This colourful logo was used by Channel 4 from its launch on 2 November 1982; however, the basic design has been used from its inception, with minor design element changes since.
On screen, the symbol would appear as computer animated blocks hurled onto the screen. It was designed by Lambie-Nairn and was accompanied by a tune, entitled "Fourscore", composed by David Dundas, which was so famous it would later be made into a (nowadays very rare) vinyl single credited to "The Airwave Orchestra". At the time, there was no computer that was able to animate the logo in the UK, so the animation was done by Bo Gehring in Los Angeles.
This logo was briefly used again for its 25th anniversary in 2007, and again in Christmas 2020 to commemorate the death of Martin Lambie-Nairn and 2021 to promote the channel's new five-part drama, It's a Sin.
1996–1999[]
Designer:
Tomato
Typography:
Unknown
Launched:
11 October 1996
On 11 October 1996, Channel 4 launched a new identity which was created in-house by the television channel. The new identity was called "Connections" and was based on four circles, one of which included the Channel 4 figure.
Tomato revamped the modern "4", which resulted in the "Circles" idents showing four white circles forming up transparently over various scenes, with the 1982 logo depicted in white in one of the circles.
On 2 April 1999[1], Spin redesigned the logo to feature in a single square which sat on the right-hand side of the screen, whilst various stripes would move along from left to right, often lighting the squared "4" up. However, this logo was used at the very right of the FilmFour logo from launch in 1998. Like the previous "Circles" idents from 1996, the stripes would be interspersed with various scenes potentially related to the upcoming programme.
4Creative (design) MPC (animation/VFX) Rudd Studio (branding) Fontsmith (font)
Typography:
Unknown
Launched:
31 December 2004
Channel 4 introduced a new identity on 31 December 2004. The new identity was conceived in-house by 4Creative and allows the blocks in the logo to break apart. In most graphics, the logo appears as above, white on white, with darker "shadowed" areas on the sides. The new idents feature the logo made up of various objects. Usually, the camera will pan through a scene with the logo only appearing in a split second from a certain angle.
An updated graphics package was launched with new idents on 22 October 2010.
On 29 September 2015, Channel 4 updated their logo to a variant of the 1982 logo. Initially, the full logo wouldn't be seen on idents, bumpers, and promo end-boards, as the nine blocks that make up the logo appear separately on-air instead. Both fonts were also created for the channel; Horseferry and Chadwick, which are named after the streets surrounding the headquarters in London.
By the end of June 2017, Channel 4 updated its on-air presentation slightly, with the full logo now appearing once again in break bumpers and promo end-boards.
A new set of idents featuring a silver blocky giant figure made out of the '4' logo blocks called the iron giant and an updated acoustic version of the Fourscore theme debuted on 31 October 2017.
2 November 2022 (Channel 4 ident, DOG and break bumpers)
On 2 November 2022, to celebrate their 40th anniversary, Channel 4 updated their on-screen DOG and break bumpers on their main linear channels (4, 4 HD and 4 +1) - to include a new logo (a thinner version of the 4 logo used by Channel 4.0, which was announced 2 weeks earlier). Later on in the day, before the Channel 4 News at 7pm was shown, they also introduced a new ident based off of the new break bumpers, which was used alongside the four 2017 Giant idents.
On the same day, Channel 4 Press announced a restructuring of the Channel 4 brand as a whole, as well as a brand refresh for all of Channel 4's linear channels, which will take place in early 2023 to blur the lines between their linear and digital services. They also announced that their on-demand streaming service, All 4, will soon simply be called "Channel 4".
Channel 4 launched a new on-screen presentation on 3 May 2023, which included updated variants of the 2022 idents and break bumpers with a green logo instead of a white one. Another new set of idents was later launched on 14 June 2023.
