The television network now known as ITV1 began as a group of regional stations, each with their own identities. Each station used its own idents to create an individual identity until the late 1990s when ITV began to introduce a consolidated presentation package as part of a dedicated effort to unify its identity. This article looks at the history of presentation of ITV1.
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Up until 1989, all of the ITV franchises had individual logos and idents, with no cohesive ITV brand. These individual logos and identities were created by the franchise for their own use and identification within the network.
The very first ITV logo was created in September 1989 and accompanied a national on-air identity designed by English Markell Pockett with music by Lord David Dundas. The logo was the centre of a whole branding package; there was a national logo and regional logos for all of the ITV franchises. Each franchise had a distinctive portion of their logo included into the V of the ITV logo. The ident was generally formed by beginning with the franchisee's logo, then going into a sliding sequence featuring a dove, a couple in period dress, Big Ben, an athlete, a pair of dancers before the regional ITV logo is formed. Along with this, each franchise received a regional clock, trailer style, network font and break bumpers.
However, this new look did not go as the designers intended:[1]
The look was dropped at various times depending on region:
In 1998, the ITV logo was changed to a lower cased blue and yellow affair. This was in line with the fact that, with the upper cased ITV logo used previously, the viewer perception of ITV was a high brow stuffy channel, not aimed at younger audiences. ITV changed the logo to seem friendlier and more welcoming to younger audiences.
In 1999, the next generic look was born, designed by English and Pockett with music by Lord David Dundas, both of whom were involved with the last look. The main theme of the look was the ITV slogan of 'TV from the heart'. There were three variations of the ident.
The lines and static idents could also feature a spinning hearts background that was tinted brown that was used during Daytime schedules. The look was accompanied by a clock superimposed on a spinning hearts background, as well as promotions provided by ITV's Network Promotions Unit. A heart break bumper was also provided. Upon launch and over time, some changes were made to the look:
As with the last look, not all of the companies adopted it:
They simply wanted to have an expression of the heart which was theirs alone. So we were asked to somehow square this circle, that they were part of ITV and therefore of the heart but they were also unique as a brand. And we came up with the proposition that, okay, if ITV is the 'heart', Carlton is the 'star' of the ITV network.
Brian Eley, Creative Director, Lambie-Nairn[2]
Once again like the last look, it was dropped at different times:
On Monday 28 October 2002, a new idents package was rolled out across the regions using the central theme of a celebrity posing 'backstage'. There would be a clip of the celebrity chilling-out when they were supposedly off screen. The 'ITV1' logo had been softened with smoother edges by this point and it would animate on in the bottom right hand corner, being formed from 3 aligned blue blocks and one yellow block. This package also coincided with the centralisation of continuity from the English, Isle of Man and Scottish Border regions to London. As a result of this, regional idents were always pre recorded by a national team of six recorded from the Carlton/LWT continuity booth. Wales retained its own announcers for the time being.
The regional versions of the idents were now only used in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland throughout the day. The other regions had their own idents specifically for use before local programmes. These varied subtly by region:
The set of idents were updated with new sets and celebrities in 2003, with the sets more pronounced blues and yellows and removing the backstage feel. Along with this, news ident graphics and the backgrounds to the regional idents were changed to overlapped blue squares.
A number of regions changed their identities throughout the period:
The look was dropped at different times:
The 1 November 2004 heralded a new on-air look coinciding with the launch of ITV3. The ITV1 logo was reworked, splitting it into separate squares. On-screen, the boxes were arranged as a large yellow square containing the '1' with blue ITV boxes on top. This logo would be seen against a generic background of a blue sky with clouds, windows of a high rise building, underwater with fish swimming by and dark blue ribbons flowing against a blue background.
The plan for these Idents were to use them as mini-menus showing what is coming up soon. The Idents would zoom to the left allowing a short video and description of the upcoming programmes to be shown, before the panels of the videos to become part of the ITV1 logo in the centre of the screen. They were not designed to be traditional idents, however despite the fact that ITV took on a team of associate producers to produce these promotions, the promotional idents were used less and less as the months go on.
