For the first time in 20 years BBC Two’s idents have undergone a revamp, with the new designs and animations all linked by being designed around emulating the central curve of the number 2. With more to be added in the future, the first set of idents have been created by a variety of designers, artists and animators including the in-house team at BBC Creative plus The Mill, FutureDeluxe, Mainframe, Helmut Breineder, David McLeod, Kenneth Robin, Ari Weinkle, Conlan Normington, Kijek and Adamski and previous ident collaborators Aardman.
Controller of BBC Two Patrick Holland said: “We have been working to reinvigorate BBC Two, making it the home of the most urgent documentaries, the most brilliantly crafted dramas, the most mischievous comedies, the most eye-opening history and science. The new channel branding reflects this constantly eclectic and stimulating mix of programming and I am so excited to see it help define this next stage of the channel’s evolution.”. The project was coordinated by BBC Creative’s executive creative director Laurent Simon and creative director Susan Ayton along with Superunion’s creative director Katherina Tudball and it’s executive creative director Stuart Radford. Simon commented “The BBC offers such a large, public platform for creative expression and exposure. What’s also exciting is that it’s modelled to be iterative, refreshed and expanded by as many collaborators as we see relevant for the audience and channel.” with Radford adding “Collectively, we’ve developed a new approach to channel identity that… reflects the breadth of emotions evoked by BBC Two’s stimulating content. Our diverse range of idents allows artistic freedom to our collaborators, all unified by the iconic curve of the [number] ‘2’”. Audio for the idents was created and developed by the British composer and sound designer Alex Baranowski, who arranged the music for the BBC’s World Cup film, with ident given it’s own theme to match the atmosphere and visual feel each animation has.
The fun thing about the number of different styles and designs in the new series of BBC Two idents is that everyone can pick a favourite, and certainly if the number of them does grow then there should be something for everyone in amongst them at some point, currently debates can be wrought over whether the more geometric, sea anemone, colourful stripey psychedelic, or marshmallow style (to name a few) are the standout favourite. The first one I saw was the metallic red sequence that was reminiscent of Iron Man’s chest plate from his recent slew of MCU appearances in it’s look and design, until the full on swirling effects around the 2 shape kicked in, leading to the swift conclusion that it was new ident for the channel than an abstract method of introducing the upcoming (and given their output) unlikely showing of one of the Iron Man trilogy. What the majority of them have in common is something of a relaxing feel about them, several of them would make for a good screensaver, and it’ll be interesting to see if there are some Christmas versions of the new idents on the way, given the long running ident has been a favourite for a long time now, and if any new designs can better it and become as much admired as that mini festive world has become.
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