BBC News branding has become a mess?

Anyone else think that BBC News branding is a mess now. The constant tinkering that has eaten away at LN's original red/cream makeover has resulted in a dog's dinner.

For example, all of these are current News 24 branding...

Full screen logo - a complete mess, globes, swirls, linear BBC NEWS logo and a separate big 24:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/BBC_News_24_ident.jpg

Used on trails - boxed stacked logo with the 24 next to NEWS:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/news24_140x100.jpg

On-screen DOG - linear BBC NEWS 24 logo:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/19/Bbcnews24_countdown_june07.png

End of countdown - linear BBC NEWS 24 logo:
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/bbcnews24.jpg

...it's a mess! Only the last two match up.

I think the solution is to ditch the current titles for the 1, 6, 10 and 24 and use (just) the - very impressive - countdown with a longer hold on the final image above. To me the countdown plus the titles are overkill. Perhaps at the end of the headlines just have a shorter sting of music with a shot/zoom of the studio. Some people have said that BBC One wouldn't allow 15 seconds of promo time before the news to run a countdown, but perhaps they could just finish the news 15 seconds earlier (as they wouldn't use titles) and do the promos then. The 1, 6, and 10 could use non-News 24 branded version of the countdown over which News 24 could add their branding, with the end section showing just BBC NEWS instead of BBC NEWS 24.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the titles with the beams of light and the world, but the end form-up is a mess. It's so disjointed between the globe, the overlaid 24 and then the BBC NEWS stuck underneath like some afterthought, indeed the 'Britain's most watched news channel' underneath makes this even worse. It also bears little resemblence to the countdown - the straight red beams of data and the curved white light are anomylous.

Oh, and the boxed logo on trails should have gone ages ago - just use the bottom left linear BBC NEWS 24 with the red background as per countdown.

This way, there'd just be the one logo instead of the 3 used at present.

The countdown and titles are seperate entities. Remember Sky tried tying the two together for their relaunch a while back and the result was promptly ditched.

I also don't think the titles claim to include the N24 logo at all, its the generic BBC News titles with 24 stamped on the end, just as a 1, 6 or 10 is stamped on those bulletins. That makes sense to me and is quite clever branding. Yes, the "Britain's most watched News Channel" is ugly, that was more than likely put there to cover up they lost News Channel of the Year but just looks like clutter.

The only problem is for trails which are still using the old logo. Not a massive continuity problem tho.

What made me think of this initially was when there was the joint programme from BBC News 24, Sky News, CNN and Al Jazeera for Alan Johnson.

It ended with the form-up of each channel's logo and I thought News 24's was by far the weakest. If they'd had the bit at the end of the countdown as it is now, that'd have been better.

A vertical and horizontal logo, not really a mess. And the BBC News with 24 above, could be considered titles, so not really a big deal.

You trying to tell me, Martin, that you don't think this looks a mess...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/BBC_News_24_ident.jpg

well the Britain's best blah blah shouldn't be there.

Also I am not the best of fans of the ribbon curve shape, although the views of the globe have made me like the titles for once.

But the logo isn't a problem, and the colours are consistent now, with no more orange.

I really gotta agree with you here. They are still using the old idents on the website and on the interactive service.
I really do think they should change it, it eats away at me every time i press red.
A fine example is the news in two minutes, still has the old titles, how hard would it be really, to get the clean 07, and put in the word headlines.

I makes me wonder which is worse.

1) The current branding of BBC News 24.

or

2) The latest BWM M5 (which has M5 badges stuck on every body panel.)

I have to agree with Martin here, these are the strongest titles since 99, even though many may argue they are no where near as detailed as the LN era, they arent as bland. I think maybe if the end sequence of the ribbons forming were different, maybe envolving the globe and the light streams it would feel more consistant.

And perhaps a :30 sting that hasn't just been cut from the main titles. Current looks dreadful.

I think the logo used on adverts was more suited to the 2003 tower style, and should have been changed months ago. It looks out of place.
I dont really have a problems with the titles, the 'Britains most watched news channel' doesn't look good, but the rest is fine. If they did drop the '24' it would look more generic with BBC World, leaving just the nationals with the 1,6,10.
The website still uses the old titles globe, and it could be easily changed to the current one, which looks more glossy etc.
When you think about it Moz, theres another logo, the BBC News logo on the website, which is a maroon colour.

It's not uncommon for large organisations to have more than one version of a logo for use in different situations. Many have 'stacked' and 'stripped' versions to ensure that the logo is as large and prominent as possible in any area where it is displayed.

If, for example, you have a square-shaped area, but a long and thin logo, a stacked version of the logo will ensure that the logo can be displayed in a larger format, and with less space wasted.

British Airways, for example, has a stacked version of its logo, which is commonly used for ticketing and customer service booths at smaller airports, and this is no different to N24 having stacked and stripped versions of the logo.

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/logocomparison1.jpg

Another example of different logo versions can be seen with another airline, Virgin Atlantic. They have a corporate implementation of the logo, but a different implementation is used for display on aircraft, where it is more practical to have the long and thin 'virgin atlantic' titles on the long fuselage, with a large Virgin logo on the better proportioned tail section. This same treatment of the logo is used across all of the Virgin-branded airlines.

http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/logocomparison2.jpg

So I don't accept that having multiple versions of a logo can be considered a 'mess'.

There are areas where application of the brand is not consistent though, such as with the old "HEADLINES" sting for the looped headlines service (as has been mentioned). I'm also not personally a fan of the giant '24' on the N24 titles, but this is consistent with the use of numbers on the National bulletins. I would agree that it would be more desirable to see a stripped N24 logo on the titles instead, but again I hardly think that this makes the whole brand a 'mess' either.