Broadcasting House, Salford Quays & TVC

wtf?!

I can't tell if they're dark grey (or black) on a plane white background and the pattern is simply a photographic illusion, or if the text is on some sort of textured design?

They're clearly LED displays, probably for displaying news headlines, upcoming events or something similar .

Videoconference by Steve Bowbrick, on Flickr

I see they've got furniture with the current "stripy globe" logo on it which is disappointing for two reasons. Firstly because it means that logo is planned to strick around for the long run and I really dislike it. Secondly because it means when the inevitable rebrand happens, there'll be loads of "old brand" furniture littering about which I doubt they'll ever shift, much in the same way that old BBC logos were all over TV Centre.

What? Are you really making serious predictions about BBC News' branding based on the pattern of a vent in the side of a cupboard in a videoconferencing room?

Yes, because they've done similar things at Media City, engraving logos all over the place - and because that vent is quite clearly in the shape of the BBC News globe.

You say that like it's not utterly charming that there's memorabilia everywhere.

There's a difference between charming memorablilia (like the original "Childrens" sign from the broom cupboard being installed and lit up in Media City) and lots of outdated, wrongly branded tat littering offices for years to come - especially when those areas are likely to be seen on screen (and yes, meeting rooms are used for interviews if Salford's programmes are anything to go by).

At Children in Need in November, they projected a massive image of 'old Pudsey' onto the front of the studio block in Salford. That wasn't charming, that was dumb.

Indeed, it takes a while for something to become 'charming'. Just look in the BBC News Channel thread and there is a picture of a mousemat with BBC Breakfast's 2006 look on it. That just looks like tat.

hmm...

Pick up cupboard with offending vent. Turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise.

I know the point you're trying to make but it's quite a subtle representation, not immediately obvious. I'll go for future "charming hark back" over "tacky obsolete tat" in this instance.

That's pretty awesome - where is it?

I think there were originally two of those signs, one in the broom cupboard and one on the Birthdays set in Pres A.

That's definitely Swiss721 in use on those LED Strips. Not Helvetica, and certainly not Gill Sans. It is a shame really, as Swiss is quite a bland font and something like Bliss, Avenir (used by BBC Two), or Futura (Old BBC Font from the 90's) would look nice in HD, and would fit in with the BBC Brand better IMO.

Pulling the old Font Suggestion graphic