Lower thirds can display everything from essential graphics like a network’s logo to additional information like a person’s name and title in a documentary interview. In television production terms, lower thirds are placed in the “title-safe area,” the part of the screen in which you can safely place graphics without them getting cropped. In the simplest form, a lower third is a text title or graphic overlay placed in the lower region of the screen.

If you’ve ever seen a broadcast news report or watched the scores of different games scroll by on the sports channel, you’ve seen a lower third in action.