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'A true titan of branding': tributes paid to iconic ident designer Martin Lambie-Nairn

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

December 29, 2020 | 7 min read

Martin Lambie-Nairn, the acclaimed designer behind BBC and Channel 4 idents, died aged 75 on Christmas day. Tributes have poured in from media and marketing colleagues, as well as the companies his unmistakable designs brought to life, to mark the passing of a man who helped "shape the public consciousness".

Lambie

'A true titan of branding': tributes paid to iconic ident designer Martin Lambie-Nairn / WPP

The designer was behind some of the most recognisable visuals in UK TV including Channel 4’s original block idents which persist to this day and key identifiers for BBC channels that many remember fondly. His eponymous agency also developed the bubble branding for O2.

He founded celebrated branding business Lambie-Nairn in 1990 before selling it in 1999 to WPP, which would later merge it into the new branding behemoth Superunion.

A statement from his branding agency ML-N said: "In a career spanning five decades, Martin was widely acknowledged as one of the leading graphic designers and creative directors of his generation.”

He also helped create, conceive and bank-roll political satire Spitting Image, one of the most memorable TV shows of the 1980s.

Former Apple design boss Sir Jony Ive said Lambie-Nairn “defined part of my visual landscape growing up”.

Further tributes from the late designer's colleagues and clients have flooded in:

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