Branding and identity has almost become a science. It was not always this way, and for broadcasters in the UK, building a brand around a TV channel was almost unknown until the early 1980s with the arrival of Channel 4.
The BBC Television Service started thinking about on screen identity a few years before its monopoly was threatened, with the arrival of the first ITV company in 1955. From this moment on, the BBC started to understand the power of its on-air look, and by the 1990s it was successfully associating its TV channels with the wider BBC brand.
BBC idents
Early Identities
The Television Service's visual branding, 1936-1953
Abram Games and the Television Symbol
The story of the bat's wings logo used between 1953 and 1960
Global Ambition
BBC One's visual identity 1960-1997
Into the New Millennium
BBC One idents from 1997 to the present day
BBC Two 1991
How BBC 2 was rebranded in 1991
BBC Two 2018 idents
The first new identity for BBC Two in 20 years
BBC Christmas idents
40 years of Christmas idents on BBC One and BBC Two
