Designing the BBC

A History of Motion Graphics

Iain Macdonald, Paula Williams

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2025
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350382282
• Topic: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Subtopic: Medios digitales

Designing the BBC is a compelling history of the groundbreaking work of the BBC's Television Graphic Design Department from 1954 to 2021.

Drawing on the unique content of the BBC Motion Graphics Archive and the first-hand perspectives of former BBC staff, this book provides a timely overview of more than 60 years of the BBC's innovative practice within motion graphics.

Former BBC staff and leading design and television studies scholars investigate the archive, bring cultural memories to life and reflect on the Graphic Design Department's lasting impact. They consider the graphic design of a range of TV genres, including household favourites such as Doctor Who; sports programming such as Grandstand and big sporting events like the Olympics; children's television including Grange Hill; popular science programmes such as Tomorrow's World; news output such as The Nine O'Clock News, Election Night specials, the weather and the channel idents of BBC 2 and BBC One.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Illustrations
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Branding the BBC: The cultural and creative impact of identity
• Chapter 2: Painting with sound: Musical improvizations in the creation of the BBC’s idents
• Chapter 3: Consistency or change?: Top of the Pops’ meandering journey towards a sense of self
• Chapter 4: Blue Peter: ‘Here’s one I made earlier’
• Chapter 5: A play in themselves: Drama titles and graphics
• Chapter 6: Doctor Who: Motion graphics for a Time Lord
• Chapter 7: Global circulations, national traditions: BBC Motion Graphics and Canadian television
• Chapter 8: The Old School Cool: Youth Culture and Multiculturalism in Pre-2000s Britain
• Chapter 9: Revolutionary practices: No width, no speed
• Chapter 10: A hybrid creator’s tool: The introduction of Quantel Paintbox
• Chapter 11: Drawn to Paintbox
• Chapter 12: The best technique for the job: Making the right choices for the right reasons
• Chapter 13: BBC Open University: Moving education design from analogue to digital
• Chapter 14: Digital pathfinders: The BBC Computer Graphics Workshop 1980 to 1987
• Chapter 15: BBC Sport of dash and dare
• Chapter 16: ‘. . . and now for the News’: Television, probably: The age of cardboard
• Chapter 17: Breakfast Time: To infinity and beyond
• Chapter 18: News 24/7
• Epilogue
• Appendix
• References
• Index