ITV today shared the first details of its major, business-wide rebrand - which will see a new unifying brand identity for ITV plc, ITV Network, and ITV's content and distribution businesses, domestic and international, from January 2013.

The brand development work is linked to ITV's Transformation plan, and has been led by Group Director of Marketing and Research Rufus Radcliffe, Director of Network Marketing, Reemah Sakaan, and Creative Director of ITV, Phil Lind.

"In an ever more crowed market place the need for a modern, flexible brand identity that connects with our viewers and customers has never been more important," said Radcliffe. "Big, bold and creatively ambitious, it will be true to our DNA as a brand at the heart of popular culture."

The new logo forms the basis of all ITV's branding domestically and internationally, and has been described as a "warm, bold design" based on a formalised version of human handwriting, comprising of five colours, in its static state.

When the logo appears on coloured background, such as marketing images for ITV programmes - it will adapt and change according to the background colour scheme of the image. This colour picking technique means that the logo can be dynamic, shifting tone along with the content, reflecting and blending with the mood of different shows.

Within the ITV broadcast business, the family of UK channels will all have a new on-air look, with ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, and CiTV receiving new colour schemes, clearer brand propositions, and accompanying updated brand identities.

To strengthen affinity between the overall brand, and the network's flagship channel - ITV1 from January 2013 will be known as simply, ITV.

Constituent sub brands within the ITV main channel will also receive new on-air brand identities and colour schemes, such as ITV News and ITV Sport; and the ITV Player and online estate will also be rebranded.

The on-air changes will be visible from January 2013, and in addition to new brand identities, the ITV network broadcast business will have a brand new creative style in promotional junctions.