Ident of the Decade

So with Christmas done and dusted thought it would be good to take the chance to look back at presentation over the last ten years and name the forums Ident of the Decade.

Will add a few categories just to make it a bit more varied, but will try and keep it simple and self explanatory. In general we're looking at an ident or presentation package or element which has debuted since 2010, but there is one category for discontinued idents which is the exception:


So here we go:

Ident of the Decade:
Christmas Ident of the Decade:
Digital Ident of the Decade (for those outside the big 5):
International Ident of the Decade:
Special Ident of the Decade (event or programme specific idents or presentational elements of note):
The John Lewis Award for Self Promotion (for an extended promo for a channel or service):
Gone but not forgotten (for an ident or ident set discontinued this decade):
Worse than Oneness (a challenger for the worst presentation of the decade):
Ident set of the Decade:


If anyone wants to add categories as we progress as often happens with these kind of threads feel free to do so. I've avoided an outright "Worst" category as I think the outcome is pretty predictable, and similarly wanted to include a "Most in need of a revamp" category too but that is likely similarly predictable

Ident of the decade: Oneness.

(Someone had to do it)

Ident of the Decade: BBC1, January 2015. Always thought this would've been a decent start for a regular ident set.
https://theident.gallery/bbc1-2015-special.php
Christmas Ident of the Decade: ITV1, 2012.

Digital Ident of the Decade (for those outside the big 5): The current CBS smoke ident (introduced 2017). Used in different colours on all of their channels, for a cohesive family package.

The John Lewis Award for Self Promotion (for an extended promo for a channel or service): Freeview promo involving a medley of theme tunes.
Gone but not forgotten (for an ident or ident set discontinued this decade): Channel 4's Simpsons ident (2007-2015)

Worse than Oneness (a challenger for the worst presentation of the decade): Channel 5's current regular idents, because they don't include the channel's name.
Ident set of the Decade: BBC2's current Curve idents.

Ident of the Decade: BBC Two, 2018, Escapist
I love this. Aesthetically pleasing in every way imaginable. I've even had this as my wallpaper for a good few months!


Christmas Ident of the Decade: Channel 4, 2017, Christmas Lights
Channel 4 always smash it out of the park when it comes to Christmas presentation. The 2015 lights ident was close behind for this.


Digital Ident of the Decade (for those outside the big 5): ITV2, 2015, Selection Box of Idents
If this is still here in the 30 or so years they said it could last for, I'll eat my hat. Plus, extra kudos for having jam in one of the sets!


The John Lewis Award for Self Promotion (for an extended promo for a channel or service): Freeview's balloons advert.


Gone but not forgotten (for an ident or ident set discontinued this decade): BBC One, Circles
Please come back. We miss you. We'll treat you well, we promise.


Worse than Oneness (a challenger for the worst presentation of the decade): Channel 5, 2016
No logo? What is this weird abstract nonsense? Channel 4, don't think you're excluded from these shenanigans too!


Ident set of the Decade: BBC Two, Curve
I was expecting BBC Two's rebrand to go down like a lead balloon. I don't think anyone was expecting it to turn out how it did.

Just looking at the videos I've put up in the Gallery, there's over 4000 idents to choose from! Happy picking!

I see we went for the same choices for the last two.

Sorry but this is gonna be a long one:

For ident of the decade I decided to go with ITV2’s randomized ident – each one is kind of the same but I’ve always liked them. It’s a nice representation of the channel’s eclectic nature.


Christmas ident of the decade goes to Channel 4’s Christmas lights from 2017 – the 2015 one was a close contender.


For digital ident I went for Alibi’s 2015 set. I love how cinematic they look and the red string element is strong. Also the logo animation is fab.


International ident was a tough category because I tend to notice logos and on-air packages, but rarely specific idents. As far as logos go, I liked Three from New Zealand a lot, even though it was polarising, and the logos from Oxygen, TBS, Pop and Centric’s last logo, all from the US. For on-air package I’m going to go for Cartoon Network’s original Check It package from 2010. There are so many elements to this package and I love how it all comes together – the coming up stings, the reference to the original logo, all of the bits of animation – I really enjoy the whole package.

(Honourable mention goes out to the History glass idents from 2017.)

Special ident of the decade goes to 4seven’s Halloween version of the Supermarket ident. It was probably a lot of fun filming this.


John Lewis Award for Self-Promotion goes to Freeview’s Set Yourself Free campaign from 2015. I think I just really like dystopia, plus the animation is gorgeous and it’s got a good atmosphere.

Special mention to the ‘interruption’ version of their previous Cat and Budgie ad, which confused a lot of people.

(If we’re strictly talking channels though, I’d probably go for The Supporting Act.)

Gone but not forgotten is a tie! First one is the 2008-2011 idents on Sky’s 1, 2 and 3. This might have been the idents that got me into TV presentation full-stop. I loved the use of the solids, liquids and particles to distinguish the channels, while all using the same idents. The best ones were Boxes, Whack-a-Mole and the Christmas idents.


And the second entry also doubles as an ‘in memoriam’ to an unsung hero of the television ident – the creepy dancing shaman from Channel 4’s 2015 set. I never got to see this one in the wild but I got a lot of enjoyment out of imagining people’s reactions to it. I also wanted to highlight the shortened edit that’s on The Ident Gallery which starts off with a very unsettling close-up (https://theident.gallery/player.php?id=C4-2015-SCENE-YELLOW-2). So long, sweet creature. You will live on forever in my nightmares.


I don’t have a concrete answer for Worse than Oneness, but Channel 5’s era of ‘sponsored idents’ was pretty bleak. At least sometimes they had nice animation?

