BBC Two rebrand development announced

Although I do think it's time the idents move away from the 2 as they seem to have exhausted the idea (and the comments here which keep referring back to the 1991 set kind of prove that), but it doesn't mean they need to ditch the 2 as the logo. It would certainly be preferable to a "BBC TWO" in a box.

You all know however creative and unique a new rebrand would be, however much the pinnacle of innovative design...

The BBC would mess it all up with a box, cutting it short or NEEEEEOOOON.

BBC One's circle is also supposed to be a callback to the old globe.

I don't think so. Red Bee stick with the idea of togetherness. See here.

Trumped by Word of God from Peter Fincham:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BBC_television_idents#BBC_Television_Service.2FBBC_One

I think it's a shame the old "2" is going, to me it's an icon that has been round for most of my life (I was 7 when it was introduced back in 1991) and BBC 2 won't be the same without it IMO.

If it does have to go however as the main focal point I don't see why the "2" itself couldn't be kept in the box in some way, by all means do something different with the idents but keep the symbol.

Although the current set are a bit weak, I do like that BBC 2 is one of the few channels where the symbol is the main part of the icon as opposed to a plain font, in a box & some "innovative" backgrounds, that have been introduced to some channels.

Still I suppose we should just be glad that old "Big 2" survived for 21 years before he got retired, not many symbols last that long now, especially these days.

Although the '2' launched in 1991 is not the same as modified version introduced in 2007.

The '2' was reintroduced in 1991, but has existed in various forms (with the exception of the TWO era from 1986-1991) since the launch of BBC 2 in 1964.

I'm talking about the Gill Sans based '2' which was introduced in 1991, which is the basis on the one introduced in 2007.

I know what you mean but it's virtually the same thing, to the casual viewer it's been the same 2 since 1991

...But the way it was used changed in 2001 and then again quite drastically in 2007.

And I'm going round in circles so I'm going to shut up. You can argue the numeral 2 is closely tied to the channel's history but the L-N interpretation of it ceased in 2007. It's still there in number but that alone.

All posts above, starting with #31 by AxG, are correct in some way - casual viewers may indeed think the '2' is the same. Few people pay deliberate attention and will only have a vague recollection of its history, let alone of what is actually on screen today.

I received a lot of flak when I originally tried to explain in 2007 that the current '2' is not the same figure as the 1991 Lambie-Nairn '2' - looks like things have improved, somewhat

Jonny has the right idea. It's not just the '2' that has changed, it's the concept: it was designed to itself be solid - something that could be picked up, dropped, moved. So being stuck as a 'window' misses the point of what the '2' it is based on was actually designed for. There is very little that conceptually connects 1991 with today,

Paper Cut Out was closest, perhaps - but Lambie-Nairn quickly realised it 'didn't work' and that was the very reason it was dropped early. So that example should have been a 'warning from history' that it was a bad idea - but AMV clearly hadn't noted it when they were coming up with ideas...