Broadcaster ITV has launched a major rebrand, including a ‘colour-shifting’ new logo and new identities for all five of its channels, including ITV1 changing to just ‘ITV’.
The new global identity is part of ITV’s ‘Transformation Plan’ and the brand feels the new look will unify the brand internationally.
The new look has been introduced across ITV and all six ITV Studios production offices around the world, along with ITV’s online and on-demand products including ITV Player.
From today, ITV1 is now just ITV and the five UK channels – ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV – all have the redesigned ITV logo, as well as refreshed colour schemes and new idents between programmes, reflecting each of their identities.
The new branding reflects the broadcaster’s position at the “heart of popular culture”, with programmes such as Downton Abbey, The X Factor and Coronation Street.
The new logo drops the rather formal previous style for a curvier typeface and layout that is meant to look like “a form of human handwriting”.
ITV has used a system of ‘colour picking’ with the logo, meaning it adapts its tone and colour scheme to the programme, channel or promotion it is appearing alongside.
Alongside the flagship network, the new “mother brand” has been added to all ITV’s digital networks, and they each get a “really big channel idea” to refresh their identities.
The ITV Player will adopt the ITV Plc “mother brand” to make it coherent across all platforms, such as online and on tablets or smartphones.
The ITV.com homepage also now features a central navigation bar to enable viewers to more easily discover ITV content on a range of devices.
Other channels have been given the following rebrands:
– ITV2 is the “home of infectious entertainment”, with the sixth biggest channel in the UK getting a “hot red” version of the logo and red on-screen identify, including new idents “reflecting its heightened reality world of fun and entertainment, where everyday situations get a playful ITV2 twist”.
– ITV3 is positioned as the “keeper of ITV’s treasured and timeless drama”, with a new “midnight blue” logo and idents that feature stop-motion stories told in shadow-puppet style animation inside glass bell jars.
– ITV4 has a “slate grey” logo and becomes the “home of sport and cult classics”. Channel promotion will include pub-style factoids and idents featuring viewer nominated “dreams come true”, such as driving a Rolls Royce into a swimming pool.
– CITV is the channel of “wickedly playful kids stuff” and children themselves have created its logo and idents, which the in-house creative team has turned into animated ‘C-Creatures’.
In addition, ITV national and regional News gets a new royal blue logo and branding, while ITV Sport has a fresh green look.
The rebrand has been overseen by Rufus Radcliffe, ITV’s group director of marketing and research, who previously rebranded E4 while at Channel 4; and Reemah Sakaan, ITV’s director of network marketing, who joined in February 2012 after seven years at the BBC, where she helped rebrand BBC Three.
In a statement today, Radcliffe said: “Viewers now have access to hundreds of channels and are forming relationships with digital brands that did not exist a few years ago.
“The rebranding of ITV will allow us to further cement the relationship in viewers’ minds between our shows and the ITV brand that produces and broadcasts them.
“Today we are unveiling a new brand identity across the whole of ITV, including ITV plc, our network of channels, ITV.com, ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) and ITV Studios, both in the UK and around the world. We now have a consistent identity across everything that we do, all rooted in our positioning as a media brand that is at the heart of popular culture.”
The rebrand has been produced in-house by ITV Creative, working with external specialists to realise the designs.
The adaptable ITV logo was created in collaboration with design specialist Matt Rudd, and type specialists Fontsmith.
Watch a video from ITV showcasing some of the new TV idents here:
