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75 Years of BBC Television

(November 2011)

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JC
JonathanC
baa posted:
I can't truly blame them for being so low key about the whole thing, quite a few things have changed significantly since then and going all out with a big celebratory campaign would be seen as wasteful and attract a fair share of detractors especially in the face of their DQF policy.


But inversely, the BBC becomes easier to poke with a stick because it doesn't stand up for itself as much publicly, particularly easy for newspapers/politicians to just keep criticising because they won't bite back. It wouldn't need to be a huge celebratory thing, but they need to do a bit more of standing their ground and going "Hey, we're the BBC, and we're actually pretty darn fine."
IS
Inspector Sands
Design-wise it was flawed: the 3 dashes originally represented Wales, Scotland and N Ireland... no England?r
Surely the Red, Green and Blue that make up your TV picture? That the nations were able to use their own monochromatic version was a useful byproduct.

I'm not sure which came first, but that was what the 3 dashes represented - and of course red, green and blue only applies to TV
IS
Inspector Sands
I've only seen it the once - just after Breakfast this morning.

Looking at the BBC's schedules today, only BBC Four appears to have anything relevant with a TV at 75 strand this evening from 8pm - http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/programmes/schedules/2011/11/02

It's a shame there's not a bit more, although BBC4 is definately the best place for it. I'm looking forward to seeing Fools on the Hill, the Imagine documentary was pretty good too.

In 1986 there was a whole season of 'TV50' programmes including a 3 hour clips programme on BBC1, I think I've still got that on tape somewhere. They also got in some of the old announcers to do links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDqXTvZzZiI

The big difference now is that nostalgia really isn't what it used to be. Since then there have been loads of opportunities to see classic programmes - they've either been released to buy or shown repeatedly on digital channels or shown on theme nights or put onto YouTube/Bit Torrent. Then a repeat of a classic series was an event, after TV50 the BBC showed the whole of Hancock's Half Hour for the first time in a couple of decades at 7:15 on BBC1, unthinkable now.
IM
IM
Taking into account the comments about the 1980s logo, the original design standards were flawed in the way the logo sits next to text. Below is my idea of how it could be applied using todays design standards. The upper image shows how the 1997 one line text logo could be used. The capital letter height is the same as the distance between the top of the letters in the logo and the bottom of the boxes. The lower image is of a two line logo. The capital height is measured as from the above logo. The distance between the logo and the text is determined by the x height distance between the bottom of the boxes and the top of the capital letter. The text is aligned with the left of the first letter 'B'.

*

The current logo may look timeless but I believe it does look slightly dated and in my opinion rather dull. In conclusion, the only slanted element of my version of the 1980s branding is the logo itself which would have helped it stand out much more. The logo could be coloured like the original but I think it looks better as a single colour as it was used on the endcaps of many programmes of the era.
JO
Joe
That honestly looks so hideous - I much, much prefer the current logo.
PE
Pete Founding member
I remember the morning the new BBC logo first appeared and I hated it, however I've since come to think its one of the most beautiful and timeless logos around, possibly as powerful in logo terms as the Channel 4 4.

I think the fact it is so simple is often seen as a bad thing whereas in fact it just allows it to fit into pretty much anything. Imagine trying to shoehorn the 1991 logo into the Doctor Who titles, or having it work as those light boxes that keep appearing outside buildings and at events. It just wouldn't work in the same way at all.
IS
Inspector Sands
Taking into account the comments about the 1980s logo, the original design standards were flawed in the way the logo sits next to text.

Yes, the slanty text looked rubbish:
http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/bbcother/images/corporate/bbc_letterhead_small.jpg

But that wasn't the the main problem, it didn't scale well, especially on TV. It looked good, for it's time, on the printed page or full screen on TV... but make it smaller on the screen and the diagonal lines go jagged and the smaller details like the dashes and the middles of the B's disappear.

The other big problem was that it was messed about with lots - different colours, different fonts for the lettering etc. I'm trying to find some examples but this is the worst I can find
http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/bbcother/images/corporate/bbc_lionheart_1980s_a_400.jpg
BA
baa
IIRC from the video LN made to explain the introduction of the current logo, some concern did go towards making it at least ready to use for that whole new interwebbyhighway whatsit and interactive tv thingy that relied a lot on the logo retaining legibility at small sizes which the old one simply didn't at all for years even on TV. Even at the time, it wasn't considered a great logo for all the reasons mentioned and more, this one brought fewer headaches with a simple and classic design that the BBC could use for decades.
PC
Paul Clark
The other big problem was that it was messed about with lots - different colours, different fonts for the lettering etc.

Those BBC branded cassette tapes were very guilty of that - wrong font, lettering too large within the lozenges, proportions and spacing were all off - like a dodgy recreation of sorts - so lord knows how it ever made it to print (or for that matter, how consumers with a keen eye for accuracy didn't first suspect they were counterfeit!)
Last edited by Paul Clark on 2 November 2011 4:37pm
PE
Pete Founding member
Those BBC branded cassette tapes very were guilty of that


Oh I forgot about those, what a strange concept that is these days, you'd never imagine a BBC branded DVD-R or USB Stick for sale.
VM
VMPhil
I disagree with the opinion that the slanted text was rubbish. It was very classy, even though it took up a lot of space, and I'd like to see a mock design for a 97 style BBC One logo using that font.

Sorry, Invent Meridian, but that mock is rubbish. It looks awful with Gill Sans.

I do think the BBC was a very classy looking organisation in the early to late 90s with fabulous idents on both 1 and 2 that are still favourites to this day. It's some of Lambie-Nairn's best work, and it still looked fresh by the end of its run. The BBC logo of that period is also very classy, however they needed to move on with the advent of digital and the internet, and sadly that era of harking back to the 50s and 60s BBC had to come to a close.
MA
madmusician
Pete posted:
Those BBC branded cassette tapes very were guilty of that


Oh I forgot about those, what a strange concept that is these days, you'd never imagine a BBC branded DVD-R or USB Stick for sale.


I think we had some that were even branded BBC Sport. Quite what the point of that was, I'm not sure - and as you said that branding was all wrong too!

Found a picture of one: *

Mind you, I've seen radio hats (http://www.sportschannel.org/index.php/products/test-match-special/test-match-special-radio-hat.html) that had the post-1997 BBC logo terribly mangled quite recently.

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