Across Switzerland
Hans Hartman's 1972 logo for Swiss Federal Railways.
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By the 1970s, just like rail networks across Europe (British Rail, Nederlandse Spoorwegen), Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) was facing a range of challenges, from growing private car ownership to the increasing complexity of its network. Adding to this pressure was the reality that SBB shared the national railway system with over a 100 private railways adding to potential confusion and competition. It was felt that a clearer identity, one that would distinguish SBB from other services and position it as a modernised and reliable transport option (reflecting investment in new infrastructure) was essential to its future growth.
With these requirements in mind, in 1978 SBB engaged the advertising and design agency of Muller-Brockmann + Co. to develop a standardised signage system that would cover all its railway stations and stops throughout the country, and establish the necessary framework for an overall visual image that would be associated with SBB going forward.
Working with the building construction branch of SBB General Management, Müller-Brockmann and Peter Spalinger would create a design handbook to serve as guidance. The initial design phase would include the selection of a typeface and design of pictograms, and the governing principles of shape and colour to inform the development of signage that would be used to convey information and guide passengers around busy and complex environments.
Ahead of this major effort, and with the intention of helping to identify SBB, in 1972 a new logo would be require to connect the fleet of vehicles and rolling stock with stations and buildings throughout the network. This would be designed by renowned Swiss designer Hans Hartmann.
Prior to 1972, SBB used as its identifying mark variations of a combined wing and wheel, a common pre-modern motif that had been used by other rail networks such as DSB. This was depicted illustratively and later in a more abstract way, and then moving to a Swiss cross and shield composition. The requirements of a new design would be to maximise its applicability in an increasingly diversified context, scaled down for corporate communication and up to building signage.
The logo devised by Hans Hartmann, despite its initial simplicity, wove together a number of allusions. The first was two arrows, the suggestion of moving from point A to point B. The second was the Swiss cross at the centre of the two arrows, a gesture that conveyed the company’s belonging to and serving all of the Swiss people. This was furthered by the use of red and white.
The logo was also an evolution of what had come before, an abstract wheel and wings. The wheel turned completely to face the viewer, and the arrows somewhat wing-like. In its rendering, strong geometry and bold weight, Hartmann sought to help position SBB as a ‘reliable, solid and dynamic public service company’.
The essential role of the arrow in any wayfinding system would mean that the logo would have a slightly diminished presence within the context of future signage, due to its potentially confusing nature when seen alongside directional information. The logo was only to be used as tool to identify buildings, station names and vehicles as being part of the SBB network. The logo would later appear only as white on a red or black background to help separate it from directional information further.
At the time, a company in the Swiss canton of Uri had been using a similar logo since 1959. SBB reached an agreement with the company. SBB could continue to use the logo, but not in the Uri local press, so as not to provoke confusing.
From 1978, the new signage system devised by Muller-Brockmann + Co., based around Helvetica and with custom-designed pictograms and arrows, covered all aspects of the SBB network. This included the numbering of platforms, departure and direction signs, the application of logo on rolling stock and the fabrication and placement of large format signage across SBB buildings.
Muller-Brockmann + Co. would soften the geometry of Hartmann’s design (on their inner side, the wings of the arrow taper off by an eighth of a module and the arms of the cross were reduced on all sides by a twelfth) and formalising its use within their modular communications system. The overall effect was a modern, functional and identifiable system, applied at scale and cohesively throughout a growing network, and establishing the logo within the consciousness of the Swiss people, and which remains in place and in use today.
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