PBS Kids (first era)[]
1993-1999[]
Prior to 1993, PBS' children's programming used the regular PBS branding. The first PBS Kids logo was based on PBS' 1984 logo and animated by Gene Mackles as part of PBS' ongoing transformation of its children's strand into a service known as Ready to Learn, which was launched in eleven test markets at that time. It consisted of three stylized P-Heads with different colors and patterns, depicted as living things, complete with appendages, named the P-Pals. Although the logo was retired in 1999 on TV, the ID still appeared on some VHS releases until 2004. The logo is still used in Israel.
1993–1999 (secondary)[]
PTV[]
1994-1999[]
On July 11, 1994, PBS began naming its children's strand PTV. This was not a major rebrand, as the P-Pals remained until 1999. The P-Head was based on PBS' second logo from 1971, but with the "B" and "S" replaced with a "T" made of pink circles and a "V" inside a green box.
PBS Kids (second era)[]
1998-1999[]
The name "PBS Kids" was conceived in early 1997 as a rebranding effort for PBS as part of its ongoing changes of its profiles. This logo was used for on-air promos, bumpers and idents (animated by FableVision) until 1999, even though some stations still had the PTV branding until 2001. Select stations used the PTV branding as late as 2005.
1999-present[]
1999-2013[]
On September 6, 1999, the same day Dragon Tales premiered, PTV was officially rebranded as PBS Kids, ending the P-Pals' six-year run. PBS Kids' mascots Dash and Dot were also introduced. This logo was designed by Richard McGuire (designer of characters for The New Yorker magazine) and Bob Shea, with network branding being produced by Lee Hunt Associates and some network IDs being animated by Passion Pictures and King Camera. Starting in 2000, new IDs were produced by Primal Screen.
On 2001, PBS Kids was going international as TV channels and programming blocks on TV channels outside US by PBS Distrbution and Studio 100.
On September 1, 2008, new branding elements were introduced, and their flat animation style was changed to a collage-like style. The logo itself remained the same, except it was often seen with textured appearance that matched the new "scrapbook" look. Dot and Dash themselves also officially became green characters (before, the colors of the characters usually matched any color of the backdrop). This new style was previously used from 2006-2008, exclusively during the PBS Kids morning preschool block.
2009–2022[]
In the fall of 2009, a minor change to the previous logo was made. The word "Kids" moved into the thought bubble, making it bigger, and the face smaller. Until late 2013, this logo was used in tandem with the previous logo (mostly on IDs). On October 7, 2013, coinciding with the premiere of Peg + Cat and the closure of PBS Kids Go! as part of a program restructuring strategy, PBS Kids received a major rebrand. With it, the Dot variant of the logo was officially retired and the Dash variant became the sole logo for PBS Kids. One minor adjustment was made to include a white line on the perimeter of the logo,[1] which had been used in certain instances previously, but not consistently until 2013.
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