[Larry the Loafer]

Most of all a bit more ambition in the idents - although I don't think ITV's latest set quite hits the mark it is at least a bit more ambitious than it first appears, both in the design and in the concept.   The BBC2 curves are still the best of the bunch in recent years and show how functional doesn't have to be boring (hello C5!)

Huge agree on this - I would rather have some ambitious failures than a load of colour-by-numbers, CGI idents which just involve an animation of the logo.

Because we all know how much this sucked...

youtu.be 

[strollfan]

Huge agree on this - I would rather have some ambitious failures than a load of colour-by-numbers, CGI idents which just involve an animation of the logo.

Because we all know how much this sucked...

youtu.be 

That was great in 1982! It's been 41 years since 1982.

[Kojak]

And it still looks great, 41 years later.

[strollfan]

And it still looks great, 41 years later.

It looks great in the knowledge it's something from 1982. If that exact ident was revealed today, without the history it holds, it would be panned. It's a relic of a bygone era - great to wheel out for anniversaries and nostalgic reasons, but it isn't fit for a modern purpose.

[Kunst]

I seem to be in the minority who really enjoy Channel 4's stopgap (?) ident with the colourful backgrounds. Incredibly simple, but it's versatile, easy on the eye, a pleasure to listen to.

Signature jingles, too. They seem to have vanished.

I think if they had more variants of it (just simply different colour combinations) it would work better, but for me where it fails is the animation of the 4 logo itself looks very cheap.

I'd love to see a new incarnation of the original logos, perhaps in real world locations, with a concept similar to the brilliant SF1 idents of a few years back.

www.youtube.com 


Most of all a bit more ambition in the idents - although I don't think ITV's latest set quite hits the mark it is at least a bit more ambitious than it first appears, both in the design and in the concept.   The BBC2 curves are still the best of the bunch in recent years and show how functional doesn't have to be boring (hello C5!)

I see SF1 mentioned often, but the BBC One circle idents, especially before being butchered by edits, weren't bad at all either, and somehow similar in concept

[JAS84]

It would definitely need a coloured background now instead of plain black. Think about how Central's idents evolved. The first cake in 1985 was similarly just coloured blocks on a black background. Later versions from the 90s had different backgrounds and textures. If Channel 4 did something similar, that would still work today.

Less 'real life footage with a logo slapped over it' style idents.

There isn't much of it these days, its heydays were in the mid-noughties

BBC One and the ITV channels currently use that style. So do most of the Sky and UKTV channels.

[Kunst]

It would definitely need a coloured background now instead of plain black. Think about how Central's idents evolved. The first cake in 1985 was similarly just coloured blocks on a black background. Later versions from the 90s had different backgrounds and textures. If Channel 4 did something similar, that would still work today.

There isn't much of it these days, its heydays were in the mid-noughties

BBC One and the ITV channels currently use that style. So do most of the Sky and UKTV channels.

They're not just idents with a logo slapped on, there's much more than meets the eye: a lot of work with CGI and so on

Don't you think it would be boring, anyway, if idents were all just CGI generated?

[Kunst]

I think it's simply a bit unfair to discriminate against real life idents as if they were all the same!

The ITV1-2006 kind of idents which were indeed very banal is kind of gone, for something much more developed and sophisticated

[Brekkie]

Unpopular opinion alert but I quite liked the "alive with colour" idents which replaced the dire "emotion" idents which started the yellow era. They ticked three crucial elements - had a noteable sound, had a prominent colour scheme and the logo was somewhat integrated into them rather than just slapped on top.


Agree to that C4 should have expanded on the blocks idents rather than launching the Giant man - the Christmas sets showed how much potential there is with them.

[Kojak]

Unpopular opinion alert but I quite liked the "alive with colour" idents which replaced the dire "emotion" idents which started the yellow era.    They ticked three crucial elements - had a noteable sound, had a prominent colour scheme and the logo was somewhat integrated into them rather than just slapped on top.


Agree to that C4 should have expanded on the blocks idents rather than launching the Giant man - the Christmas sets showed how much potential there is with them.

They weren't bad, I agree. I didn't like the jingle at all, though. Such a dirge (but later idents used different versions which I found more pleasant). Ideally they might have been ditched for something else around 2010 - I think they did outstay their welcome a little.