Cartoon Network

1991 (pre-launch)


Before Cartoon Network started broadcasting in 1992, this logo was used in its marketing to cable operators and advertisers. The middle of the logo could be edited to feature characters from shows that were planned to be aired on the network. It has many color variations, including the text, as shown on some parts of the presentation reel.

This logo was designed by J.J. Sedelmaier Productions.


 * Click here to see the Cartoon Network pre-launch advertisement reel for more variations of this logo.

1992–2004


On October 1, 1992, Cartoon Network officially launched. It debuted its now-iconic logo, featuring a black and white 7x2 square grid with each letters of the company's name on it. Around this time, Cartoon Network launched to only a handful of cable operators.

This logo is still used occasionally on bylines of logos, as a production logo on all the shows and pilots that were distributed by the network since 1994 (it has many variants, including the 1999-2016 Ripple logo), and on Boomerang logo before the 2015 rebrand (at that time, it is known as Boomerang from Cartoon Network). It is no longer used as an onscreen logo, but it is still used on Cartoon Network-licensed consumer packaging.

2004–2010


On June 14, 2004, Cartoon Network launched a new on-air look, and a new logo replaced the one that had been used since the network launched nearly 12 years earlier. The logo's design was made up of two black and white cubes with the network's initials ("CN", borrowed from the previous logo) written on them, and the network's full name underneath it, also in the same typeface as the previous logo. The development of the network's new on-air identity was led in-house in association with Animal Logic in Sydney, Australia.


 * While our programming has always been innovative and fluid, the on-air packaging surrounding the original and acquired material has remained relatively unchanged over the lifespan of our median age viewer, typically a child between the ages of 6-8 years old. So we embarked on this significant undertaking a little more than a year ago to be ready to reveal an all-new environment in time for peak viewing and sampling during the summer months.
 * The new logo, simply provided a more contemporary, flexible, design-driven option for our animators to use or manipulate in a variety of creative ways on-air.


 * — Jim Samples, executive vice president and general manager of Cartoon Network Worldwide in a press release

The on-air graphics at the time consisted of a city made of both realistic and CGI elements (mostly of places in the network's shows) with characters from various CN shows. The time period this set of aired during was nicknamed the "CN City era".

In April 2006, in addition to adding more "CN City" bumpers, a new set of graphics with the slogan "YES" was introduced. It was replaced in June 2007 with a new theme simply titled "Summer '07", and again in September of the same year as "Fall '07" (with the slogan "Fall is Just Something Grown-Ups Invented"), with part of the graphics sharing the same elements of the Class of 3000 intro. The graphics were changed for the last time to the "Noods" theme, which consisted of "blobby" characters with a CN show's character design frequently appearing on it.

Although the logo stopped usage in May 2010 in the United States, this logo was still active in certain countries up until late 2010 and early 2012. Cartoon Network Too would be the last network to retire from using this logo, when it started using the 2010 logo on May 15, 2012. It was also featured on the 2006 Cartoon Network Movies logo and as a production card for Ben 10: Race Against Time (a reference to the Fall ident; also a variation/different logo of Cartoon Network Studios because it precedes with the Cartoon Network Productions logo despite the absence of the word "STUDIOS" underneath the logo and coincides that the live-action movie based on the Ben 10 original series was aired during that era).

2010–present


On May 29, 2010, Cartoon Network introduced an updated logo in the United States, with an updated on-air look created by its in-house design team and Brand New School. The new slogan for the network, "CHECK it", was introduced (possibly a play on the design of the network's former "checkerboard" logo). The checkerboard theme is used extensively in the new look. It was first used in bumpers featuring Chewbacca to promote the third season finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The new logo was later brought to various European countries in November 2010.

The network's "CHECK it" branding has five redesigns since 2010 in the United States, the first being "CHECK it 2.0" in 2011, with new bumpers and advertising templates. However, much of the themes from "CHECK it 1.0" were retained, including the "up next" bumpers. "CHECK it 3.0" was launched in 2013 with a more complete redesign, replacing almost everything from the past two rebrands and adopting a newer and flatter look, predominantly implementing blue, pink and yellow colors on bumpers. "CHECK it 3.5" was launched in 2014 with quotes of Cartoon Network originals, new bumpers with the slogan "Are You CN What We're Sayin'?" and much of the theme of "CHECK it 3.0" being retained. "CHECK it 4.0" was launched in June 2015, once again replacing the past rebrand and adopting a new look, incorporating gradients, 3D effects and Emoji versions of the network's characters.

A brand new theme nicknamed "Dimensional" was launched in May 2016, adopting a new look with more gradients and solid colors while using still bumpers from the "CHECK it 3.0" and "CHECK it 4.0" themes. Also included in the rebrand were characters made of real objects such as clay.