During this period, ITV spent a lot of this period using themed idents specific to particular programmes, such as Celebrity Love Island.
Once again, not all of the companies took the look:
Regional idents were available, and featured the ITV1 ident with the region name written under the logo, to a background of different shades of dark blue. However, the ident was becoming less frequently seen, usually only before some local news bulletins and the decreasing number of regional programming. ITV1 Wales was the exception to the rule, with a Wales name added to the bottom of all idents in their package.
The ITV plc regions, the only regions to adopt the look, dropped it in 2006 in favour of a complete overhaul.
On 16 January 2006 a brand new logo and presentation package was unleashed. It brought ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3 in line with ITV4. It was part of a major re-brand of the ITV network, known as Brand 2010, which also included the News and Sport divisions as well as off screen content. It was designed by Red Bee Media following a perception analysis carried out by the audience. The results stated that although all the ITV channels had a good combining brand, with the ITV logo, they all looked the same, couldn't be told apart, that their programming values were blurred and that the ITV logo itself was getting boring.
The solution was to make a new logo in a rounded off box, involving the lower case itv. These, it was claimed, made the service look friendly, retaining what had been attempted in 1998, and yet fresh and crisp. From there they added an extra rectangle on the other side of the channel name. All channel shared this look with the colour being the only main difference with the exception of the name. This provided the distinctiveness, yet unity they sought.
The ITV1 idents were created on the basis that ITV1 provokes "an emotion response in all of us" and therefore the so called 'Emotion' idents were created. Many were shot in South Africa and featured a montage of unrelated scenes, which include such things as a man rubbing his bare chest, girls rolling down a hill and two people hugging trees. These represented moods such as joy, pride, sadness, love etc. In them the 'ITV1' logo would open out and enclose the footage it was superimposed on to. The exception to the rule was one of the ITV1 logo on a black background, used to introduce the news.
The look was controversial both with critics, online and in print, viewers and ITV bosses who saw the look too vague. This look was also controversial as no regional variations were created. Regional programming, of which there was now very little, was introduced with a national ident and an announcer name checking the station, or frequently not at all.
Only two of the four ITV parent companies adopted any part of the look:
The Idents themselves and their contents:
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Love | Starts with a mum hugging her young son, then we see a woman picking up a pair of pink high heels, followed by a man rubbing his belly and finishing with two people hugging a tree. A version of this was created for Prehistoric Park in which the third scene is edited out and pterosaurs from the program flew past the tree-huggers. | |
| Pride | Ident starts with a lady placing a home-made card on a shelf, followed by a young boy talking a tray of breakfast and a card to his mum, that is then followed by a man cleaning his car, we then see a boy with who has just had a tooth come out, then finally a man bringing a motor scooter out of his garage and placing it along side his other scooters. | |
| Joy | We start with a woman enjoying a walk in a sunny forest, we then see a dog with its head out a car window, then a couple enjoying a paddle in the sea, followed by a woman laughing as she comes out of a tent, and finally we see several children rolling down a grassy hill. A version of this for Prehistoric Park showed the first scene including a Titanosaurus. | |
| Surprise | A bucket of water is thrown over two people sun-bathing, then two children jump out of a cardboard box, followed by a newspaper blowing past a pedestrians face, then finally a man comes out of a tent in a field and starts chasing several cows. | |
| Fun | A boy bangs two cymbals together, then two people eat giant slices of chocolate cake, next we see several children sliding down a water slide, the next scene sees a dog's tail wagging, and the last scene sees two pigs enjoying the mud. | |
| Embarrassment | We first see a man on a beach trying to get changed with a towel wrapped round him as two people walk past looking, we then see a lady at a party with her dressed tucked in her underwear, then a boy is seen with an embarrassing hair cut, then the last scene sees a man on a busy train fall asleep on someone's shoulder. | |
| Anticipation | This ident is different to all the others because it only has one scene in the whole ident. A man is seen waiting at a cinema holding a single rose in his hands. This is a more sombre ident. | |
| Sadness | We first see an emotional woman hugging a man, then a girl is on her own in a school corridor while a group of kids nearby laugh and chat, we then see a lady in bed crying, and the last scene sees a man in a cinema sat at the end when everyone else is leaving. This is another sombre ident and mainly used before drama. | |
| Sport | This ident focusing on various emotions felt from different sporting events. We first see a boxer looking quite nervous as he has boxing wrap removed from his hands, we then see another boxer in the ring being treated and having water put on him to cool down, we then see a football match and a penalty taking place, and finally football fans jump up and cheer when a goal is scored. |
The current presentation of ITV1 was launched on the 13 November 2006, just 10 months after the last new look. Following the issues with the previous one, the themes were changed slightly: the logo remained the same shape and style, but with the letters itv changed to black so as to contrast with the yellow of the logo better.
