If my information is correct, British Airways introduced this identity designed by Landor in December 1984 which lasted until June 1997.

The Landor Guidelines are in full here.

On the subject of the British Rail identity in application. Two examples here, one done relatively well and one not so good.

In some ways I think this book is a lot more interesting then the actual the British Rail (BR) corporate identity manuals. The manuals are great as you can see all the care and detail that BR put into keeping a strong and consistent image. However, this book shows all the hard work of the manuals in action, it shows the corporate identity used in the real applications.

As well as showing the graphic side of the identity, it also includes architectural and engineering solutions. These can often be over looked when talking about the identity of an organisation. It’s easy to just design a logo or mark and slap it on the side of a train or a building. British Rail cared a little more about it’s image, maybe a little too much.

New acquisition.

What I like about this poster (I think dated 1951) is that the GPO are proudly showing their cooperation with another state-owned company (BEA). Today it seems that everything is subcontracted to private companies, there doesn’t seem to be any loyalty to try and support a sister organisation.

Anyway… Never mind… Nice poster though.

I couldn’t help but notice the design of the city maps in Zurich. Instead of just simply printing all the graphics on the poster, they took it a step further. The word ‘cityguide’ and the city identity have been applied to the glass. This means that when you look at it straight on, you see no difference, however when you see it at an angle, the graphic on the glass looks as though they are floating.

I was really very impressed. Not only because I think it’s a good idea but more so that the city were happy to back the idea.

If we want to know how long it takes to drive somewhere it’s pretty easy for us to work it out with Google Maps. However in the days of Seaspeed (British Rail Hovercraft service) the internet didn’t exist. British Rail produced this paper based mileage indicator. By sliding the internal card up and down, it will give you the amount of miles from one city to another.