Does the BBC need a re-brand?

actually, it's based on a mocking of Janet Street-Porter's accent back when she was in charge of DEF II and BBC2's "yoof" programming in the early 90s.

What did DEF II actually stand for?

I can understand the "II" bit, but Def - and I am of that "yoof" generation (inlcuding Network 7)

Definitely?

I agree to some extent with earlier posts. BBC One and Two look tired. BBC One especially. BBC Three just looks awful and cheap. I don't think length of service has anything to do with rebrands because I still like BBC Four. Simple but effective. CBBC isn't aimed at me, but I think an update wouldn't do any harm. And CBeebies IMO should remain as it is

Good to see the BBC blocks being put to use again - this time in an update to the animation used for the 'This Week on the BBC' promos:

http://www.theidentgallery.com/misc/misc/BBC-2013-THISWEEK-1.mp4

An interesting mix of opinions on here. I personally hope they don't touch BBC One for some time - it has outlived the balloon and dancers and will soon see off the '91-97 time on air too but I think it's still fairly fresh and appealing. They could maybe do with putting in a couple of new ones, providing they match the quality of the original set (or reintroduce the dropped ones?) but I don't think there's any need to go for a wholesale rebrand yet. It's encouraging that Danny Cohen has been in the job for a quite a while now and hasn't ushered in a new era, although maybe DQF had put the brakes on that.

I don't mind BBC Three or Four either, it's just BBC Two that needs an overhaul. There has been just too many tweaks, inconsistency, eye repelling colour choices and generally dull idents. Ditch the 2 if they have to, its best era has long gone.

And hopefully they'll all continue to forget about the Learning Zone - the last bastion of 1997 presentation!

To the best of my knowledge, it's been to used to mean both 'definitely' and - as an adjective - similar to 'cool / great' (possibly derived from 'definitive'?)

Whichever of those meanings it took, it's still a better name than Switch - and had much better designs too. Not sure Switch had anything you could call design actually within the strand... Cringeworthy acted scenes were the main lowlight. The DEF II Barcode by contrast (literally), was a nice motif that by 1992 had spread-out to become something very bold and eye-catching.

Edit to add:
Unfortunately, the Learning Zone appears to have been greatly stripped-down now. No opening menu and, for some time now, not a single ident (unless you count the intro sequence, which IIRC has also been edited-down). A shame that there is hardly any actual presentation left there today.

Perhaps readying for a change, or some other reason? But really, I don't know why it has been done.

80's slang for cool:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=def

The BBC One logo itself is fine, its just the rest of the package which is beyond dull