Michael Graham-Smith

Michael Graham-Smith joined the BBC in 1972 as a Designer for the Open University production unit at Alexandra Palace. He moved in 1974 to the mainstream of motion graphics at Television Centre, where he worked on a broad spectrum of programmes and became a Senior Designer.

After leaving the BBC in 1994, Michael became a Professor in the Design Faculty of the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany, where he taught motion graphics to undergraduates and post-graduates for a decade, using state-of-the-art technology in a 12th Century building. He retired from his post in 2004, after winning with his students the Prix d’Or at the Anneçy Student Animation Festival.

In his interview he describes the making of some of his title sequences in detail and gives an insight into the highly collaborative nature of motion graphics work. 

Michael was responsible for initiating the project to create the BBC Motion Graphics Archive which was launched by the BBC and Ravensbourne University in March 2021, a testament to the close collaboration between the BBC Archive, the University’s digital projects manager and an advisory body of former BBC designers.