History Channel is an educational documentary tv channel, dedicated to historical facts, investigations, and fiction-series. The channel was launched in 1996 and today is owned by A&E Networks. The History Channel is available for watching on all the continents and has a lot of fans all over the globe.
The visual identity of one of the most famous history tv-channels in the world looks sleek and luxurious. Its first version was created in 1995, and by today it hasn’t been changed much — still the same color palette, style, and mood.
What is History Channel?
History Channel is the name of an American education Tv channel, launder at the end of 1995. The channel is focused on history and everything connected to it. Today The History Channel is a part of A&E Networks corporation.
The very first logo for the pre-launch of the History channel was created in 1995 and stayed in use for a few months. It was composed of a vertically-oriented rectangle in black and yellow with the enlarged serif “H” drawn in white over the black background, and the black “TV” set in the same font, but in a smaller size, in black over the yellow part of the logo. The rectangle was accompanied by a three-leveled tagline, with the small narrowed “History TV Network” in the uppercase accompanied by two lines of the “All of History. All in one place” set in a classy serif font.
The original version, designed in 1995, featured a gold three-dimensional letter “H” in a strong and classy serif typeface, placed inside a dark red square with a gold outline. “The History Channel” wordmark in a sleek old-style serif font was written in black and placed under the emblem
All the letters of the inscription were capitalized, but the three first letters were still enlarged, in order to add balance and seriousness to the whole image.
The gold and burgundy red color palette is a reflection of royalty, courage, and power. These two colors are most often associated with medieval history, Kong’s and emperors, and bloody wars of the past.
In 2008 the logo was simplified. The red square was removed and replaced by a red underline with a triangular arrow, pointing right and placed on the left from the letter “H”.
As for the wordmark, now it featured only the word “History”, which was written in black bold capitals, executed in a clean and powerful sans-serif typeface. The letters were big and had pretty much space between each other, which added volume and lightness.
In 2015 the History Channel logo was redesigned once again. The red arrow was removed and today the three-dimensional Golden “H” is underlined with a thick red line with diagonal side cuts. The black “History” inscription in sans-serif is placed under the line and executed in a modern yet strict font, with distinct cuts and clear lines.
In 2021 the logo of the History Channel was redesigned again, keeping the style of the previous badge, and its color palette, but making it look lighter and letting in more air. The “H” is now drawn in a flat style, with all three gradient-gold bars having thin white lines coming through their middles. The red underline became thinner, and the typeface of “History” was switched to a more lightweight Sans-serif.
The stable uppercase lettering, placed under the emblem on the logo of the History Channel, is set in a modern geometric sans-serif typeface, which looks confident and brutal. The closest fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Franklin Gothic, or Plymouth Serial Heavy, with clean contours and straight cuts of the bars.
As for the color palette of the History Channel’s visual identity, it is based on a classy and chic combination of gold gradients, with red and black additions. These shades stand for traditions, royalty, and excellence, and show the channel as a reliable and professional source of information.