Opinion: The BBC's new Glastonbury logo is correct, if controversial

Date
26 June 2013

This week Rob Alderson looks at Studio Output’s new logo for the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage and argues it is the right way to reflect an event that is much-changed. As ever you can add your thoughts using the thread below…

It’s Glastonbury this weekend. You may well be aware of this because your social media feeds are starting to be choked with A) Insufferably smug friends looking ahead to the weekend’s festivities or B) The melodramatic, teeth-gnashing wails of those who failed to procure tickets and are determined to wallow in toddler-esque bitterness. Glastonbury has become a kind of middle class rite of passage, a sort of national service for the 21st Century whereby only those who have submitted to the rituals can be considered fully-formed human beings.

The BBC add to the madness and are sending 296 staff to cover this year’s festival (according to The Daily Mail, so you know, pinch of salt and all that). But leaving aside any tubthumping over licence-fee-payers‘ money (the Mail are all over that) what’s interesting is that this year the Beeb have launched a new identity for its coverage from the famous festival. They commissioned the ever-impressive Studio Output to work up the new look, which according to the agency’s press release was in response to “the festival’s growth and evolution, and the increase in demand for coverage.”

Evolution is an interesting word. Many have bemoaned the increasingly mainstream nature of Glastonbury over recent years and the co-opting of this once-alternative Eden into something very, very different. Interestingly the design team responsible for the new logo were encouraged to “Think Beyoncé!”

As a piece of graphic design I really like what Studio Output have done. The representation of the iconic Pyramid Stage through the dynamic lighting effects – which works particularly well in its moving image manifestation – is a powerfully, communicative touch.

And my feeling is they have nailed their brief. While sometimes new identities are part of an ongoing repositioning of a brand, this feels more like an ex post facto reflection of something that has already happened. How the Glastonbury TV audience take to it remains to be seen…

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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