Rebranding is never an easy task. There are many considerations when adjusting key design elements that are strongly associated with your business, such as logo, website, and colors.

So when an institution like the BBC makes a play at changing part of its iconic branding, it's unlikely to pass unnoticed, and there is sure to be heavy scrutiny.

And so it proved this week, when a new logo was revealed for the channel BBC Three, which will be switching from television to purely online.

The old BBC Three logo

The channel launched in 2003 with a blue and white color scheme, before moving to its more recognizable branding from 2008.

The BBC Three Logo Design used between 2008 and 2016

The logo showed the word "Three" in a bold magenta color below the more traditional black boxes and white "BBC" lettering.

The typography, which merged the 'r' into the 'h' indicated a move away from the conventional and represented the slightly edgier programming on the channel.

What does the new logo achieve successfully?

BBC Three Logo Design launched in January 2016

The new logo is made up of two white bars and an exclamation mark on the same pink color background, with the "BBC" letters above.

The corporation has claimed it wanted to be "bold", which the color choice certainly suggests, and "create something that looks forward and will be around for years to come".

As we've previously discussed, a logo also has to be able to scale, and fit across multiple channels, which this latest design does, as bosses said they need it to work across TV and as an app icon.

The three bars provide a minimalist design, but also work to represent the fact the new channel is founded on three principles - "make me think", "make me laugh", and "give me a voice", illustrated by the exclamation mark.

Why does the new BBC Three logo fail?

Social media reacted largely in condemnation of the logo, claiming it in fact seems to say "BBC 2!" In Roman numerals.

Others have pointed out the three bars could have been taken from an episode of the BBC's self-mocking satirical comedy show W1A.

So, despite the positive rhetoric from BBC sources, and the quoted justification and reasoning for the design, it highlights the difficulty of executing a rebrand that will satisfy all.

BBC Three Logo Design appears to have alignment issues

From a technical point of view, there do appear to be a couple of discrepancies which to the trained eye, make it unsuccessful.

Firstly, the verticals are not aligned, as the bars have been re-sized to fit within the parameters of the original BBC logo.

The bars would either have to be the same width, or centered to the squares, although this too would cause disruption to the balance of the logo.

BBC Three Logo Design appears to have inharmonious spacing

Also, it fails to accomplish harmonious design, as the spacing between the elements differs. The gap between the BBC squares and within the negative space lettering appears to the naked eye to be smaller than the gap between the line and dot of the exclamation mark.

Whatever your thoughts on the overall design, small details and apparent oversights on any logo can have a significant impact on its reception and effectiveness.

What could be improved about the BBC Three logo?

If you listen to opinions of the online critics, any improvement can only be achieved by going back to the drawing board.

The risk with doing that is it will be extremely costly, and will suggest the corporation is buckling to initial public reaction.

What must be remembered is, as with any rebrand, the released design is likely to have passed through multiple tests and levels of senior approval. No rebranding should be made on a whim, and what may prove unpopular initially shouldn't be easily dismissed just because the audience isn't used to it (see pretty much every Facebook news feed update...people get used to it).

So assuming the BBC bosses will stick by their principles, a simple adjustment to the spacing on the exclamation mark will at least make a few design purist a little happier.

Want More?

Knowing when and how to rebrand your business is crucial to its ongoing success. Find out how to ensure your new design assets work well for you.

When Should You Consider A Rebrand For Your Business?

The 10 Decisions You Will Make When Designing Your Logo

Why Small Business Should Start Crowdsourcing Branding and Graphic Design

Written by Kevin Bradford on Thursday, January 7, 2016

Kevin Bradford is a content editor at DesignCrowd with a background in journalism and digital production. Experienced in both writing and videography, he loves combining his skills to create captivating content across all multimedia channels.