ITV Idents and Presentation

The ITV television network 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 ITV.

When ITV was incepted in 1955, most of the franchises had their own individual logos and identities and were created by the franchise holders for their own use and identification within the network. From 1981, a generic, 'blocky-looking' logo was used infrequently throughout the 1980s, often in a rainbow colouration for promos produced by the "Big 5" franchises (Thames Television, LWT, Granada Television, Yorkshire Television and ATV/Central Television), as well as holding slides used by some of the regions and Channel 4 (for cross-promotion purposes), but it was never used as the centrepiece of an identity.

A new generic ITV logo was introduced on 1 September 1989 and accompanied a first-time, 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 arctic tern, a couple in period dress, Big Ben, an athlete, and a pair of dancers before the regional ITV logo is re-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:

The look was dropped at various times depending on region:

On 5 October 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.

On 8 November 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.

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