Ident set of the decade goes to BBC Two’s curves. The best idents from the big 5 and their strongest since the 1991 set’s original run. Great sound design, excellent animation and a strong symbol all come together to make some stunning idents. I don’t think any other channel has put up such a good package this decade.

Ident Set of the Decade: Sky Atlantic 2011



It's such an obvious concept and would have been so easy to execute poorly, but the resulting idents are graceful, understated, and really focus on the ethos of the channel.

Ident of the Decade: BBC Two, 'Thought Provoking', 2018. By far my favourite of this set of idents, a simple idea with a great soundtrack that worked very well going into shows like QI or University Challenge. Unfortunately, it was short-lived, as it was dropped for causing eye strain in some viewers. It came back, but with a grey filter reducing the impact of the visuals, and is now rarely seen.



Christmas Ident (Set) of the Decade: I'm expanding this from a singular ident to a whole set. Technically, two different sets. Channel 4, 2015/16 and 2017-2019. Who would have thought it? A channel that, for the most part, shunned Christmas presentation for the period of the 2004-2015 idents, came up with the simplest but most effective Christmas idents on TV.



Digital Ident of the Decade (for those outside the big 5): E4 — 'Chips'. You all know why.



International Ident of the Decade: I don't really take interest in presentation outside of UK TV I'm afraid. I did like this NBC 'More Colorful' package, but I'm not sure it counts as it was first on screen in 2009.

Special Ident of the Decade (event or programme specific idents or presentational elements of note): BBC One, Enjoy 2015 . What a turn up for the books after Love 2013 and 2014. I'm not sure it would have worked all year round, but I wouldn't have minded it.



The John Lewis Award for Self Promotion (for an extended promo for a channel or service): I can't tell if this is an award for the worst channel promo or best. I initially thought it was worst so I put ITV1, The Brighter Side . Nothing wrong with it on its own, but what it had to do with ITV1 as a channel is beyond me. As for best, it has to be Drama Lives on ITV from 2012, with the gorgeous physical model logo, reminiscent of the BBC2 'TWO' ident from 1986. Another short-lived piece of presentation, as it was dropped when ITV changed their logo the following year.



Gone but not forgotten (for an ident or ident set discontinued this decade): Sky 1, 2016. This was a much needed kick up the arse for a channel that had so far had an incredibly dull decade presentation wise. The great 2008 idents were replaced in 2011 as part of the corporate Sky rebranding with some pretty forgettable people idents, which looked even worse next to Sky Atlantic's excellent launch idents. After years of being Sky's flagship channel, Sky 1 now very much looked like second best. They were then replaced with the even more bland programme specific idents. In 2016, finally there was a return to making use of the '1' numeral, giving the channel character and no longer feeling like an afterthought. Sadly, it was the victim of another Sky corporate rebrand, with the channel returning to spelling out its name as 'Sky One' instead of using the numeral, and the replacement idents are fun but nowhere near as full of life as these were.



Worse than Oneness (a challenger for the worst presentation of the decade): I'd rather put this under 'Most Disappointing Let-down' rather than worst ever, but Channel 4, 2015. Initially, I loved it: a surprise rebrand, great surrounding pres (still used today), great Christmas idents. I think most people liked the Simpsons ident and the abstract clock too. Although most people didn't like the surreal idents, I found them perfect for Channel 4 and was looking forward to the continuation of the story which was promised in the original PR. However, this never materalised and C4 was stuck with the same few idents that, while beautiful, never really made much of an impact and just seemed more out of place as time went on. If only they'd made idents in the style of the break bumpers. Which they have, but only for special idents (Simpsons, F1, Christmas).



Ident set of the Decade: BBC Two, 2018. Simply, this is a channel that looked a right mess for most of the decade, which overnight became one of the best looking channels on TV, as it should always have been. It was lovely and nostalgic to see the classic 2s get an extended outing, but it was well past time for a new look to take the channel into the next decade, and we weren't let down.

Well this actually takes a bit of thought and searching through Youtube:

Ident of the Decade: Sky Movies Disney - just epic


Christmas Ident of the Decade: C4 Christmas Lights - they could have got a whole set out of this concept


Digital Ident of the Decade (for those outside the big 5): Film4, and think they updated them pretty well too - just a shame they didn't do more of them. Also think the surrounding presentation is excellent.


International Ident of the Decade: SRF1 (Switzerland - 2011 I think).


Special Ident of the Decade (event or programme specific idents or presentational elements of note): Still baffles me how London 2012 didn't get a special BBC ident, but this was the main event of 2012 anyway:


The John Lewis Award for Self Promotion (for an extended promo for a channel or service): ITV More than TV


Gone but not forgotten (for an ident or ident set discontinued this decade): As mentioned early the Sky1/2/3 idents which were ditched early in the decade. Here is the Christmas version:


Worse than Oneness (a challenger for the worst presentation of the decade): STV - just a tired animation over stock footage


Ident set of the Decade: I'd like to say something other than the BBC2 curves but I can't. They took idents back to basics and they're all the better for it. Just a shame it took them so long to sort BBC2 out.

I'm also a fan of Film4 as mentioned above but also don't think the ITV 2013-2018 set get the credit they perhaps deserve - numerous and varied idents and a simple idea executed really well, with a strong musical hook which is just about retained with the ITV Creates set. Only shame was they retained the same set for Christmas throughout when I think they could have been a bit more creative with it.

BBC2. Hands down.

Good choice, Brekkie - especially C4 Christmas lights.