The Discovery Channel's very first logo ran from 1985 to 1987, consisting of a television screen picturing the map of the world, and it has "THE Discovery CHANNEL" written on it in Gill Sans font.
1987–1995
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Aurora Bold Condensed Futura
For two decades, starting in 1987, the channel's logo incorporated the Discovery wordmark rendered in the Aurora Bold Condensed font (the familiar wordmark that would last until the 2008 rebrand) with a circular shape in front of it. The circle usually took the form of a rising sun, or an animated version of the Vitruvian Man[1][2].
Discovery Channel
1995–2000
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Aurora Bold Condensed Futura
On September 19, 1995, the channel's name was simplified to Discovery Channel, dropping "The" from its name. A globe became a permanent part of the logo, and an underline was added to the bottom of the logo. They also launched a new tagline, "Explore Your World" (which later also used by the parent company in 2018).
2000–2007
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Aurora Bold Condensed Helvetica
The logo was changed slightly in August 2000 when the word "CHANNEL" was moved into the underline, and the globe was altered to focus on the Pacific Ocean instead of any continents.
In December 2007, Discovery Channel debuted a new logo, and a new tagline ("The World is Just Awesome"[3]), which took effect on-air on April 15, 2008. The new logo was designed by Boston-based design firm Viewpoint Creative
[4], and replaced the longtime Aurora Bold Condensed font in the logo with the modified version of the Gotham font. The globe has been merged with the "D" in "Discovery", creating a monogram that was usable as a standalone icon. The combination of the "D" in the wordmark and the globe is sometimes used separately, primarily as the channel's logo bug during its programming[5].
Discovery was rebranded again in February 2009 by Royale. They also altered the logo slightly by modifying the globe again, making the word "CHANNEL" bigger, disconnecting the C and O, and completely detaching the globe from the D. The modified logo was rolled out to Discovery's international channels during the first half of 2009.
In mid-2013, Discovery began de-emphasizing the 2009 logo in favor of using the D and globe symbol by itself on-air, with "Discovery" written underneath in print and social media. The network adopted the new tagline "Grab Life By The Globe". 6 different globes were used to reflect the channel's programming: Earth, Ice, Gold, Fire, Water and Metal. This design approach was extended to promotional material such as trailer endboards.
2016–2019
Designer:
Unknown
Typography:
Gotham
As part of a graphical refresh in July 2016, the D symbol and "Discovery" text are now encased inside a circle.
Discovery
2019–present
Designer:
Roger
Typography:
Sharp Sans
On April 1, 2019, Discovery Channel debuted a major refresh since 2008 (created by Roger, an LA-based design agency), along with a new tagline, "The World is Ours". The globe became static, flat and moved to the middle of the "D"; the font was switched to Sharp Sans.
“Uniting the world of Discovery was incredibly important in the process, and with that, they wanted to be sure that the static mark reflected that. After some exploration of both abstract, and more classic map projections of the globe, we landed on a traditional map layout, tweaked to live within the circular shape”
