New TransLink Brand

[ozbob]

TransLink have officially rolled out their new brand today, Tuesday 29 March 2022, starting with the Translink website, app and social media pages.

Advice from TransLink:

" The new brand builds on the new visual identity adopted for the Smart Ticketing project and features:

    An updated logo
    Different fonts
    A new colour palette that is more accessible, bolder and more distinctive – our primary colours are now pink and navy, and our secondary colours are teal, yellow, orange, and grey
    Changes to the way we communicate so our material stands out more and is easier to understand. "

I have a contact if there are any questions or feedback.

[Gazza]

Waste of taxpayers money, I'm sorry.

[ozbob]

I don't have a problem with it.  The branding will be rolled out as bus stop signs etc. need to be replaced, it will not be all at once.

I think improved accessibility is probably a major factor for the update.

[ozbob]

TransLink: We have a new look

> https://translink.com.au/new-look

" We have a new look

You'll notice we look a bit different from today, here on our digital channels and and also out on the network.

Our new look represents an exciting future for public transport and supports our customers with a modern, easily identifiable brand.

You may have noticed minor changes rolling out slowly over the past several months on our network, but we're making it official from today!

What's changing and why

Our new colours are bolder and more distinctive.

They're highly visible in busy station environments, so you'll be able to find devices like our ticketing machines more easily.

The way we display our information online and at some stops and stations has been updated in a new, clearer style.

And we're making various tweaks to our communications to make them more recognisable and easier to understand.

Why now?

We wanted to improve your experience and felt the Smart Ticketing project was a great opportunity to change gradually. This project required the rollout of new equipment and systems for Queenslanders, allowing us to update large chunks of our network at no additional cost.

The Translink brand has been around for more than 15 years and with big things planned over the next decade, we wanted to reflect the significant investment and exciting public transport projects and improvements we're delivering for you now and into the future.

Other changes you'll see

While you may have already seen the new brand across different parts of our South East Queensland network, applying our new colours, logo and style to the whole Translink network will happen slowly.

We'll be taking a practical approach – updating infrastructure, signage and passenger information when it makes sense to do so, either in line with new projects or through existing maintenance programs.

Finally, it'll no longer matter whether you're in Brisbane, Cairns, Bowen or Toowoomba, over the next year you'll find the same Translink branding gradually applied to public transport right across Queensland.

People from Tugun to Townsville will be able to jump on and use the same Translink website, app and call centre as we lay the foundation for the eventual rollout of Smart Ticketing across Queensland. "

[Gazza]

We'll be taking a practical approach – updating infrastructure, signage and passenger information when it makes sense to do so, either in line with new projects or through existing maintenance programs.

Which is a problem because it means for several years you'll have a hodge podge.
Then about a decade of everything actually being cohesive.
Then after a decade they'll decide it needs another "refresh".

Did the London underground / TFL decide to change their logo when they bought in oyster card? Why do it here?

Also, unpopular opinion but navy text on pink is difficult to read.https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?action=post;topic=14592.0;last_msg=256960

[SurfRail]

Few questions to ask them Bob:

1. Will the standard "j-pole" bus stop designs in the BCC area be transitioning to the new type or are there still going to be parallel specifications (for no apparent reason) depending on which side of a council boundary the stop sits?

2. Will the new vehicle livery be applied to any of the following:

- buses in BCC's fleet
- trains (metropolitan and long distance)
- ferries (in SEQ or up north)
- Gold Coast trams

[ozbob]

^ 

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https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1508681803640741891

[SurfRail]

We'll be taking a practical approach – updating infrastructure, signage and passenger information when it makes sense to do so, either in line with new projects or through existing maintenance programs.

Which is a problem because it means for several years you'll have a hodge podge.
Then about a decade of everything actually being cohesive.
Then after a decade they'll decide it needs another "refresh".

Did the London underground / TFL decide to change their logo when they bought in oyster card? Why do it here?

Also, unpopular opinion but navy text on pink is difficult to read.https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?action=post;topic=14592.0;last_msg=256960

To be fair there already is an inconsistent hodgepodge and has been since day dot:

- Still plenty of old buses running around in old operator liveries (including liveries of operators that no longer exist), or in multiple different versions of the green livery, including versions where the operator's logo is plastered all over the bus.
- Everything in BCC land is coloured different, down to the bus stops.
- QR has its own trade dress - fonts, colours, logos, branding etc - even though the station design manual is notionally meant to be in the same palette as everything else.
- Same for G:link

I don't think we will ever see the degree of branding integration they have in places like Perth or increasingly in NSW, where they now even have common seat fabric across different modes.  Too many silos again.

