BBC announces new logos they say will make corporation appear ‘new, modern and distinctive’
Spot the difference? BBC is mocked for ‘spending thousands’ on new ‘modern’ logo that ‘looks the same’ as the old one
BBC said viewers had complained that some of its services ‘look old fashioned’ But mocked today for creating a logo that looked almost identical to the old oneGood Morning Britain’s Susannah Reid said: ‘It’s like something from W1A’
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The BBC was mocked today for ‘spending thousands’ on a more ‘modern’ logo – which looks virtually the same as the existing one.
The corporation said viewers had complained that some of its services ‘look old fashioned and out of date’ – but viewers struggled to notice the difference with the new logo, which uses a bespoke ‘BBC Reith’ font, named after the corporation’s first director-general.
The letters ‘BBC’ are slightly smaller and placed in blocks with marginally bigger gaps between them.
Plenty of viewers struggled to see the difference between the BBC’s old logo (pictured) and the new one
The letters ‘BBC’ are slightly smaller and placed in blocks with marginally bigger gaps between them
Presenters on Good Morning Britain joined the mickey-taking this morning, showing viewers a graphic of the old and new logos side by side.
Richard Madeley said: ‘Can you imagine the designer going in and saying ‘I think you’ll like this’.
‘Surely someone at the BBC who signed off on this and signed off on the publicity – because that’s why we’ve got it – would have said ‘They’re going to laugh at us’.’
Susannah Reid said: ‘It’s like something from W1A.’
And Kevin Maguire, a guest for the paper review, asked: ‘Is it April 1?’
Others poked fun at the redesign on Twitter, with Rick Prince posting: ‘Wonder how many licence fees went into creating this little masterpiece.’
And Ben Gillam wrote: ‘How many millions of £s of the license fee did the @bbc spend on the new logo that looks exactly the same as the old one to anyone other than graphic artist.’
The BBC has also unveiled new logos and graphics for TV channels and radio stations, as well as BBC iPlayer and Sounds, which viewers and website readers will see from today.
There are updated idents in between programmes on BBC One, Two and Four, which will start to air from October 20, as well as on BBC Scotland and BBC Alba.
There will also be newly designed interfaces and navigation for its online services.
The new static icons for iPlayer, Sounds, Sport, News, Weather and Bitesize no longer include the letters BBC.
But when used interactively, the BBC letters appear and then reform to make up the three blocks used in the new logos.
Presenters on Good Morning Britain joined the mickey-taking this morning, showing viewers a graphic of the old and new logos side by side
Richard Madeley said: ‘Can you imagine the designer going in and saying ‘I think you’ll like this.’ Pictured is a Twitter user reacting to the segment
Others poked fun at the redesign on Twitter, with Rick Prince posting: ‘Wonder how many licence fees went into creating this little masterpiece’
Other eagle-eyed viewers pointed out the similarity between the new BBC Sounds logo – three rectangles which gradually increase in size – and one used in a W1A sketch about a new BBC logo
Today viewers of BBC1, BBC2 and BBC4 will see the new logos and graphics – which include distinctive coloured icons for categories such as ‘News’ and ‘Sport’ – being used.
These channels will also ‘start to look and feel different’ across the different nations of the UK.
The ‘junctions’ between TV shows will use ‘updated designs’ and there will be ‘simplified navigation menus’ for online services as well as new ‘promotional content’, said the Corporation.
Chief customer officer, Kerris Bright, unveiled the plans yesterday in a blog on the BBC’s website.
She said it had been ‘a long time’ since the Corporation had ‘updated the look and feel of the BBC’, saying it had changed a lot in the last 20 years.
Miss Bright said: ‘Our research tells us that audiences think some of our services look old fashioned and out of date.
‘They want a modern BBC that is easier to use and navigate to find the content they love and enjoy.’
The BBC has announced new graphics, idents and layouts to make their content ‘instantly recognisable’
The BBC also revealed new idents – the video sections shown at the start of programmes. Pictured is the one for BBC One
The new ident for BBC Two which was unveiled as part of the BBC’s latest rebranding
She added: ‘Over the coming months we will be modernising all aspects of our services so the experience feels coherent wherever you access our content.
‘We’ll join the dots between the different bits of the BBC through simplified layouts and graphics.
‘For example, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds are already evolving to help our audiences discover more of what’s available.’ She said it made sense to modernise how its digital services are presented with ‘updated, recognisable colours, logos and graphics’ identifying each service.
New logos for BBC iPlayer will show moving blocks, with changes also for News, Weather, Sport and Bitesize coming soon.
Sources at the BBC claimed the use of its own ‘Reith’ font in the logo will be cost effective because it would no longer have to pay for a licence to use the previous Gill Sans font.
The current logo of the BBC which is about to be replaced has been in use since 1997. The newest logo will be the sixth one the BBC has had after the first one in this format was used in 1958.
This BBC 2 ident emerged in the 1990s after researched showed viewers found the old version ‘dull and worthy’
This ident went live in 1953, and immediately generated controversy. One viewer wrote in a newspaper that it reminded him of: ‘Menace, darkness, Germans, spiked helmet, bird of prey, baleful eye, cage, torture, bandaged head, nets, whips, thongs, aerial bombs, attacks, pincer movements and Fascist flashes’
Industry insiders said earlier this year the rebrand would cost ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ but the broadcaster refused to confirm any figures to MailOnline.
Other eagle-eyed viewers pointed out the similarity between the new BBC Sounds logo – three rectangles which gradually increase in size – and one used in a W1A sketch about a new BBC logo.
Hugh Bonneville, who stars in the mockumentary series about the BBC, was among those highlighting the similarity.
He tagged co-star Jason Watkins and tweeted: ‘No yes I mean I don’t know if Fun Media have any sort of copyright on what they pitched us way back when but I’m sure Timmy’s legal eagles can put up a pretty robust you know defence that it’s an entirely different and indeed new logo.’
