Died: December 25, 2020. MARTIN Lambie-Nairn, who has died aged 75, was a designer whose work will be known to millions who have watched British terrestrial TV over the last 40 years or so, even if they don’t know the name of its creator. This came through a series of animated logos that gave both the BBC and Channel 4 their corporate identities. More recently, Lambie-Nairn was behind the oxygen bubbles ident for mobile phone network, O2. He was also the brains behind the original Spitting Image (1984-1996), which became one of the most iconic TV programmes of its era. The puppet-based satirical sketch show‘s grotesque rubber caricatures created by Peter Fluck and Roger Law matched the brash, no-holds-barred scurrilousness of its material. Running for a phenomenal 18 series, the programme was described as being “based on an original lunch with Martin Lambie-Nairn”.
Graphic designer Martin Lambie-Nairn dies aged 75
He was also co-creator of the satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image.
Lambie-Nairn was best known for his branding design for TV, which included creating the famous Blocks logo for Britain s Channel 4 when it launched in 1982. In 1990 he also created BBC Two s channel identity, which featured live-action aspects and was later produced using CGI.
A BBC Channel Two identity by Lambie-Nairn
His other television branding work included the hot-air-balloon globe identity for BBC One and ident packages for a number of other BBC channels, including CBeebies and BBC Four. The designer also created the ITN corporate logo and the title sequence for its News at Ten programme.