vector use |
| Mid-1950s peacock | Illustrative bird, eleven feathers, promotional color | High path count and interior detail; fragile at small sizes |
| Mid-1970s N | Two trapezoids, two flat colors | Minimal geometry; easy to reproduce as solid fills |
| 1979 peacock | Six-feather abstraction | Fewer parts than the 1950s bird; still a looser symbol |
| 1986 peacock | Six teardrop feathers, simplified body, optional wordmark | Closed shapes and original flat color; the base drawing current identity files describe |
| Dimensional / gloss versions | The 1986 silhouette plus lighting or bevel | Appearance depends on rendering; often stored as raster or as effects on top of paths |
| Flat digital redraws | The 1986 geometry with modeling removed | Returns the mark to solid-color path behavior for interface and print work |
The 1986 peacock as working vector geometry
Current identity files, when they are true drawings, describe the 1986 structure. Six feather shapes read in spectral order across the fan—yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, green—and a body that reads as white or as a knockout against those fills. Flat original color is why this generation survives as live paths and solid fills in print, broadcast, and scalable vector workflows.
- Six closed feather shapes with solid fills
- A simplified body whose negative space is part of the mark
- A limited flat palette in the original identity
- A wordmark that is a separate element from the bird and may be live type, outlined lettering, or a custom cut
- A silhouette that holds at small sizes when feather spacing and body shape stay true to the 1986 drawing
Files, previews, and editable paths
A logo you receive can be three different assets, and the extension on the filename leaves that unresolved. True vector artwork contains selectable paths and fills you can recolor and scale. A vector wrapper can also embed a raster image of the peacock, so the file opens in a drawing application while the bird itself remains pixels. A PNG, JPEG, or flattened PDF is a picture of the mark. Glossy and three-dimensional treatments in particular are often delivered as raster even when a historical flat peacock would have been a few solid shapes. Inspect objects, links, and effects inside the file before treating it as editable identity artwork.
Access to a file and rights in the mark
NBC’s names, peacock, and related trademarks remain with the brand owner. A press-kit download, a shared SVG, or a PNG saved from a broadcast still answers the question of access. Permission to redraw feathers, change colors, replace the wordmark, manufacture goods, or present the bird as an affiliation is a separate grant. Type used in a lockup can carry its own restrictions even after the peacock has been outlined. For evaluation and production work, confirm the generation you need, confirm live paths if you must edit, and confirm the intended use with the rights holder.
What this overview cannot certify
Official spot colors, CMYK and RGB builds, clear space, minimum size, and current lockup rules live in NBC’s own brand documentation and are omitted here. Whether any one file is editable can be verified only by opening it. License terms attached to a specific delivery sit outside a redesign survey.