The Evolution of BBC’s Logo: From Gill Sans to Reith

The current BBC logo also sports a clean bespoke sans serif typeface. The BBC Reith font family is named after the broadcaster’s founder, John Reith, and was introduced in 2021. But the typeface was based closely on the previous BBC logo, which used Gill Sans, a humanist font designed by Eric Gill and first released by Monotype way back in 1928. Gill Sans was adopted for the BBC logo in 1997 to give a sense of robust authority and timeless reliability while also eliminating some of the problems with the previous logo, including the need for antialiasing when used at small sizes. Its flexibility made it ideal for using in infinite variations for different brands, departments and channels. Benetton’s Benetton Sans was also based on Gill Sans, while John Lewis and Tommy Hilfiger also based logos on the typeface. And a world away from these clean aesthetics, the Toy Story logo appears to be largely based on Gill Sans Heavy Bold, highlighting just how versatile this typeface can be!