The ident films themselves were scrapped and a new set created following the theme of "Alive with Colour" with ITV promoting the new idents as the "second phase" of the look introduced in January.[3] The idents, based on the previous set by Red Bee Media, were designed by The Mill and produced by Blink Productions and Pleix include surreal scenes featuring yellow colours to the same audio track.
The look launched with six idents: 'Beach', 'Bike', 'Lake', 'Market', 'Basketball' and 'Pavement Art', with another 4 added on 3 September 2007 which runs in tandem with the previous ones. These latest idents included an ITV1 logo that was bigger than the ones launched in 2006, but retained the same soundtrack. In April 2010, ITV1 HD was launched, featuring an updated glossier logo based on that of ITV1. In response, ITV1 changed their logo to the glossier version and launched another four idents. These latest idents have been noticeably different to their predecessors: the logo was once again larger and faded on in parts. They also featured individual soundtracks based on those previously and the style of the ident themselves, namely the shooting of them, was very different to those before them. They were accompanied on screen by updated programme promotions, end credit promotions, stings and break bumpers.
Because of these changes, all of the idents were updated with the new logo, including making it bigger in many places. However, the soundtracks remained the same causing some to question why the other idents weren't changed with the new looks. Viewer opinions suggest that the original music is unpopular, but the ident package itself generally popular. This has been the longest lasting ITV generic look to date, lasting far longer than the 1999 Hearts, and being kept by far more companies and for longer collectively than the 1989 Generic look.
The primary criticisms of the look have been the scrapping of regional idents. All regions are introsuced with a national ident and the region is not referenced to in the announcement. The exception to the rule is ITV1 Wales, with includes the word 'Wales' either underneath the ident or located in the bottom left hand corner of the ident. The Wales ident is used before all programming except overnight.
