Mangled Arrows?

In simpler times when Marathon became Snickers and Opal Fruits transmogrified into Starburst it seemed at times as though corporate branding had lost its way. We’d grown up with these iconic confections as children and, as our teeth rotted as we chomped, the only winners appeared to be the dental profession, though even they were not immune from radical change. Whatever happened to being given a choice between ‘laughing’ and ‘crying’ gas to ease our pain? And who in their right minds would ever have picked the latter anyway? Britains have watched appalled as High Street legends like Freeman Hardy & Willis, Mac Fisheries and Rumbelows went the way of the dinosaurs, whilst those who’d not bought a quarter at the Pick’n’Mix in years wailed publicly when Woolworths crumbled into history.

Change doesn’t sit comfortably with the folk of this ragged edged island. And the railways are no exception. When British Rail was broken up and flogged off to eager capitalists at the arse-end of John Major’s flagging Tory tenure in Government between ‘94 and ‘97 some dreamed that we might yet see a return to the glory days of transport branding typified by mighty giants of yore like the Great Western, LMS and the Southern Railway – along with their visually stunning colours and comforts. With some notable exceptions like the superb GNER navy blue and red, and the original Virgin West Coast design schemes, many of the mish-mashes that followed seemed a poor relation to their esteemed predecessors. ?But alas it was not to be, and over the past 30 years or so whilst change in the railways understandably focused on technology, signalling, control and computerisation – the art of train and station design seems to have drifted into a dead zone of bland. Can this really be the same country that gave the world Mallard, the Brighton Belle and the HST?

Then this week what feels to me like the final nail in this corporately cacophonous coffin appeared in news articles all over t’internet – namely the unveiling of a proposed new Great British Railways logo. What I saw had me weeping into my Sugar Smacks; the ghastly mangling of a true world class design classic – the BR Double Arrow logo. What is it with this obsession with Union flag colours? The proposal illustrations seen in this week’s articles suggests the clarity and brilliance of the red flèches might be ruined by an oddly proportioned blue square surrounded with mismatched white bits. Even worse is its similarity to the GB News TV channel logo – not an association I imagine many Labour supporters would probably care for? There are also practical considerations which don’t seem to have occurred to whoever it was that came up with this working concept. From even a short distance away the colours visually merge into a sort of splatted asterisk – with the corporate identity quickly compromised. Goodness only knows what the associated train body livery and station signage design might be. Please God not another version of the awful Network South East design and colour scheme?

Of course all art and design is subjective, and these words are clearly my personal opinion. Some will sagely approve of this rather jingoistic flagination of the country’s rail network. Not this crusty old railway operator though – I don’t care for it at all. I would dearly like to see a return to corporate design styles with real flair, imagination and class. Design of the calibre demonstrated by the superlative BR regional totems, the classic blue grey and white Inter-City livery, and yes, the unadorned purity of the original double arrow motif which has graced our system since 1965.

I suppose there is still time for this new logo to be re-worked and refined. I’m not necessarily advocating anything crusty, retro or old fashioned – just something that shows we can still do world-class corporate design here, as beautifully indicated in David Lawrence’s book ‘British Rail Designed 1948-97’. What has surfaced in the past week is not so much an evolution, but more of an immolation. Gerry Barney (the original designer of the arrow device) deserves better. In fact, I think we all do.

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