BBC Two 'Window on the World' idents

The Window On The World Idents are a set of idents used by BBC Two since 18 February 2007. They were created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and produced by Red Bee Media. The idents feature a number 2 cut out of, or made out of parts of the everyday environment.

Conception
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 Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, and was produced by Red Bee Media, who made the 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), Christ Bardsley (Writer, AMV), John Golley (Producer, RBM), Joanna Bailey, Michael Geoghegan, Marky, Ian Cross and Stuart Hilton (all directors, RBM). 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 slightly 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 feature a numeral 2, with a view or scape behind it, as viewers look 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 two branding refreshes: October 2008 and June 2009. 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 the 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 the 2 October 2008. This new refresh was stopped for internal reasons, and the BBC has never explained this.

The June refresh was by far more successful that the last. This refresh resulted in a number of the idents being dropped and a new style for continuity adopted. The new promotion style involved the endboard design being changed to a large 2, tilted at an angle and filling the left half of the screen with programme information and BBC Two logo on the right of the screen. The most striking thing about these endboards was the bright colour palette used. The end boards could be any colour of the spectrum, however are generally bright fluorescent colours with some programming featuring dark grey endboards. Now and next boards also featured the new style, but using mainly, the same blue as the box logo, and featuring videos from the idents in the slanted 2. This colour was also the main colour used by nations and regions. The breakdown slide was also modified (albeit with apparent haste) to the new style and programme slides were also transferred with both featuring the deep blue of the logo as the only variant.

The idents themselves were also changed, with some dropped, and the remaining idents altered so that the BBC Two logo was transferred to the right of the 2, and was present at the beginning of the ident, but faded out before the end.

Special
As well as this set of idents, some special ones were made for Christmas and for other programmes. The Christmas idents are below: note:***Not Local/Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland only*** *Discontinued 2010* **Retired in 2010** Some specific programme idents are shown 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. Two variations,both on the same theme discontinued 2010.
 * *Christmas 2008* - The ident from the previous year was used.
 * *Christmas 2009* - The ident from the previous year was used, with the logo now on the right of the 2 but discontinued 2010.
 * **Christmas 2010** - The ident from the previous year was used but.
 * ***Christmas 2011*** - A new ident debuted, in four variations: Snowman, Inventor Lady, Moon/Sun and Turkey For example in Moon/Sun a model moon appears with a sun emerging from it and as the camera moves down and a Gingerbread Man with propellers flying around, revealing a village which, as the camera pans out reveals the village being a giant 2.
 * Heroes - A 2 with backlighting similar to a eclipse.
 * The Restaurant - A white porcelain 2 on a sideboard which has food thrown at it.
 * Thursdays Are Funny - A comedy strand involving a 2 made up of white and orange lines on a black background. There are a number of variants on the same theme.
 * Electric Proms 2007 - A number of neon style lines at the bottom of the screen that bend to form a 2.
 * Electric Proms 2008 - A 2 made out of bended neon style lines.
 * Torchwood - The ident begins with Zoetrope or Tent Arctic, but while it pans out, the screen looses signal, which is replaced with the Torchwood logo and scenes from the series.
 * White Season - A black screen with white writing, scratches and other marks, pans out to form a 2.
 * Back to Nature - A 2 cut out of a log of wood is seen in a number of different scenes including a river, clearing and waterfall.

Criticisms
There have been a few criticisms of the look. The tagging idents have been some of the most controversial in the channels 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 still remains in use.

Another controversial issue is that of the new redesigned endboards. Their basic design itself is not bad, 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.