BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), founded in London on 28 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, is one of the world's largest broadcasters.

1958–1963
The first version of the BBC blocks was introduced circa 1958, consisting of square blocks containing italic BBC letters. The font is thought to be a variation of Univers.

1963–1971
In 1963, the blocks became slanted to match the angle of the letters.

1971–1988
Then, in 1971, the corners of the blocks became round. These first three versions of the blocks were used mainly for the television services (with, where necessary, the addition of a fourth block containing "tv", "1" or "2"), and on associated merchandise. The Corporation's national and local radio stations, for the most part, retained their own identities.

1997–present
In 1997, with the Internet growing in popularity and digital television on the horizon, the BBC commissioned Lambie-Nairn to design a modernised logo. which includes new, simpler version of the blocks.

This version abolished the slants and the coloured lines in favour of simple square blocks containing upright letters, in Gill Sans font. According to Lambie-Nairn, this choice of font was particularly appropriate for the BBC: "The sculptured panels and Prospero and Ariel statue which adorn Broadcasting House were created by Eric Gill in the 1930s. And by choosing a typeface that has stood the test of time, we avoid the trap of going down a modish route that might look outdated in several years time."

The logo was introduced across all of the BBC's TV and radio services on October 4, 1997. At first, the services all followed a consistent scheme, whereby the name of each would appear to the right of the logo in the same font.



The above image shows the logo system for BBC's TV channels from 1991, 1997, 2001-2002 and 2006-2007. When the new logo was launched in 1997, the logo system was very simple with just the BBC logo and the service name on the right, all in one font. Between November 2001 & March 2002, the BBC started introducing variants on those logos, were the service name became bigger and the BBC logo was stacked on top. They also introduced boxes to bound the logos. In 2006, the similarities started dissolving further when the service names were written different fonts.Internally, the logo is known as the BBC blocks. Currently, this is the longest-used logo by the BBC. Should it still be in use by 2016, it would be the longest-used logo on screen, overtaking the 1971-1988 BBC logo.

1927–1988
Shortly after receiving its first Royal Charter in 1927, the BBC was granted its own armorials by the College of Arms.

The British lion forms the 'crest' of the arms, and the thunderbolt it holds is a heraldic way of representing broadcasting. The eagles form the 'supporters', and represent speed, while the bugles they wear round their necks symbolise public proclamation.

On the shield is the globe surrounded by seven stars, which represent the other seven planets in the Solar System and hence reflect the scope and breadth of the Corporation. Finally, the motto, "Nation shall speak peace unto nation", is based on verses from the Old Testament (Micah 4:3 and Isaiah 2:4).

1988–present
An updated Coat of Arms was introduced with the underlined BBC logo (see below) in 1988, retaining all the properties of the original arms but making them appear more defined.