This new look is only seen in some areas of the ITV network however:
The idents include:
| Name | Description | Air dates |
|---|---|---|
| Beach | The ident starts as a simple beach scene when the yellow windbreak suddenly bursts out to the side and starts to fly up soon to be joined by an orange wind break. The logo appears from behind the windbreak. Edited in April 2010 | November 2006–present |
| Lake | A single person rows a small wooden rowing boat with schools of yellow and orange fish swimming in the lake below. The logo appears from behind a tree. Edited in April 2010 | November 2006–present |
| Bike | A woman rides a bike at night through a dark street only lit by street lamps. Fireflies swarm around the street lamps. The logo comes out from the side of a tree. Edited in April 2010 | November 2006–present |
| Market | An ornate curtain floats up revealing an exotic street market. The camera follows one man then follows a second man through the market. Throughout the ident, small yellow birds fly round. The logo appears from behind the second man. Edited in April 2010 | November 2006–present |
| Basketball | An Ivy like plant grows up the back of a basketball hoop. The camera pans round revealing the full basketball court. The green plants start to cover the whole court and yellow flowers begin to grow. The logo sprouts open like a flower when the yellow flowers open on the back of the basketball hoop. Edited in April 2010 | November 2006–present |
| Pavement Art | The ident starts with several people painting large yellow stripes on what first appears to be a pavement. We soon see they are actually painting on a rooftop as the camera pans over the edge of the building. The yellow stripes continue down the side of the building and onto the ground below where they form unusual patterns. The logo appears on the ground when the camera moves over the edge of the roof. Edited in April 2010 | November 2006–present |
| Bubbles | People in a park are blowing bubbles of all different sizes. Soon several very large bubbles come into shot and float up. The logo is revealed behind one of the large bubbles floating up. Edited in April 2010. | September 2007–present |
| Garden | In a family's back garden, the camera moves into the undergrowth revealing a whole new miniature garden where yellow flowers and mushrooms grow as a butterfly flies round. The logo is revealed as the butterfly flies over. Edited in April 2010 | September 2007–present |
| Buildings | The ident starts with some people enjoying lunch shaded by large yellow and white umbrellas. We soon see they are surrounded by many tall buildings. As the buildings are revealed, the windows start to shimmer, then the windows start to open like shutters producing yellow reflections. The logo is revealed in a series of shutter type movements amongst the windows. Edited in April 2010 | September 2007–present |
| Fountains | A man walks down a large dark alley full of puddles. Soon after the man turns into a smaller alley, yellow fountains start to erupt from the puddles lighting up the alley. The logo fades in amongst the fountains. Edited in April 2010 | September 2007–present |
| Sunflowers | A dark field soon erupts with colour as hundreds of Sunflowers all open up to face the sun and sway in the wind. The logo fades in as three parts. First aired Friday 9 April 2010. | April 2010–present |
| Lanterns | People at a festival all release Chinese lanterns which slowly float up into the night sky. The logo is revealed behind one of the lanterns. First aired Friday 9 April 2010. The ident may be pulled because the National Farmers Union criticized ITV of the dangers of Chinese lanterns.[4] | April 2010–present |
| Snakes and Ladders | A team of builders and painters are doing work on a large building with the help of scaffolding resembling a Snakes and Ladders game board. Some workmen keep abseiling down the scaffolding and pallets of building materials are lifted up. The logo fades in as three parts and becomes part of the scene with the workmen seen in front of it. First aired Sunday 11 April 2010. | April 2010–present |
| Dodgems | At a fairground, dodgem cars suddenly start moving by themselves and start to perform a routine. The logo fades in as three parts. First aired Saturday 17 April. | April 2010–present |
| Christmas 2008/2009 | ITV1 launched a new festive on-screen package in 2008, the package consisted of one ident, 11 break bumpers, and festive versions of promos, end credit promotion and holding boards. The ident starts with a gold animated sketch style star bursting open followed by a gold tree. Various Christmas related items are seen floating round the tree in the same gold sketch style. The ident featured an edited arrangement of the regular ident music. First aired Saturday 13 December 2008, and seen again next year from Saturday 19 December. | |
| Christmas 2010 | A new festive presentation package was introduced on the channel in December 2010. The package featured one ident, four break bumpers and festive promos, but this years package was lacking festive versions of the end credit promotions. The ident starts with lots of small fairies carrying a large glass looking '1' and putting it into place within the large golden ITV1 logo. Throughout the ident, several other small fairies are carrying smaller '1' symbols. This is all set in the night sky above a lit up city. First aired Saturday 11 December 2010. | |
| Christmas 2011 | This year ITV1 decided to use their existing idents but with the addition of the Text Santa characters appearing on screen interacting with the logo. Text Santa is ITV's Christmas charity initiative and the branding features a range of characters known as 'Santa's Little Helpers'. The break bumpers also follow suit with the characters appearing and interacting with the logo. |
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