Great British Railways: Livery, branding and appearance?

[cr767055]

I quite like that version; I think I might like it even more if the black and the red were blue instead though. A bit like this but without the fuzzy outline on the text and double arrow (caused by MS Paint's paint bucket tool):

I had a play around with this, and I agree, it looks much better. I just worry it won't integrate with the rest of the GBR design system without significant cost to rebranding existing totems, for example. But if money was no object, I've designed a GBR logo with blue replacing BR red. I really like it.






Also looked at these - I have mixed opinions...

 

[birchesgreen]

I had a play around with this, and I agree, it looks much better. I just worry it won't integrate with the rest of the GBR design system without significant cost to rebranding existing totems, for example. But if money was no object, I've designed a GBR logo with blue replacing BR red. I really like it.

Yes i like it, very clean and professional looking.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes i like it, very clean and professional looking.

It does look better than red. But we know that anyway - ScotRail is blue based, as was Regional Railways.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Apr 2022 ==

I had a play around with this, and I agree, it looks much better. I just worry it won't integrate with the rest of the GBR design system without significant cost to rebranding existing totems, for example. But if money was no object, I've designed a GBR logo with blue replacing BR red. I really like it.


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Also looked at these - I have mixed opinions...

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I quite like the top one - that sort of "cut off logo" works quite well as per the "Ox" into the wheel arch that the Oxford Bus Company uses.

The bottom one is basically Serco era Northern signage, and does look good to me, though I would go for a subtle double arrow in the bottom right as I said earlier, and omit the GBR text.

 

[Grumpy Git]

Still makes me cringe everytime I see/read 'Great' in front of anything British since this mob got in.

 

[Gareth]

It's the name of the island ffs. "Great" means "large", not "very good".

 

[py_megapixel]

It's the name of the island ffs. "Great" means "large", not "very good".

It means both - and its inclusion in the name when it's irrelevant (and also innacurate, as GBR won't cover the whole of Great Britain, but will cover the Isle of Wight which isn't in Great Britain) is clearly there to make a statement.

 

[Gareth]

No, it doesn't mean both.

And Great Britain is more often than not used to mean the whole of England/Scotland/Wales, excluding Northern Ireland - a legacy of the Kingdom of Great Britain, which existed from 1707 to 1800.

 

[Grumpy Git]

It's the name of the island ffs. "Great" means "large", not "very good".

As far as Shapps and his mates are concerned, it's all about wrapping themselves up in the flag and thus appealing to a certain section of the electorate. Apart from that it has no meaning whatsoever.

If you need any proof, they've also just done the same with 'Great British Nuclear'.

I think i'm gong to spew.

 

[py_megapixel]

No, it doesn't mean both.

Maybe not in the name "Great Britain", but it most certainly does it wider parlance. And when the "Great" is included in "Great Britain", especially in a political context such as this, it's generally because of the latter connotations, even if technically that isn't what it means.

 

[MattRat]

No, it doesn't mean both.

And Great Britain is more often than not used to mean the whole of England/Scotland/Wales, excluding Northern Ireland - a legacy of the Kingdom of Great Britain, which existed from 1707 to 1800.

Then why was the old version called British Railways, not Great British Railways, and why the change now for the new version if British Railways worked?

 

[Gareth]

Because it was a nationalised industry run by the British Government. GBR is not quite the same, so they no doubt want it to be seen as distinct; plus, it may not even be possible to call it BR, there might be legal implications (just a guess).

 

[birchesgreen]

Its Great Britain not Rubbish Britain, or something.

 

[MattRat]

Because it was a nationalised industry run by the British Government. GBR is not quite the same, so they no doubt want it to be seen as distinct; plus, it may not even be possible to call it BR, there might be legal implications (just a guess).

Except their is massive nostalgia for BR days. Why not capitalize on it?

 

[Gareth]

Because it's not going to be the same as BR. It'll be operated quite differently. Also, like I said, it's possible that they legally can't call it BR. GBR is similar enough to channel some continuity with BR but distinct enough to admit it's a different entity. Japan had JNR (Japan National Railways) and now, post nationalisation, it has JR (Japan Railways).

