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New BBC corporate font: BBC Reith

To replace Gill Sans in print and on screen (May 2017)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
WH
what
natwel27 posted:
Can't the BBC just look back to 1997 and appreciate the fact that they successfully rebranded the corporation overnight. This slow refurbishment isn't how they should be going about things.

As they explained on the blog when BBC Sport switched to Reith, their main reason for rolling it out as they have is to make it cost-effective, and presumably to avoid the wrath of the newspapers and those who have a certain disregard towards the Corporation.
Quote:
We’ll be doing this gradually. Where there is little cost to make the change - such as text on our website - we’ll do it as soon as we can. But we’ll only replace things like signs when they’re worn out or need replacing anyway to avoid extra costs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/c617f26f-fd2d-42ae-bbad-3adca798078e
bilky asko and natwel27 gave kudos
NA
natwel27
what posted:
natwel27 posted:
Can't the BBC just look back to 1997 and appreciate the fact that they successfully rebranded the corporation overnight. This slow refurbishment isn't how they should be going about things.

As they explained on the blog when BBC Sport switched to Reith, their main reason for rolling it out as they have is to make it cost-effective, and presumably to avoid the wrath of the newspapers and those who have a certain disregard towards the Corporation.
Quote:
We’ll be doing this gradually. Where there is little cost to make the change - such as text on our website - we’ll do it as soon as we can. But we’ll only replace things like signs when they’re worn out or need replacing anyway to avoid extra costs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/c617f26f-fd2d-42ae-bbad-3adca798078e


I guess it does make sense with that reasoning. I just feel that the levels of inconsistency across the BBC's branding are quite high at the moment. To be fair though, it probably bugs me more than it does other people!! Laughing
MO
Moz
PFMC84 posted:
It looks odd in the slimmer box too. I'd have preferred it if they had revamped the news completely, titles and sets and all, not just changing the font. It's like sticking a plaster over a stab wound.


Couldn't disagree more. To call Studio E a stab wound is just absurd. It's one of the finest sets in television and hasn't aged a day since it went on air. Reith is just about bringing a much needed type standardisation. The rest is absolutely fine as it is.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
The driver for Reith is the cost saving in licensing commercial fonts rather than anything.

The Sans Serif is deliberately not a million miles away from Helvetica/Arial/Swiss/Gill so to the casual (non typography nerd) viewer it's not a big change.
HA
harshy Founding member
If those are the new bbc news graphics on those World Summary’s, they should start again and redo the package, sure Moz will have a few more sleepless nights, but those graphics suck.
MO
Moz
harshy posted:
If those are the new bbc news graphics on those World Summary’s, they should start again and redo the package, sure Moz will have a few more sleepless nights, but those graphics suck.


I really like them.
JR
JRY
The new graphics for BBC News look very good - creative, and more importantly, modern. I'm liking the fact we have a flipper, too.

The one bug I have is the headlines in caps. On the World News update above, it looks wrong. I'm sure the straps would look much, much better in lower case. Hopefully that's just a case of the designers having a word with the text producers once the graphics launch.
LH
lhx1985
I find flippers are really inflexible. Sometimes you just need more space, sometimes there's just too much white space.
BR
Brekkie
lhx1985 posted:
I find flippers are really inflexible. Sometimes you just need more space, sometimes there's just too much white space.

Makes them difficult to walk in. 🤣
MO
Moz
mightynine2 posted:
*

After a few overnight updates with no graphics at all, the Reith returns - and this time, our first (?) look at the boxed logo outside of the straps.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07dmm6x


The BBC News technology reporter Chris Fox tweeted caps of this earlier saying something along the lines of “this is for all you TV geeks” - but he’s since deleted the tweet.

Not sure why as it’s on iPlayer!
JU
Justin
Comparison of all the boxed WN logos, the new one is definitely more top heavy. *
Wasn't quite sure whether the red on the summary update was right though; the box colour from the summary clip is on the right, normal china red versions on the left.
RO
roo
The colour in that video doesn't seem quite right but News is moving away from "china red" to a lighter #b80000

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