BBC Sounds

Official Websites

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds

Brand Guidelines

2018

Brand Summary

Mission

• To bring cohesion and quality control to imagery appearing in BBC Sounds and third-party on-demand audio platforms, ensuring consistency and a premium look for BBC Sounds in a competitive environment [^1].

Core Values

• consistency
• quality
• premium look
• clarity
• impact
• editorial proposition

Target Audience

• Users of BBC Sounds and third-party audio platforms, including listeners of radio, music, and podcasts [^2].

Personality Traits

• modern
• dynamic
• bold
• expressive
• artistic

Visual Identity Overview

• The visual identity emphasizes bold, high-contrast imagery, dynamic brushstroke-style shapes, vivid colors (especially orange and black), uncluttered layouts, and a mix of presenter photography, illustration, and graphic elements. Images are designed to be clear, impactful, and easily recognizable across various formats and platforms [^3].

Categories

Brand Imagery

• The main image used to represent a radio programme. For radio shows it is often a presenter picture, though this can be a graphic or illustrated image.
• Images created for - Schedule pages - BBC Sounds (a square crop version) - 3rd Party radio player/ podcast site

Color Palette

• The photography style for presenters is natural and expressive. The background is minimal. For colour photography, the backgrounds will be rendered with different tints of from the BBC Sounds colour palette.
• People will make a split-second decision based on what they see. Try to create an image with impact, simplicity and clarity of tone and purpose. It should convey the editorial proposition of your podcast at a glance.
• Thinks about how your podcast will look alongside others in popular apps. What will make ot stand out? Dark backgrounds, strong colours and direct imagery can draw the eye

Logo Usage

• BBC Blocks and radio network logos should be avoided in brand and episode images which will appear in BBC Sounds. Logo’s should only be applied to images which are being used externally to BBC platforms.
• A BBC or Network logo should always be used for podcasts available in 3rd party spaces. To ensure brand attribution the logo should always appear either top left or right of the image. The minimum size for the BBC blocks is shown below. This ensures that the logo is legible even when in the smallest space.
• Logos can appear either top left or right
• Clearance area of SBC blocks only= m @ 50%
• Clearance area of all other stations= m@ 100%

Visual Style

• The image should feature a bold, black background with large, dynamic, brushstroke-style shapes in bright orange across the central and upper left area, creating a sense of movement and energy. In the top left corner, there should be an orange rectangular banner with white text reading ‘2. Image Ecosystem’, clearly visible and contrasting with the background. The overall layout emphasizes a modern, graphic design style with high contrast, vivid colors, and a focus on the textual element in the upper left corner. No other elements or details are necessary for this depiction.
• The image should feature a bright pink background occupying the entire frame, with a yellow banana centered horizontally and positioned slightly towards the bottom of the image. The banana is stylized with black accents highlighting its contours and details, giving it a graphic, illustrative appearance. The banana is somewhat curved, with the stem on the left side and the tip pointing to the right. The top edge of the image has a solid dark pink or red horizontal bar running across the entire width, creating a boundary element at the top. The overall composition is simple, with a focus on the contrasting colors and the bold, graphic style of the banana against the vivid pink background.
• The picture should depict a woman seated in a recording studio or radio station environment, wearing a bright yellow dress with floral patterns and ruffled short sleeves. Her face is blurred to obscure identity. She is wearing large, black over-ear headphones and is positioned in front of a professional microphone hanging from a boom arm, labeled with the number ‘1’ and the BBC Radio 1 logo. The background appears dark, with some equipment or furniture faintly visible, and there should be a clear focus on the woman, the microphone, and the headphones, indicating a recording or broadcasting setup with subdued, professional lighting.
• The picture should feature a solid bright pink background with the BBC Radio 4 logo positioned near the top, consisting of a white circle containing the number ‘4’ in pink, and the small uppercase letters ‘BBC RADIO’ above it in white. Below this, the words ‘Comedy of the Week’ should be prominently displayed in large, bold white text, with ‘Comedy’ in a serif font and ‘of the Week’ in a slightly smaller size. Dominating the lower section of the image, there should be a vivid yellow banana with black accents, curved slightly to the right, with a black outline emphasizing its shape and contours. The overall layout should be simple and striking, with the banana acting as a central visual element adding an element of humor and visual interest to the graphic.

Layout And Composition

• The main image used to represent a radio programme. For radio shows it is often a presenter picture, though this can be a graphic or illustrated image. Images created for - Schedule pages - BBC Sounds (a square crop version) - 3rd Party radio player/ podcast site
• Producers often source images relevant to a specific episode for example when a guest is on air or there’s a specific theme to the show Images created for - Schedule page thumbnails when episodes are listed together - BBC Sounds station picker - BBC Sounds on demand listening - Social Media links
• Images created for - 3rd party pod cast sites - The 16:9 square cropped clean (no logo) version of the podcast image is used in BBC Sounds

Additional Properties