Chyron
Generic name for on-screen text generated by a character generator. The hardware vendor became the noun.
- COINED
- 1970s
- TAXONOMY
- ON-SCREEN
- RELATED
- 4
- TEMPLATES
- 0
A chyron is, technically, any on-screen text generated by a character generator. The Chyron Corporation made the hardware that broadcast TV used through the 80s and 90s. The brand name became the word for the thing. (Like Kleenex. Or Xerox.)
In modern usage "chyron" usually means specifically the news-style text strip - speaker name, breaking-news banner, scrolling ticker - that lives along the bottom of the screen during a broadcast.
Design rules: high contrast, sans-serif, never longer than 6-8 words at a time. The viewer should read it in under a second. If they have to pause, your chyron is failing.
News broadcasts, sports overlays, breaking-news banners, live-event title work.
Narrative film. Branded content where it would read as too newsy or political.
Terms next to this one.
Name-and-title text overlay in the bottom third of the frame. Broadcast TV's name tag.
Scrolling text along the bottom of the frame. News channels, sports tickers, eSports.
Text superimposed over picture - captions, names, locations. "Supered" comes from "superimposed."
The tiny channel logo in the corner of broadcast TV. Ad-blocker bait.