I've given the new look the benefit of a week. There are many things I like, including the font and slick animations, but there are lots of issues and inconsistencies. Apologies for the essay, but here’s my take.
Font consistency
I quite like the font and it does make BBC News look distinctive, but there’s a frustrating lack of consistency. To name just a few: ‘Live’ in Business Live is Serif, ‘Live’ in Afternoon Live is Sans Serif, the Breakfast title clock is Serif, the permanent on-screen clock is Sans Serif. ‘Business’ in Business Live is Sans Serif, yet on the news channel is Serif. Pick a format and stick with it please.
Talking about inconsistency - the thing I hated the most about the Reith implementation is the inconsistency of the branding for generic bulletins.
You see, before the graphics refresh you can see the BBC News globe being featured in a lot of graphics elements including promos, breaking news sting, the background for two way boxes and pushbacks...
Ever since the refresh, all the promos, breaking news stings, continuity menus etc has been featuring the new “wipes” graphical elements... Heck, the intro for the generic bulletins (aka the “main intro” and the TV screens still adopts the globe branding... The whole branding image doesn’t seems keep in sync together ever since the refresh and for a person with OCD in TV Presentation like me, this bugs me a lot!
The BBC should either find a way to add the globe branding back into the graphical elements to keep the branding image in sync - or knock on Lambie-Nairn‘s door and start designing new titles for generic bulletins featuring the “wipes” design.
Last edited by ALV on 19 July 2019 8:02pm
