Ben Blank, who as graphics director for CBS and later ABC television news introduced the concept of using logolike images behind anchors as signatures for major news coverage, died on Feb. 3 at his home in Teaneck, N.J. He was 87.

The cause was complications of a stroke suffered three years ago, said his daughter Karen Blank.

Mr. Blank invented novel ways of presenting on-air visual information, illustration and symbols, and in so doing helped transform the appearance and content of network evening news.

“He was, indeed, a pioneer of television graphics at a time when his artistry and genius were all we had to demonstrate a complicated story,” the former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite said in an e-mail message reported on NorthJersey.com.

Image Ben Blank in 1982 during his tenure at ABC. Credit... ABC News

For most of the 1950s, television news broadcasts, in black and white, were visually austere. Anchors sat at small desks with a simple clock or map hanging on the wall behind them; often the name of a sponsor was displayed in front. Mr. Blank, a cartoonist for four years in the Air Force who was hired by CBS as a graphic designer in 1953, believed that to pique and retain the viewer’s interest, it was necessary to provide a visual mnemonic that would serve as a logo for the story. This was especially useful when a photograph or film was difficult to obtain on deadline. The image, known in TV news-speak as the “over-the-shoulder” graphic, could be repeated as needed to show narrative continuity from day to day. Mr. Blank also called it the “think-quick visual.”