isual elements in the form of tickers, slug, stock prices, SMS feedback questions, current weather news and much more end up littering TV screens, especially on news channels (Thriving in clutter - The Brand Reporter, November 1-15, 2005). Even though these visual elements are designed to attract more viewers and give more information it, inevitably, becomes almost impossible to grasp the main content.

At least one channel has taken note of the viewer's irritation. CNN International has come up with a new uncluttered design with fewer fonts and graphics which will now allow viewers to watch the news without any visual disturbance. What provoked this decision? According to Rena Golden, senior vice president, CNN International, "CNN has had a long relationship with its audience through various research programmes. During the designing process, we included that research together with some specific product research, which we combined in our development strategy. Audience feedback indicated that there is an appetite for a refresh so rather than doing this in a vacuum, we have made this move in an informed way that is intended to resonate with viewers." The ubiquitous news ticker or crawl will be replaced by an information bar that displays one complete sentence, or story, at a time allowing viewers to concentrate on the main screen.... more