BBC Two "Window on the World" idents

By 2007 BBC Two needed a thorough rebrand as the previous idents were starting to lose their purpose. A new set of idents was therefore commissioned by advertising agency AMV BBDO, and was produced by Red Bee Media, who made the then current idents for BBC One. The new design needed to work, both on television, but also online, as a website and as live streaming feed. The two companies collaborated in all aspects of the process and both contributed people to the process. Paul Brazier, Creative director at AMV and Andy Bryant, Director of Creative at Red Bee Media both were involved in the project, as were Rob Oliver (Art Director, AMV), Chris Bardsley (Writer, AMV), John Golley (Producer, RBM), Joanna Bailey, Michael Geoghegan, Marky, Ian Cross and Stuart Hilton (directors FAQ at Picasso Pictures). On screen presentation was by Paul Mitchell (Chief Designer, RBM) and produced by Lisa Rathband (RBM) with music by Vince Pope from Beetroot and animation was by Picasso Pictures. The 2007 design had to compare well with its predecessors, and still had to represent BBC Two's programming character and to be an effective promotion of the channel. The new idents featured a numeral '2' that was largely different from that used by the channel since 2001, despite assurances by James Pestell that the distinctive '2' would stay. The difference is seen as negligible by some, and absolute sacrilege by others. ==Components of look==

The idents all featured a numeral 2, with a view or scape behind it, as viewers looked through the 2. The new look also featured a new design of BBC Two logo. The previously purple box has now been turned a deep shade of aqua, very similar to the viridian used by the 1991 idents. The text has also been changed, with the "TWO" font being changed to Avenir, from Gill Sans previously. This box was placed to the left of the 2 numeral, opposite to where it was in the previous look, and faded in at the end of the ident. Once again, no clock accompanied the look, and appears to have been abandoned by the BBC. Promotions began with clips of the programme, before the clips were encompassed inside a 2, as it moved back to the endslide, featuring programme name and BBC Two box logo on the left with a full size 2 on the right through which the clips can still be seen. This theme also existed with the breakdown slide, with clips being used from the Seascape ident. Programme stills also still existed, despite being restricted to the schools programming on early mornings, and featured an enlarged middle section of '2' with the top and bottom not visible, off screen, with the programme picture in this large 2 shape. ==Refresh==

The Window on the World idents have had three branding refreshes: October 2008, June 2009 and March 2013. October 2008 The October 2008 refresh was not openly marketed and was unnoticed, except for those eagle eyed few. The refresh would have seen a number of the idents dropped, and the BBC Two logo dropped in favour of the BBC logo in the bottom right corner of the 2. The look was launched on 1 October 2008, and was only seen twice: Sunroof at 6am that day, and Seascape later that evening prior to night time programming at 12.50 on 2 October 2008. This new refresh was stopped for internal reasons, and the BBC has never explained this. Many also lost the sound effects which went along with them. The "Window on the World" idents were phased out on 13 November 2014 following the return of the 1990s idents in July that year. ==Idents==

Regular Special As well as this set of idents, some special ones were made for Christmas and for other programmes. The Christmas idents are below: • Christmas 2007 - A magic sprite and a paper origami theme here. A blue sprite runs around white and light brown papers depicting trees, animals and other festive creatures. There were two variations, both on the same theme, these aired for the last time for Christmas 2010. The channel logo presents itself as a 3D cube, one side having "50 YEARS" written on it. Various idents from the 1991–2001 set are also shown, updated to include the special cube logo. ==Criticisms==

There have been a few criticisms of the look. The tagging idents have been some of the most controversial in the channel's history. The juddery camera work and shoddy appearance made it appear as though it was shot on a camcorder and done by an amateur. These idents were all dropped, except Football that remained in use until the 2013 refresh. Another controversial issue is that of the 2009 redesigned endboards. Their basic design itself is would've been criticised at the time, but the main cause of concern is the highly colourful appearance. The colours are highly fluorescent with few programmes using darker colours. The light colours are widely used, regardless of programme, which means promotions for Newsnight may be in bright yellow. This lack of concern for colour has caused outrage at the inappropriate nature of some of the colours. ==See also==