Martin Lambie-Nairn has died

I'm gutted after hearing of this man's passing.

Martin Lambie-Nairn was a modern day graphic design legend in the world of British broadcasting design. His terrific work had shone through British TV screens & overseas inside people's homes for decades. The legacy that he leaves behind from his level of talent was that it was one of a kind as it put British TV channels on the map in how they could be served to a modern audience. BBC News is one brand that leaves a lasting impression on me as, along with David Lowe's iconic theme music, it has iconic status around the world & it's viewed by hundreds of millions of people who live in countries all around the world. It is by far one of the best news brands to come out of the UK within a generation that is strengthened by Lambie-Nairn's great level of talent & high standard consistency.

My other design highlights from Lambie-Nairn's work is the BBC One globe, BBC Two 2's, The Channel 4 block idents, the Euronews rebrand from 1998. They were masterpieces of british television design. I hope that his work will live on for many generations to come.

RIP Martin. It's a pity that I never met you in real life. However; from us TV presentation design fans; your legacy will never be forgotten.

I'm guessing whoever wrote that script was old school.

Only fitting that BBC One ditch their current “branding” and bring back the balloon, as a tribute.

Im only half joking. Such a brilliant identity & coherent concept; ‘ BBC1 bringing the world to every corner of the UK ’.

It was always going to be quite a big ask to cover the story on the news, and at the same time make it accessible to most viewers who won’t be aware of him or know terms like “idents”

As well as the current BBC News did he do the flags as well?
Did he do BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge?
Did he do the ITN News Channel as well, or was that someone else?

When Oneness launched, I actually sent an (admittedly ill-advised) email to him to ask him to help bring BBC1 back to its former ident glory of 20 years previously. His reply was both fascinating and touching, and the fact he went to such lengths to write it was a credit to his care and consideration. He really will be missed.

Absolutely right in what he says about the balloon and saying what we all thought about Lorraine Heggessey at the time. She was clueless.

He's was very much correct, presentation is very much lead by the Marketing team these days. Painful page filling jargon at a time.

Hey, lookit! Prototype Channel 4 logos! [image comes from a friend of mine]



From the ML-N book mentioned earlier... "Brand Identity for Television... with knobs on"

Wait, wasn’t that first one mooted as a potential replacement for the blocks in 1992? I thought Matt Forrest’s Snapper Films did that, not M L-N?

It does look a bit similar to that, doesn't it? Coincidence, I would think...

I'm glad they stuck with the blocks

The Channel 4 logo having 9 blocks and 5 colours would never had made sense to the marketing folk - and it's baffled me even more they even contemplated replacing it with a 3 block, 3 colour verison. Slimming it down to 4 you could perhaps understand.