RMweb Premium newbryford Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2021 (edited) The article title says it all. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/sep/22/british-rail-logo-designer-appalled-by-green-makeover-mess?fbclid=IwAR1WfEu7udCff3k0dQzgW4_KbF7W4-gr14kYgmzAP8VRXtXobsJQiD62gBM "load of old b*ll*cks"! Edited September 22, 2021 by newbryford 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2021 (edited) Linked to in that item is First Group's new cheapo London to Edinburgh open access service "Lumo" What's the point when it all becomes Great British Railways next year? Edited September 22, 2021 by melmerby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 Is someone colour blind? There are five shades of green, not four..... Jason 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 I thought this was going to be a thread about which locos carried the double arrow whilst still in green.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 23 minutes ago, melmerby said: Linked to in that item is First Group's new cheapo London to Edinburgh open access service "Lumo" What's the point when it all becomes Great British Railways next year? Only the franchised operators will be subsumed, presumably? The open access operators such as Lumo are private entities which buy paths and access from NR (to become GBR), but to government has no control over them unless it decides to buy them out on commercial terms. The green arrow isn't especially brilliant - would look ok if it were all one shade. But if they're going to use the arrows as a promotional tool then it'll probably be coloured in various patterns over the coming months and years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted September 22, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2021 41 minutes ago, pete_mcfarlane said: I thought this was going to be a thread about which locos carried the double arrow whilst still in green.... Thread title amended! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2021 Not the first time the double arrow has been recoloured. This is from a very short lived campaign a couple of years ago that fizzled out very quick: 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 22, 2021 Well that took a lot of thought 5 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 22, 2021 Out of all the things wrong with the railway this is not one them and is just a complete waste of money Interesting that the image they use is not the correct double arrow as on the really thing the diagonal lines are not parallel. It's actually quite a complex shape 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Darius43 Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 22, 2021 11 minutes ago, russ p said: Out of all the things wrong with the railway this is not one them and is just a complete waste of money Interesting that the image they use is not the correct double arrow as on the really thing the diagonal lines are not parallel. It's actually quite a complex shape On the original logo the diagonal lines are at the same angle to the horizontal lines, which would make them parallel. One of the many things that is wrong with the multi-green logo is that the diagonal lines above and below the horizontal lines are too long, which is why it looks wrong shape-wise. Cheers Darius Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jeremy Cumberland Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2021 7 minutes ago, Darius43 said: On the original logo the diagonal lines are at the same angle to the horizontal lines, which would make them parallel. The two edges of the outer diagonal lines are not parallel. I remember an in-depth article about BR's Corporate Image in Rail News in the 1970s, complete with a dimensioned drawing of the double arrow, and a description of why it was drawn like this. Apparently, if the edges were drawn parallel, then the lines would appear to taper slightly. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Darius43 Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 22, 2021 58 minutes ago, Jeremy C said: The two edges of the outer diagonal lines are not parallel. I remember an in-depth article about BR's Corporate Image in Rail News in the 1970s, complete with a dimensioned drawing of the double arrow, and a description of why it was drawn like this. Apparently, if the edges were drawn parallel, then the lines would appear to taper slightly. Understood - it’s in the difference between a line and an edge. Cheers Darius Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halvarras Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 5 hours ago, pete_mcfarlane said: I thought this was going to be a thread about which locos carried the double arrow whilst still in green.... Me too, but never mind, it's been well covered elsewhere..... 4 hours ago, John M Upton said: Not the first time the double arrow has been recoloured. This is from a very short lived campaign a couple of years ago that fizzled out very quick: This looks familiar, I'm sure I have one somewhere! I would have thought that the public unveiling happened with XP64 in July 1964, but I suppose that was more a reaction tester. AFAICT the first locomotive to have the logo applied was new-build Class 73 E6012 in December 1965. Interesting that Gerry Barney thought a full-time height logo visible a mile away would look "bloody great", and so perhaps surprising that the article makes no mention that it did eventually happen - a pity that it was relatively short-lived as I thought it looked "bloody great" too Gerry! I think my first sight of one was 50012 'Benbow' at Swindon in July 1981. But PLEASE, not in five shades of green For a logo which appears so simple it is surprisingly difficult to draw accurately - get those angles, lengths and/or tapers even slightly wrong and it instantly looks.......well, wrong! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 There is a Ronnie Barker sketch about the BR logo. Might not be politically correct anymore so I won't post it. Just search for Ronnie Barker British Rail It's on YouTube. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 Hi, I do think that this forum is stuck in 1955 and it's members want the railway to fail.... Does anyone ever have a good word to say about the railway nowadays? Simon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted September 22, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 22, 2021 3 minutes ago, St. Simon said: Hi, I do think that this forum is stuck in 1955 and it's members want the railway to fail.... Does anyone ever have a good word to say about the railway nowadays? Simon Lots of good words but why waste a lot of money altering an instantly recognisable symbol that survived 20+ years of privatisation and is still a simple and clean piece of modernist design? The multi colour version won’t work from a distance as well as a one colour shape, it breaks up the simple shape that is what you need to catch when registering signs quickly as you approach a station. Look at the McDonalds golden arch or the Apple apple and see how they manage alone, simple shapes in a single colour. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 Is not really worth getting worked up over. It'll be another short lived variation on the classic logo, this time to emphasize rails green credentials. The white on red and red on white versions will in all likelihood remain the definitive versions - all that signage at stations, on road signs, Google maps etc... The fact that that is so burned into our minds means that they can mess about with it in this manner to add "adjectives" to the "noun" of the shape. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted September 23, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 23, 2021 12 hours ago, PaulRhB said: Lots of good words but why waste a lot of money altering an instantly recognisable symbol that survived 20+ years of privatisation and is still a simple and clean piece of modernist design? How else would all the design consultants make a fortune? Remember the debacle over the London Olympics logo? Or 'Consignia'? Quite a few other examples of rebrandings that failed miserably and ended up going back to the previous, well recognised, versions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium corneliuslundie Posted September 23, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 23, 2021 This is from my files of photos issued by BR to illustrate the corporate image. I acquired it in about 1974. The shape should therefore be accurate. Jonathan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted September 24, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 24, 2021 Here is a scan of the symbol from my Corporate Identity Manual for those who would wish to do a comparison. Scan_20210924.pdf 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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