
British Rail Corporate Identity from 1965–1994 - teh_klev
http://www.doublearrow.co.uk/home.htm
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fermienrico
I recently purchased the British Rail corporate identity manual [1]. It is
such a pleasure to browse through but it is basically the same pages that are
posted on the doublearrow website.

There is a resurgence in reviving is these so-called "corporate design
manuals" and thanks to hard work from people who have contacts, it has made
possible to reproduce them.

Does anyone think today's corporate identities just don't have the same rigor
and discipline that was given back in the 1960's and 70's? I've gathered stuff
from the 1972 Munich Olympics, IBM design manual, CBC identity, NASA, EPA,
most things published by Lars Muller publications, etc. The Swiss design has
just eroded away and today's identities feel like they are soulless plastic
shells compared to stone-line qualities of old stuff.

I've been reading BrandNew blog for more than 10 years[2]. I've noticed that
today's design is about chasing trends which trade away the abstract aspect of
"Timelessness".

Perhaps the design noise has always existed but the internet has allowed it to
breed and spread?

[1] [https://britishrailmanual.com/](https://britishrailmanual.com/) [2]
[https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/](https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/)

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spinelessthrow
I believe the text on the spine is upside down. :) vs (:
[https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1539/1721/products/British...](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1539/1721/products/British_Rail_Manual_10_1024x1024.jpg)

~~~
toomanybeersies
It's peculiar for an English language book to have the text on the spine
bottom to top, but it's normal for French and German books.

There was a discussion on HN about this last year:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14448636](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14448636)

------
detritus
Margaret Calvert, who along with Jock Kinneir, made the defining typeface for
the face of British Transport in the era of motorways, air travel and rail
somewhat recently collaborated on a modern cut called 'New Rail Alphabet'.

It's possibly my single favourite 'font', not least because it's imprinted
into the very core of my being as a standard means of representing information
publicly.

[http://www.newrailalphabet.co.uk/](http://www.newrailalphabet.co.uk/)

~~~
fermienrico
Unfortunately, it is extremely expensive. It feels very similar to Helvetica
with a pinch of Univers, Neue Haas Grostesk and Proxima Nova.

