Traditionalists can be found in all fields, right down to those who believe in the sanctity of the network logo. BBC One’s Circle idents came at a critical time for the network. Its previous Rhythm and Movement rebrand (2002) was roundly lambasted for what viewers perceived to be a cloying attempt at political correctness – every ethnicity and disability was featured collectively dancing – and a general unease with an updated logo, replacing the globe style that represented the brand for 39 years.

Red Bee Media, London was thus handed a clean slate to refresh the network. The circle motif came out of the BBC’s desire to question the assumption that viewers no longer shared moments together around the TV. The challenge, however, was how to express that sense of collectiveness without reverting to cliché. Visually, that meant venturing completely leftfield.

The idents, a combination of live-action from directors Howard Greenhalgh, Stuart Douglas, Matthias Hoene, Trevor Melvin and Mike McGee, and CG handled by Framestore-CFC and Clear, feature everything from swimming hippos to a chorus of lit windows. Each visual device would come together to create a circle with the BBC logo in the middle.

Red Bee was also tasked with updating the logo. They chose to hearken back to the BBC’s long-standing tradition while positioning the logo to respond to the TV landscape at the time. “If you look at the BBC logo through history, going back to the first Abram Games designed logos in the early ’50s, they were circular, so even that preceded the globe,” explains Red Bee Media ECD Charlie Mawer.

“So, it definitely felt like there was something in the DNA of the channel. We also slightly shifted the balance between the ‘BBC’ and the ‘One’ and shifted the ratios so that the ‘BBC’ blocks were slightly larger. In an increasingly multi-channel world the BBC master brand needed to take more credit because it’s really important that people don’t think they’re watching something from Sky1, ITV1 or anyone else.” Q

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