 

[zwk500]

Because it's not going to be the same as BR. It'll be operated quite differently. Also, like I said, it's possible that they legally can't call it BR. GBR is similar enough to channel some continuity with BR but distinct enough to admit it's a different entity. Japan had JNR (Japan National Railways) and now, post nationalisation, it has JR (Japan Railways).

Doesn't the DfT hold all the copyright and permissions/ownership to former BR material?

 

[Gareth]

Not sure but I was also thinking of the winding up arrangements that would've taken place at privatisation i.e. the handling/liability of pensions etc. There'll no doubt be someone on here who knows, one way or the other.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Except their is massive nostalgia for BR days. Why not capitalize on it?

Most of this nostalgia is from people who aren't old enough to remember just how rubbish latter day BR often was.

 

[MattRat]

Most of this nostalgia is from people who aren't old enough to remember just how rubbish latter day BR often was.

My point was it exists, rightly of wrongly, and would be easy for a government to take advantage of if they wanted to.

 

[StephenHunter]

Most of this nostalgia is from people who aren't old enough to remember just how rubbish latter day BR often was.

More middle days; they were improving quite a bit in the 1990s.

 

[Rhydgaled]

I had a play around with this, and I agree, it looks much better. I just worry it won't integrate with the rest of the GBR design system without significant cost to rebranding existing totems, for example. But if money was no object, I've designed a GBR logo with blue replacing BR red. I really like it.

Yes, that looks good. I didn't mean remove red from the brand altogether though, just the station nameboards on the platforms, so the logo on road signs and the totem outside the station would remain white-on-red as it has always been.

It does look better than red. But we know that anyway - ScotRail is blue based, as was Regional Railways.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Apr 2022 ==



I quite like the top one - that sort of "cut off logo" works quite well as per the "Ox" into the wheel arch that the Oxford Bus Company uses.

The bottom one is basically Serco era Northern signage, and does look good to me, though I would go for a subtle double arrow in the bottom right as I said earlier, and omit the GBR text.

Yes, 'make it look like Regional Railways signage' is what I was getting at and the higher quality job that Hb06_ has done looks great especially compared to my crude attempt to illustrate it. I prefer the main station name being dark text on a white background to the Serco-Northern-Style, maybe just because the Regional-Railways-style signage is what I got used to with Wales & West and Wales & Borders.

 

[Gareth]

White letters on a navy background is the way to go.

 

[cr767055]

The bottom one is basically Serco era Northern signage, and does look good to me, though I would go for a subtle double arrow in the bottom right as I said earlier, and omit the GBR text.

I think it might be too subtle. I also looked at thinning the line at the bottom and completely removing anything from it. Doesn't look too bad - just a little bland. But it does tell you what you need to know.



== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Apr 2022 ==

White letters on a navy background is the way to go.

It's very Southeastern-esc, which I quite like as their signage is relatively simple and easy-to-read.

 

[Goldfish62]

More middle days; they were improving quite a bit in the 1990s.

I'm a fan of sectorised BR, but not the sad, drab entity of the 1970s.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Its Great Britain not Rubbish Britain, or something.

Or to use the true antonym, Little Britain!

 

[LOL The Irony]

I had a play around with this, and I agree, it looks much better. I just worry it won't integrate with the rest of the GBR design system without significant cost to rebranding existing totems, for example. But if money was no object, I've designed a GBR logo with blue replacing BR red. I really like it.


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Also looked at these - I have mixed opinions...

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The first and second MKC signs are pretty classy and look good. I wonder if you could make a hybrid of the two?

 

[Bletchleyite]

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I think it might be too subtle. I also looked at thinning the line at the bottom and completely removing anything from it. Doesn't look too bad - just a little bland. But it does tell you what you need to know.

How about that but the double arrow in red?

 

[cr767055]

The first and second MKC signs are pretty classy and look good. I wonder if you could make a hybrid of the two?

Like this?

How about that but the double arrow in red?

I get why you suggested it, since it does make the National Rail icon stand out a lot more. It's also making me think Serco Abellio Northern...

 

[Bletchleyite]

I really quite like that now. Thanks. Clean, modern, easy to read, looks good and in the right colour set.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Like this?

Make the name central and it'd be perfect.

 

[Grumpy Git]

Make the name central and it'd be perfect.

It looks ridiculous with the cropped double-arrow.