News analysis – The Big Brother logo

BB logo

The new eye logo for the forthcoming series of reality television show Big Brother has been unveiled, as the show, which airs next month, makes the move from Channel 4 to Channel Five.

The new design was created by Bristol-based consultancy Hello Charlie alongside Channel Five’s in-house design team and the creative team at production company Endemol.

Hello Charlie will also create the Big Brother title series’, which it has done for the show every year since 2005, previously in conjunction with the logo designer. This is the first time it has designed the eye itself.

The original Big Brother logo was designed in 2001 by Daniel Eatock, previously of Foundation 33.

Paul Tigwell, Hello Charlie director, says, ‘Because it’s a new channel it’s a new programme but you have to maintain people’s expectations for Big Brother as an iconic brand but also encompassing Channel 5’s core values with a design that really symbolises the channel.’

Hello Charlie used an icon based on the idea of a ‘hybrid of the human and the mechanical’. It aimed to use the basic structure of the eye to reflect Channel 5’s ‘straight talking’, ‘honest’ values, according to Tigwell; as well as creating a logo that can be easily adapted for future series’ across all touch points including print, online, television and other media.

He adds, ‘It had to be timeless, and something very instant and obvious for the viewer.’

Liz Dunning, director of broadcast specialist Dunning Penney Jones, says, ‘It seems the Channel 5 strategy is to take the icon and evolve it in a way that’s very aligned with their own brand.

‘When you look back to the Channel 4 logo they built a lot of emotion into it- everyone knew it was Channel 4 so they didn’t have to stamp that all over it.’

Nick Scott, creative partner at Studio Hansa, which works on broadcast designs, says, ‘From a logo point of view, it’s a nice execution – it’s a little bit more classic. Before there was quite harsh edges and a techno feel with smashed glass and a jagged look.’

Scott adds, ‘It seems it’s a reboot of the franchise to make it classic and move away from how it was perceived – it’s going a bit more mature.’

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Comments
  • Pannett November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Saw this for the first time yesterday, must admit I’m not overly impressed by it. The marque looks slightly better in the motion graphics that have been released but as a logo I don’t think it conveys the attitude of BB (fair enough the programme may change it’s tack for a fresh start on a new channel) or what Ch5 are spieling about. It’s just an eye with a slightly strange shape and an odd choice of a colour palette. A step away from the Ch4 design but a step backwards.

    And since when was reality TV “straight-talking and honest” – Ch5 to revisit their values?

  • Big_Brother_UK November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    the eye design is fine ,i hope channel 5 take as much care in bigger matters such as having 24/7 live streaming for big brother

  • Neil Giles November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Why would the logo for an iconic TV show need to reflect the values of the broadcasting channel?? Bizarre. And the results are a dull interpretation of the what has been, such a strongly evolving visual identity.

  • tom November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    …’strongly evolving’ to be associated with what had become the most irksome programmes on TV. There is no way an evolution would work given the actual design problem which one would imagine is to reinvent or reinvigorate the programme.

  • Joe November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    At first I thought the eye was ok, but now I am really starting to like it!

  • Daniel November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Hated it at first…

    Love it now.

  • Dave Bowers November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    A bizarre design decision which reflects the outdated ‘Five’ branding more than it does the new Richard Desmond Channel 5 corporate brand.

    Also agree with the above comment that it’s a dead-end for what was becoming an intriguing, evolving identity.

  • Mark Chittenden November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I would like to have seen it without the heavy black eye shape, the purity of just the circles would have looked fresher, and more original – like a hybrid all seeing eye/lens…. less is more

  • Adam Nickson November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I like it.

  • Rik Barwick November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Really? The only good thing about this show was the way the logo evolved throughout the years.

    “it’s going a bit more mature.” How does this represent that?

    With all the all seeing eye offers in terms of creative ideas this is a lame attempt. I don’t know what’s going on these days, first we get the dog ugly 2012 logo, then the ‘made in Britain’ attempt and now this. Are we anti design now?

  • Mark Thirlwell November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Looks like something I would demonstrate as a quick and easy illustration in one of my Illustrator classes.
    Just looks a bit cheap, which I suppose fits in well with its new home. Having said that, 5’s branding across the board has improved greatly recently, so I agree with Dave Bowers’ comment.

  • scott morris November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    The first time I saw this it reminded me of the the eyes of the legendary Frank Sidebottom.
    Now I’ve reminded myself of what his eyes actually look like, I’m convinced it’s just a straight rip off.

  • Paul November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I keep reading and then scrolling back up to have another look. . it leaves me with no feeling at all. I agree with Rik with all that could have been done especially from a creative bunch like Hello Charlie. This looks to me like one of those images that designers doodle while limbering up their eyes in the morning.

  • Richcolour November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Made me Google ‘new big brother logo’ because I felt sure there’d be a large amount of criticism. However, not as much as I thought. Personally I can’t believe HC went with this. Did they find it on a 1990’s clipart CD?

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