BTCopied

BT has worn many identities since privatisation in the 1980s, from the 1990s Piper to the connected world globe it used in various forms from 2003. In May 2019 the Guardian reported that, after years of development and delays, chief executive Philip Jansen had confirmed a new logo: the letters BT in a circle. A trademark had just been filed, and BT tied the change to a plan to make every employee a shareholder as a first step to becoming a national champion.

The design was by London studio Red&White. Founder and creative director Paul Franklin told Dezeen the brief was a more modern and useful identity, changing perceptions of BT from an old-fashioned telecoms company to a forward-facing technology company. The old globe had been made for a pre-digital world, before smartphones. Because everyone knows BT, he said, the studio could have the confidence to be really simple; the idea was a symbol that reads like a quality mark or Kitemark.

Much of the work was brand architecture. Franklin said the business had grown siloed and the brand fragmented, citing BT Sport's logo shoved into a lozenge. The project redesigned logo, iconography, typography, photography, products and digital platforms into one system of roundels, with a BT typeface by Dalton Maag. The full identity launched for BT's 50th birthday, and the logo went onto England football shirts after a deal with the FA.

It's Nice That called the reaction muted; discount chain Poundland even mocked it on social media. Franklin answered the jibe that it took four years to make two letters and a circle: it takes four years to go around a business that size and make everyone comfortable.

The Guardian placed the logo inside a morale campaign. A spokesperson said the mark symbolised real change, and the chief executive paired it with a plan to give each of BT's 100,000 employees £500 of shares a year from 2020. The paper also listed the company's identities since privatisation, from the 1990s Piper to the connected world globe used since 2003, and warned that rebrands are risky, citing Royal Mail's brief life as Consignia. A plain circle with two letters is hard to ridicule, which may be the most valuable property a national champion's logo can have.

Franklin's defence is fair, and the system is more coherent than anything BT had before. But the mark itself is so neutral it borders on a placeholder. A Kitemark works because it certifies something; BT in a circle mostly certifies that BT exists.