Newsround given design overhaul

The BBC’s flagship children’s news programme Newsround is undergoing an extensive rebrand, courtesy of Saatchi & Saatchi Design and Tilt Design.

The new look will air on 11 February to coincide with the launch of the BBC’s two digital children’s channels, CBBC and CBeebies.

The two groups have joined forces on a revamped logo, title sequence, idents and graphics for Newsround. A revamped set is being created in-house at the BBC.

The exercise is one of the most far reaching design overhauls that Newsround has undergone. Saatchi & Saatchi Design and Tilt were approached on the strength of a previous collaboration on the BBC’s Saturday Show. The two won a five-way creative, unpaid pitch against BBC MediaArc, 422, (now defunct) Deepend and Code Design.

The groups created a total of 76 on-screen idents and graphics for Newsround, from stings to titles, the latter of which feature soundwaves as a design motif.

The logo itself has been redrawn by typographer Nick Cooke. ‘It is much simpler and more succinct than beforehand,’ says Tilt creative director Annabel Dundas.

‘The stings had to be more funky, as the show is extremely un-conservative to appeal to its young audience, as well as being flexible,’ Dundas adds.

The redesign has been prompted by the launch of the two digital children’s channels and the simultaneous launch of a host of Newsround sub-brands, including Newsround Lite and Newsround Extra, across which the logo had to work, Dundas says.

Newsround Lite is an entertainment and show-business news programme to be broadcast on digital. Newsround Extra will be a monthly terrestrial programme on particular topics.

Lambie-Nairn designed the identity for the CBBC and CBeebies channels, aimed at sixto 13-year-olds and toddlers respectively, as revealed exclusively in Design Week (DW 7 June 2001).