Logopedia
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This page only shows primary logo variants.
For other related logos and images, see:
1958–1963 1963–1992 1971–1992 1988–1998 1997–2021 2021–present
1958–1963 1963–1992 1971–1992 1988–1998 1997–2021 2021–present

The BBC is a British public service broadcaster founded in 1922. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London, and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation. Besides the UK, it is the most well-known public broadcaster in the world, with a worldwide presence.

1958–1963

BBC 1950s
Designer:  Abram Games
Typography:  Old Gothic Bold Italic
Launched:  22 September 1958

The first incarnation of the BBC "blocks" logo was created in 1958. This logo consisted of square boxes with "BBC" in italics inside them. In 1953, Abram Games was commissioned to design an on-air image.

1963–1992

BBC 1 logo 1964
Designer:  Abram Games
Typography:  Old Gothic Bold Italic
Launched:  30 September 1963

On 30 September 1963, the boxes were also made slanted like the letters. This type of logo would go on captions at the end of productions as well as on cameras and other equipment. 1964 saw the creation of both of its channels BBC1 and BBC2, with the distinctive horizontal stripes across the screen. This logo and the 1971 logo continued to be used alongside the next logo until 27 December 1992.

1971–1992

BBC 1970s
Designer:  Abram Games
Typography:  Old Gothic Bold Italic
Launched:  circa February 1971

In 1971, a new logo was made by rounding off the boxes, making the spaces between them larger. A corporate identity was getting more and more essential to ensuring that the audience knew it was authentic and that the quality programmes they were watching could be attributed to the BBC. This logo and the 1963 logo continued to be used alongside the next logo until 27 December 1992.

1988–1998

BBC (1988)
Designer:  Michael Peters
Typography:  Helvetica Neue Black Oblique (logotype)
Futura Condensed Italic Oblique (sub brand)
Launched:  May 1988

In May 1988, the BBC launched yet another new logo, designed by Michael Peters. The logo was modified by sharpening up the parallelogram edges again and set to an angle of 17 degrees without reducing the size of the spaces between the boxes. The text was also sharpened up to make it match the clarity of the logo itself - the typeface used was Helvetica Neue. Also, under-logo lines were added for the first time. These lines were coloured blue, red, and green to reflect the flags of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as the three phosphors of colour television. Despite the 1997 rebrand, this logo continued to be used as an in-credit logo and with the BBC Radio Clwyd logo until the radio station eventually shut down in August 1998.

1997–2021

BBC 1997
Designer:  Lambie-Nairn
Typography:  Gill Sans
Launched:  4 October 1997

On 4 October 1997, in honour of the corporation's 75th anniversary, the BBC launched a new logo and corporate identity, designed by Martin Lambie-Nairn. All its channels and services introduced a new logo scheme on that day, consisting of the BBC logo and the service name in one line. At the same time, its terrestrial channels BBC1 and BBC2 were also renamed as BBC One and BBC Two.

The three lines of the 1988 logo were removed from the logo, and the boxes and letters were also straightened up, making the boxes look similar to the 1958 logo. The typeface used is Gill Sans, made by Eric Gill in 1926. By 2002, most services were using a different design with the logo and name on top of each other in a box. This logo is the longest-lived in the history of the BBC, having been used for 24 years until the partial 2021 rebrand.

Since 2017, the BBC has been slowly replacing Gill Sans with BBC Reith Sans and Serif, with the first being BBC Sport, followed by BBC Alba, BBC Studios after its merger with BBC Worldwide, then BBC Two's rebranding, then BBC Scotland's channel launch, then BBC News, the news channel, BBC World News, and most recently, BBC Radio and BBC Local Radio. Although BBC Four continued to use Gill Sans in the logo until 2021.

Although the BBC launched its new logo in October 2021 (see below), this logo continues to be used on some other BBC properties in 2024 such as BBC Parliament (Channel).

2021–present

BBC 2021
Designer:  BBC Creative
BBC UX&D
Wolff Olins
Dalton Maag (font)
Typography:  BBC Reith (custom-designed)

Logo uses BBC Reith Sans Bold

Launched:  16 December 2020 (reveal)

Early 2021 (soft-launch)
20 October 2021 (full rebrand)

In 2021, it was revealed that the BBC was planning on rolling out a refresh of the Lambie-Nairn logo. The iconic boxes are subtly squared up and spaced outwards. The new lettering is in BBC Reith, the BBC's proprietary font, introduced in 2017 and designed by Dalton Maag. The rebranding was soft-launched in early 2021 in the BBC News beta app, and internationally through BBC Studios's streaming service BBC Select in North America, and BBC Kids in Australia.

The BBC and its main terrestrial channels including BBC One rebranded on 20 October, as well as its radio station BBC Radio 1, which began using this logo on 2 November, replacing the Gill Sans logo after 24 years. BBC News also rebranded to include the Reith Sans logo on 25 April 2022, and CBBC and CBeebies rebranded to use the new logo on 15 March 2023. Despite this, BBC Parliament still uses the Gill Sans logo (see above).

BBC Coat of Arms

1927–1988

BBCarms27
Designer:  College of Arms
Typography:  Unknown
Launched:  Unknown

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 symbolize 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

Current BBC coat of arms

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

External links

BBC Trust for governance
BBC Board
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