The BBC is changing its look and feel across all TV, radio and online platforms, as it retires its 24 year-old BBC blocks logo in favour of a more dynamic new set of blocks.
Viewers and listeners will see the changes across BBC services starting Wednesday 20th October. The changes follow audience research that revealed BBC users thought some of its services looked old-fashioned and out-of-date.
The corporation will also be launching revised navigation across its online services and apps to make it easier for users to find relevant content.
From Wednesday, on-screen presentation across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC Scotland and BBC Alba will adopt the new look. BBC One and BBC Two will contain a selection of existing idents, modified with the new logo. BBC Two will also launch new versions of its stylised ‘2’ idents alongside the existing ones. Meanwhile, BBC One will launch a new set of idents next year, when the last remnants of the much criticised ‘one-ness’ era are retired.
Other parts of the BBC will be revamped in the coming months. BBC News is due to unveil a new look during the course of 2022.
BBC Blocks change
The BBC blocks are being changed from Gill Sans font to the BBC’s own in-house Reith font. Broadcasters have faced increasing costs to licence the use of certain fonts for their services. All large broadcasters now have their own in-house fonts to save costs.
In addition to the font change, the spacing between the blocks is being increased.
The blocks become the main component of the new branding across all channels and services. They’ll serve as a common denominator that clearly identifies BBC content, regardless of where it’s being broadcast or streamed. You’ll see the blocks animate through idents, trails and other presentation. Via online platforms, the three blocks will be more subtle at times – for example, the new BBC favicon will consist of the three blocks with the BBC lettering, which was previously difficult to see.
Animations for BBC iPlayer and Sounds will also feature the three blocks. Users will see them changing shape to form the three-element based iPlayer and Sounds logos.
Kerris Bright, the BBC’s Chief Customer Officer, said:
Over the last year, our content has won 130 awards including 31 BAFTAs and now we need to ensure that how we package things up matches that quality.
There are plenty of little changes, designed to make a big difference and we’ll introduce them gradually across our services. iPlayer and Sounds will continue to change over the next six months and beyond, while News, Weather, Sport and Bitesize will follow after that.
As we update our digital services it makes sense to modernise how we present them too. Updated, recognisable colours, logos and graphics will identify each service and help improve navigation between them.