Progress and power

Tel Design's 1967 logo for Dutch rail network Nederlandse Spoorwegen.

Just like the rail networks of the United States (AMTRAK), the United Kingdom (British Rail), and Canada (Canada National Railways) the pressures of private car ownership and the commercialisation of air travel began to effect the rail network of post-war Netherlands. In the face of these pressures, Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the national rail network, began looking at developing a policy of reorganisation and improvement. Part of this would include the modernisation of its image.

The process of modernising began in 1967 by looking to other countries for successful examples. One of these was the work that Design Research Unit had done for British Rail in 1965. G. Williams, who had been part of the British Railways corporate image (CI) program, was invited to share his experiences. As well as looking at rail projects, inspiration also came from the other pioneering CI programmes of the 1960s. These included airline KLM by FHK Henrion and and PAM by Total Design.

A working party was formed. This followed the example of British Railways and consisted of Chief of Passenger Marketing, Public Relations Officer, Chief Publicity Officer, Chief Architect, and Industrial Designer.

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The group conducted research to find out how NS was perceived. This included analysing how train passengers saw car owners and vice versa. The results suggested that people's image of NS was not good, and had been described by some as ‘stagnant,' 'bureaucratic,' and 'slightly old fashioned.' But there were also positive evaluations. These included the perceptions of NS as being 'friendly,' reliable' and an ‘efficiently run organisation’. Car owners described train passengers as “old noodles" and the passengers themselves agreed with that characterisation. Just like British Rail, the application of a rationalised system, and powerful new logo would seek to change these perceptions and signal a new era for the rail network. This would begin with a new logo, but go on to include many other aspects such as wayfinding and rolling stock liveries.

With this larger project scope put forward and signed off by the board, the young design company ‘Tel Design’ was selected as the ‘consultant designers’ on the ‘strength of their planning’ and their proposed cost being closest to the requirements of NS and its budget.

Work began in 1967, and would follow a incremental path, beginning with the design of a new logo and selection of typeface, then colour, the application of advertisements on train bodies and finally pictograms, signs and wayfinding.

The new logo would replace the ‘Flying Wheel’ which was composed of a winged wheel and the letters 'NS’. Initially, Tel Design had found it challenging to reimagine or modify the old logo and, despite exploring numerous designs incorporating the initials NS, none captured the desired attributes of 'progressiveness' and 'powerfulness’. Explorations included combining the letters, creating a single continuous line like Canada National Rail, and introducing arrows and the suggestion of rails like British Rail.

To break the deadlock, Gert Dumbar (who would later found Studio Dumbar) pursued an abstract approach, but not entirely removed from what had previously been explored, but the initials would no longer be a constraining factor. Some board members, accustomed to the familiar 'NS,' resisted the approach, leading to tensions over the shift in ‘symbol design policy’. A compromise emerged, to integrate the abstract logo with the letters. Through extensive trial and refinement, the abstract logo underwent many small incremental adjustments. These included altering the arrow angle, line thickness and the volume of the negative space.

At the same time the new logo was being prepared, a study of potential lettering and typefaces was also being carried out. In order to maintain a consistent visual style, evoke a modern forward looking entity, and offer a cost effective solution, it was felt a single typeface would be the most rational approach. The typeface selected wpild need to be capable of being used for advertisements, printed matter and signs (up to a height of X30cm), all the way down to corporate stationery and communication. Four ‘similar styles’, were compared and examined. These included  Univers, Helvetica, Folio, and Mercator, with Univers 65 being the one adopted. In order to improve readability, however, the style of larger letters was slightly reshaped and equipped with a spacing grid.

As soon as the logo and the typeface were settled on, a comparison was made between the new symbol and the old one, and the new symbol was put to distance reading tests. As a result, the combination of form and type was evaluated and considered clear, vigorous, and modern.

Prior to the project, NS had been using three colours. These were used to indicate the technical differences of its various engines. This classification, however, was not only of little or no service to the train passengers, but was also an obstacle to establishing a consistent new image of NS. In order to better unify the rail network in the eyes of passengers, a single primary colour would be use for rolling stock, and a secondary colour for the logo. This could only be achieved because of the limited nature of the NS rail network when compared to the complexities of a country like Japan.

The assessment of potential colours went as follows; Primary green: too agricultural and incongruous with the image of NS; Orange, the national colour of the Netherlands, was difficult to prevent colour fading after being painted; Primary red was technically difficult to paint; Primary blue was already used by many other CI projects, such as BritishRailways, Pan Am, and KLM; Primary yellow was the only colour left.

The conclusion was that yellows would be perceived as dynamic and progressive, with no technical difficulty in painting, and giving the impression of safety. Gert Dumbar of Tel Design, who proposed the yellow, said, "Imagine Amsterdam Station, dark, on a rainy day. Now, the old station building would surely be brightened up?”

Against the background of yellow, cobalt blue was selected for the logo, and dark blue for the roofs and skirting plates of the rolling stock. The warm yellow was said to harmonise well with the Dutch ‘climate and atmosphere’.

Once the logo, typeface and colour was settled on, a number of variations were included to accommodate the vast number of applications required of a rail network. This included solid black, colour and outline versions, blue on yellow, and versions that included the full name locked into rectangles with rounded corners which would also influence the design of signage and pictograms.

This completed the first stage of the design process, and would be followed by an extensive period of designing pictograms and wayfinding system.

The rollout of the new image began the same year it was started, 1967. This would continue all the way up to 1974. The logo remains in place and in use today. Studio Dumbar would later return to the project managing ‘a careful balance of change and continuity’ as it helped the railway into the digital era.

Discover more Nederlandse Spoorwege brand assets and assets from hundreds other historical and contemporary brands at Brand Archive.

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