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A new global visual language for the BBC's digital services (bbc.co.uk)
92 points by bensummers on Feb 17, 2010 | hide | past | favorite | 12 comments



BBC has always inspired me with the amount of thought an effort that goes in each redesign. See this document on a previous redesign they did, featuring the patina effect on the home page: http://www.liamdelahunty.com/blog/media/theglasswall.pdf


Neville Brody did similar work for the Austrian broadcaster ORF in the 90s - it's profiled in The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 2 - but for their actual onscreen identity. Very similar in scope though.

The book is great but I couldn't find much good about it online except this before/after video that shows off how much Neville Brody dragged the channel into the modern era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWwLcCsVrmQ - the "After" section starts at about 1:30. You see TV go from the cheesy 80s to the slick 90s instantly!


>Our ambition is to be the best digital media brand in the world.

This is not their brief - their brief is to serve the UK public with broadcasts that educate, entertain and inform (or something along those lines). If they are incidentally the best digital media brand that's fine, if they're spending a penny more to reach this pinnacle then they're ultra vires.

Incidentally did anyone else think that the "new look and feel for the embedded media player" was just what 4OD are using?


I wonder if the more gradual gradients will look even worse on cheap LCD screens - the ones with only 6 bits of color?


Even the top-end MacBook Pros have 6bit screens, don't they?


Yes. (at least mine from three years ago)


[deleted]


Thank you for pointing that clock out to me it brought back a lot of memories. It is a reference to the old mechanical clock that appeared on the BBC from the late 1960s. Throughout my childhood that clock was part of the cultural landscape with its futuristic look and the little bounce in the second hand.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/testcards/animation0.shtml


Wow, a flash animation that actually works in Gnash.

I'm surprised I even click to played it as I'm so used to finding a broken attempt at a whizz-bang video player for a file that my browser can handle itself anyway.


I cannot tell you divisive that clock is. It's a constant topic for internal discussion; personally I hate it. I can't even read an analog clock.



Let's start an online petition! That'll sort it.


In summary - fashion colors and big bold iconography.




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