Apple brings its familiar aesthetic to a sports graphics package

As advertised, Apple also inserted additional data-driven graphics into its coverage, which could be inserted in the lower right of the screen in white text with varying degrees of transparency without any background. This allowed this information to be legible, but also not compete with the bug or on-screen action. 

Apple’s “FNB” open combines a blend of dark backgrounds accented with circular lightbulb elements inspired by stadium lighting. A grid-like layout is used, with different lights flashing on and off in different patterns, including one that forms a plus-sign like arrangement. 

Animation is accented with sound effects such as a ball being hit and the distinctive sound of old-style stadium lighting being powered up along with the single “For the Whole Team” featuring Nate Traveller serving as the theme music.

While most of the open used either a stark black background or fullscreen footage, the title card, as it where, is set against a steely gray-blue with light burst effects. 

For the “Friday Night Baseball” logo, Apple eschewed the normal 3D, shield-like emblems common in sports graphics design in favor of a simple stack of “Friday Night” on one line and “Baseball” below it, with the MLB logo tucked squarely to the right of that line. The Apple TV+ logo, in the form of the Apple icon and letters “tv+” sits atop and an animated transition from a stadium light array element emphasizes the plus icon.

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There’s also room for sponsor logos but they are presented without any announcer.

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Sponsor billboards, segment titles and other fullscreen graphics often feature a stylized photograph of baseball gear, often depicted at a unique angle or vantage point, along with blurred space for the logo.

For replay stingers, the steely blue graphic and FNB logo returns, with the logo shrinking in size slightly before a boxy-wipe reveals the video, which loses all insert graphics but with the logo in the lower left.

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Additional fullscreens that use the shade included slideshow-like features with animation and shapes remiscient of the App Store or Apple TV interface.

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