ITV Granada - Identity

Identity

Throughout its history, Granada used the logo of an arrow pointing northwards in idents often accompanied by the tagline 'from the North'. Sidney Bernstein wanted to present a northern identity. Granada Television was considered bolder than other franchisees and the BBC, and placed great emphasis displaying the northern style which distinguished it from them. Bernstein believed the north had untapped creative energy that needed cultivation.

In 1958, two years after its launch, Granada's northern style was apparent. Kenneth Clark, of the Independent Television Authority (ITA) which let the franchise, remarked: "We did not quite foresee how much Granada would develop a character which distinguishes it most markedly from the other programmes companies and from the BBC." Peter Salmon, of the BBC said: "Granada made TV programmes in the north; for northerners, reflecting northern culture and attitudes."

From the its launch in 1956 until 1968, when the pointed 'G' logo was introduced, the channel used captions and animations featuring a thin arrow pointing upwards and Granada, in a stylised font, in boxes. The arrow pointed at the "n" in Granada, pointing north and sometimes animated revealing the slogan 'From the North', before the Granada name. The pointed 'G' was originally white on a grey background but after the introduction of colour, grey was substituted for blue, with the name in yellow.

A colour emblem was used from the 1970s until it was replaced by a series of idents to celebrate Granada's 30th anniversary in 1986, when it was an animated, 3D pointed "G" against a graded background and a cake covered in candles in the pointed G shape. In 1987 Granada reverted to using a caption featuring a gold or chrome 3D pointed 'G' on a graded blue background.

Granada used in-vision continuity featuring northern personalities giving messages. It was common for the logo to be seen for a few seconds after the continuity before the programme, and continuity was rarely given over the symbol.

In 1989, Granada launched a look featuring a translucent pointed G which rotated into place in time to the music against a natural scene. When the first ITV generic look was launched, Granada refused to adopt it, because the Granada logo was incorrectly inserted into the 'V' segment of the logo. The company used a version where its translucent logo was used at the beginning, before continuing with the generic ident and ending with the generic ITV logo. In 1990, Granada in the run up to the 1990 franchise round, relaunched its on screen branding to a blue stripe descending from the top of the screen, containing the pointed 'G', against a plain white background accompanied by the same music as previously. Variations were seen from which the stripe formed from a falling feather or was backlit. In 1992 the stripe descended, revealing a rainbow of colours before becoming the usual blue. In 1994 Granada introduced a series of films featuring flags with its logo against various scenes in the region, accompanied by the slogan 'Setting the Standard'. These introduced local programming, Granada Reports, or promotions.

In 1995 the stripe theme was modified; the pointed 'G' was larger on the blue stripe against a computer generated multicoloured background and the 'G' was created by filming a large perspex 'G' with motion control photography. This ident was used, from a variety of angles, until 1999, when additional idents based on surreal surroundings such as a fish blowing a bubble with a G inside, which floated to the surface, or a camera zoom into the eye of a housewife to reveal the G in her eye were introduced.

All the idents were replaced in 1999 when Granada took the generic hearts idents. Granada kept the pointed G logo, made slightly thinner and placed in a box at the top of the screen. The dual branding of Granada and ITV lasted until 28 October 2002, when regional identities were dropped in favour of the ITV1 brand. The celebrities ident package featured plain ITV1 idents for all national programmes, and Granada placed under the ITV1 logo for regional programme. This practice continued until 2006, when no name was used, and Granada Productions was replaced with ITV Productions on programme end boards. The Granada logo continued on end boards until this date. The Granada name was used on announcements before local programming over a generic ITV1 ident until all non news regional programming was scrapped.