After a slow start, HDTV appears to be here to stay. After some rather limited forays into HD by PBS and major broadcast networks, several cable stations, including HBO and ESPN, now offer secondary HD channels. This month, iN DEMAND launched two new 24-hour high-definition channels, INHD and INHD-TV.
The transition to high definition will have a significant but largely unappreciated impact on those of us who design commercials, broadcast graphics and other elements for this new media. HD’s 16:9 aspect ratio provides a new canvas for designers to ply their art, one that facilitates and even demands new design concepts. HD’s greatly improved image clarity and extended color palette will also have a profound impact on the imagery designers use to captivate viewers.
During the current transitional period, as the broadcast industry slowly migrates from NTSC to HD, designers face a challenge unlike any since the switch from black and white to color. At least until HD television sets become a fixture in most consumer homes, designers will be obliged to create media that functions equally well, or nearly so, in both 4:3 and 16:9. The problem is not only ensuring that vital information is visible in both formats; designers must also utilize HD in exciting ways that are effective in NTSC.
For designers, the shift from 4:3 to 16:9 is similar to adjusting a page from portrait to landscape. Suddenly, vast new real estate appears at the edges of the frame. It’s as if the rules of proportion and the "golden section" have been rewritten overnight.
A new frame is not the only benefit of HD. The extreme clarity of the high-definition image allows designers to explore detail, both in macro and micro worlds, that was heretofore beyond their reach. Similarly, HD both extends and adds subtlety to the designer’s color palette, facilitating imagery of greater richness and depth. The possibilities for the use of typography in HD go beyond the capabilities of NTSC, approaching that of print design. No longer are typographic choices limited to "medium" and "bold," as "light" typefaces become part of the designer’s toolkit and open a new range of expression.
With this newfound freedom comes hidden limitations—at least so long as the system of two formats prevails. In determining how best to exploit the possibilities of the beautiful new 16:9 rectangle, the designer will have to decide what degree of compromise he or she is willing to make in order to ensure that the design also works in 4:3. The urge to ease the subject toward the center of the frame, to "shoot and protect," will be great. No one wants to see the fruits of his or her labors relegated to the invisible world of "cut off." At some point, designers will have to make the courageous decision to forsake 4:3 altogether and design exclusively for the new medium.
I had the opportunity to explore the possibilities of HD design recently as part of the team at Click 3X that created the branding for INHD. The work distinguishes INHD from other broadcasters by capturing the essence of the HD viewing experience and demonstrating what makes it fundamentally different from standard television. It’s not merely a matter of a wider picture. It’s how the wider framing enhances the viewing experience. It’s not simply a sharper picture. It’s how greater detail leads to greater understanding.
Sports fans who watch baseball games on INHD will be able to survey the entire field as if they had seats behind home plate. When the camera moves in for a close-up, they will see how the pitcher wraps his fingers over the laces of the ball as he prepares to throw a slider. The graphics package communicates this difference by juxtaposing wide vistas with incredible details. An image of enormous stalks of kelp rising up through blue-green water is set against a close up of a single leaf.
Color plays a significant, but perhaps less apparent role in the package as the palette makes liberal use of hues that are difficult if not impossible to reproduce accurately in NTSC. One of the INHD spots features a low-slung motorcycle with hot orange paint that would have been too vibrant for NTSC, causing crawl and vibration, but in HD, it is fantastic. Viewers may not be able to articulate the difference, but they will sense that they are watching something that is quite different from the ordinary.
For designers, it is exciting to introduce people to something new, but such opportunities, by definition, are short-lived. As HD becomes firmly established and viewers become familiar with the wider frame and crisper detail, it will no longer be enough to promote those qualities, as they will have become the norm. At that point, it will be time for designers to find new ways to keep viewers enthralled.
