1997 for me wins hands down, however again a +1 for the 1988 symbol because of childhood memories, but there wasn't too much to the logo, I don't think it would have ever worked digitally.
Back to the original topic. the current BBC logo beats all the others by miles. It's been in service for the best part of two decades now (a frightening realisation) and I'm quite confident it will still be here in another couple from now.
There was a discussion on here a while ago about whether or not the corporate logo was due for a refresh. From what I'm aware of, time wasn't kind to the pre-1988 logo, and the 1988 logo was plagued by technical issues, alignment and was costly to print thanks to it's four colours (and then there was the completely inconsistent branding across the entire corporation). Gill Sans has been around for a painfully long about of time, as have squares, so I can't see the current logo ever aging or proving to be technically troublesome.
I think most of us here are at the age where we grew up with the 1988 logo and although the 1997 one has certainly served the BBC well I was somewhat underwhelmed that the plainer, more boring, version replaces the one I'd grown up with.
An interesting perspective. I'm often like that with things but remember feeling the new logo was a breath of fresh air. The slanted one, whilst I have some nostalgia for it, always felt a bit stuffy (for want of a better verb). I also immediately took to the BBC One balloon and mourned little for the globe; although looking back it was actually rather splendid (although very much the poor relation to its BBC Two counterparts).
I also didn't mourn much for the 1989 ITV logo when it was changed in 1998. From January of that year, Granada had started taking ITV-branded trailers from Yorkshire but before that, we saw very little of it in this region. I wasn't even aware of the rather ambitious rebranding exercise of 1989 or that regional variants of it ever existed until the internet told me all about it. It also felt a bit stuffy., as well.
I think the 1988 logo was holding on a bit too much to the past. Can't see how it would have worked like the 1997 one does across different types of media beyond TV and radio.
An interesting perspective. I'm often like that with things but remember feeling the new logo was a breath of fresh air. The slanted one, whilst I have some nostalgia for it, always felt a bit stuffy (for want of a better verb). I also immediately took to the BBC One balloon and mourned little for the globe; although looking back it was actually rather splendid (although very much the poor relation to its BBC Two counterparts).
The balloon is an important element of it - had they launched this logo with the dancers it would probably be hated by association.
I had a real soft spot for the 1988 logo. I loved the slanted boxes, and the three primary colour dashes underneath. Brilliant and simple graphic design.
And then I went onto the Internet and found this -
It's Martin Lambie Nairn doing a presentation (including the BBC In-House staff briefing video about the logo change) about the logic behind binning the 1988 one - and the thinking behind the 1997 one. Hopefully, a few on here will find it interesting.
I'd love to see the "leaned it even further" pitch that initially won, I can only imagine how hideous that branding scheme would have looked.
Perhaps it is an age thing, I hold no particular nostalgic attachment to the 1988 logo and can therefore look it at through more objective eyes and see the many, many issues MLN touches upon.
I don't actually agree that it is a technically accomplished piece of design, even discarding its on screen problems. The full colour render has inherent structural problems too: the shaded grey lozenges give it a worn, aged appearance, the font is brutalist and the drop shadows around the letters and the bevels look naff. It's definitely a product of its time (incorporating stylistic flourishes from times even further past) and it had to go; thank god they commissioned the right team to replace it.
I did like the colour bars underneath, although I hadn't quite grasped the subtle nuances of graphic design by that point.
Perhaps it is an age thing, I hold no particular nostalgic attachment to the 1988 logo and can therefore look it at through more objective eyes
There probably isn't that much nostalgia for it from those who were around at the time, it wasn't as omnipresennt as today's logo is. It wasn't used on air for the first few years and even then it appeared on TV very small and mono-colour. As the Lambie Nairn video shows other use was haphazard.
I think, like me, people have fond memories of the 'multi-coloured-underscored rhombus logo' because it was animated and had a jingle (at least on other media). It didn't ever appear in the animated version on screen or with music, from what I remember.
I remember being amazed when the balloon appeared in 1997 and had music.
I'd been dragged up in Manchester, where GRANADA thought they didn't need anything more than a piece of card as an ident.