It looks like the shade of blue on new bus stops is darker and consistent with the dark blue that is now being used in connection with the Cooktown orchid pink in other places.  Using blue as the bus stop colour has always annoyed me as it isn't consistent with any of the other design elements in the orange/grey/black theme used for everything else, but at least it isn't now some random shade of blue.

I'm curious about what this means for the orange/grey/black theme though.

[STB]

The symbol is actually a version of what the BDSM community uses - if you know what that is     

[#Metro]

Ripoff of the US DOT symbol https://www.transportation.gov/

I'm not sure about the pink logo, reminds me of https://www.google.com/search?q=harpic+pink

[achiruel]

I don't think we will ever see the degree of branding integration they have in places like Perth or increasingly in NSW, where they now even have common seat fabric across different modes.  Too many silos again.

NSW, where they have common seat fabrics, but still not properly integrated ticketing (penalties for transferring between modes). I know which one I'd rather have. Common seat fabrics have basically zero bearing on the quality of the service.

[Derwan]

Ripoff of the US DOT symbol

It's actually just the old symbol that's just been straightened and had the colour changed.

I like the new colours.  The pink is bold.  Ticket machines and signage will stand out.

[Jonno]

Can't wait till the BCC buses have a pink logo on them. 

[Ari 🚋]

I'm a fan of the new branding, it feels a lot less 'messy' than the current branding is. Also more visible which is nice

[Gazza]

See what I mean about disjointed branding.
This was an ad that came out after they launched the new brand 

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> TransLink spends $110k on "external development costs" for new branding and logo $

Taxpayers have been billed more than $110,000 to redesign Translink's logo, changing the colours from orange, blue and green to pink and blue.

The "new" logo for the state's public transport operator is almost identical to that of the US Department of Transportation, which is the same shape and only differs in colour.

TransLink has confirmed that it racked up $110,640 in "external development costs" to create the new look, including a change in colour, a straightening of the teardrops in the logo and the adoption of a different font.

A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesman said the new design and colour would help improve accessibility for people with "varying degrees of vision impairment" and was "more appealing in customer tests". ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1511701880157917184

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1511812507652222977

[nathandavid88]

I'm curious about what this means for the orange/grey/black theme though.

The new logo has been in use at a few Busway Stations (I've seen it at Eight Mile Plains & Upper Mt Gravatt), and in both cases they retained the orange/grey/black theme.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/9NewsQueensland/status/1511953021013413892

[ozbob]

[SurfRail]

I'm curious about what this means for the orange/grey/black theme though.

The new logo has been in use at a few Busway Stations (I've seen it at Eight Mile Plains & Upper Mt Gravatt), and in both cases they retained the orange/grey/black theme.

Correct - it is also in the reprinted station signage manuals.  However, I think it's all a bit jarring taken together.

My guess would be BCC's bus fleet is still not going to be put in the same livery as everything else of course.

[RowBro]

I really don't get the big fuss surrounding the price of the logo. Any logo change costs money. They have to create many different variations, including ones that are drastically different to the current design, then conduct consumer testing. Repeat that for the colour scheme. Like logo designs cost a lot of money, but they are also long lasting (if you do it right). It's better to spend the money now to create an objectively good logo than flake out and create a logo that needs changing in 2 months.

[ozbob]

I think what is upsetting many is the fact that money is being spent to copy logos! Original logos, fine.

Unfortunately the standard was set when ' TransLink ' was first formed, a couple of years after it was already in use at Vancouver.

The Cross River Rail logo is simply another rip off.

[achiruel]

I think what is upsetting many is the fact that money is being spent to copy logos! Original logos, fine.

Unfortunately the standard was set when ' TransLink ' was first formed, a couple of years after it was already in use at Vancouver.

The Cross River Rail logo is simply another rip off.

Agreed. If it were $110k on something original, sure, to to spend $110k on copying an existing logo and changing the colour, ridiculous!

[#Metro]

I found another one! Australian company 

DDLS Training

https://www.facebook.com/DDLSTraining/