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Creative BBC Studio Output

BBC Sport becomes first brand to adopt the broadcaster’s latest typography redesign

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By Katie Deighton, Senior Reporter

August 16, 2017 | 3 min read

BBC Sport has relaunched its brand identity in the form of a new logo and graphics, in line with the soon-to-be standard font family of BBC Reith.

BBC Sport introduces the broadcaster's new design

BBC Sport introduces the broadcaster's new design

The channel’s BBC Sport brand is the first of its properties to introduce BBC Reith, the typography named after the corporation’s founder, Lord Reith. The font family will eventually be rolled out across all of the broadcaster’s products.

While it is said to make text and branding clearer and easy to read across digital, BBC Reith is also a cost-saving exercise for the broadcaster. According to chief design officer for design and engineering, Colin Burns, a “significant amount of money” will be saved through the implantation of the new type.

“We have to pay for licences to use other fonts at the moment,” he said. “But we won’t have to do this for BBC Reith.”

The BBC Reith family

The BBC Sport redesign, which also includes employing a warmer shade of yellow and an accompanying bright palette of neutral colours, first went live online and across Football Focus, Final Score and Match of the Day to mark the start of the new football season. It will be gradually rolled out across the portfolio, next at the BBC’s athletics coverage on 19 August followed by PDC darts and cycling in September.

The BBC’s User Experience & Design and Marketing & Audiences teams worked with BBC Creative and Studio Output to develop the new ‘simple but consistent system’, which was inspired by the network’s strategy of ‘sport as a service’.

“Over time, the new font will start to be used right across the BBC (though the BBC blocks logo itself won't change) and all our broadcast and online output,” said Burns. “We’ll be doing this gradually. Where there is little cost to make the change - such as text on our website - we’ll do it as soon as we can. But we’ll only replace things like signs when they’re worn out or need replacing anyway to avoid extra costs.”

Creative BBC Studio Output

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