Concept and creative process
BBC Four was launched in 2002 as a successor to BBC Knowledge with the slogan “Everybody needs a place to think”. It was to be a broad cultural channel with an eclectic mix of programming. Martin Lambie-Nairn, the long-standing design consultant to the BBC with a proven track record of success for his work on BBC One and BBC Two, was invited to design the branding for the launch of the new channel. His response was to try something unique in the history of television branding by creating a design that could change constantly but nevertheless remain instantly recognisable as an Ident for BBC Four. This was achieved by programming imagery to react visually to whatever sound or voice-over was being broadcast at any given moment, thus ensuring that no two idents were ever the same. It was possible to programme the system to achieve limitless variations of image, as this example demonstrates. It was this very element of unpredictability that gave BBC Four its unique channel identity. The new corporate branding style for all BBC channels was adopted with the Four and the BBC blocks above it both reversed out white in a black box, positioned in the lower third on the right of the screen.