Martin Lambie-Nairn has died

Well this is very sad news to end the year. The reason I started TV Home was down to the 2s and the balloon. C4, Carlton, UKTV, BBC News...even the o2 brand I've always really liked since its launch.

It was an absolute pleasure to meet Martin back in 2001. I'm not entirely convinced he knew who I was or what on earth the website was, but was still very amiable and his signed book sits proudly on my shelf!

It was nice to see him interviewed on the recent Sound of TV, I expected to see him occasionally pop up on TV or online for many years to come. It's a shame there was never a 1-on-1 interview of his catalogue of work over the years. That would have been an amazing talk to go to. I'm sure a whole generation of designers and creatives today have been hugely influenced by all the work he did.

I'll raise a glass to him this evening. It would be lovely if BBC One could somehow do a little tribute at the end of the night.

This is heartbreaking to hear. May he Rest In Peace.

And here's the article that BBC News has in their Entertainment & Arts section: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55465330

This is very sad news. It's easy to forget just how groundbreaking the original Channel 4 logo was, combining the sheer simplicity of the concept and the quality of its execution.



I remember Martin speaking at BFI event on TV branding several years ago. One point he made, and often not acknowledged, is how political some of his work was - particularly overcoming internal opposition to the rebranding of BBC News.

Martin did publish a book on his work in 1997 - it would be fitting for it to be reprinted.

Here's an excellent article about the BBC One and Two idents by Graham Kibble-White for TV Years magazine:

It would be nice if the BBC and Channel 4 could arrange to play one his classic idents in tribute at an agreed time and date.
His legacy and contribution to tv deserves it.

I'll just leave this here - letting the man talking about his BBC rebranding work.


Night Martin. Thank you for your work.

Just got a mention on Channel 4 News complete with a playing of the blocks ident.

Worzel already posted that.

Just saw this at the end of the Six - very sad news. RIP.

If you can get hold of a copy, his book 'Brand Identity for Television... with knobs on' is a great retrospective of his work up to the late 90s. A friend found one in a charity shop and got it for me last Christmas, so I guess my interest in pres is obvious enough - and Martin's work is one of the things that got me into it. A sad loss, but his legacy will live on for a long time.

Here's the brief mention on the BBC News at Six:

Yes, let's hope their upcoming 2021 rebrand won't change this iconic symbol of French television.