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| Category | Humanist Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Designer(s) | Margaret Calvert, Jock Kinneir |
| Foundry | BRB Residuary Limited (former British Railways Board) |
Rail Alphabet is a typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for British Railways. First used by them in signing tests at London's Liverpool Street Station, it was then adopted by the Design Research Unit (DRU) as part of their comprehensive 1965 rebranding of the company.[1]
Rail Alphabet is similar, but not identical, to a bold weight of Helvetica (and, not quite as similar, Akzidenz Grotesk or Arial). Akzidenz Grotesk had earlier also provided the same designers the broad inspiration for the Transport typeface used for all road signs in the United Kingdom.
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British Rail Usage
The DRU's 1965 rebranding of British Rail included a new logo (the double arrow), a shortened name British Rail, and the total adoption of Rail Alphabet on station signage, trackside signs, train liveries and corporate communications materials. Key elements of the rebranding were still being used during much of the 1980s and Rail Alphabet was also used as part of the livery of Sealink ships until that company's privatisation in the late 1980s.
By the end of the 1980s, British Rail's various business units were developing their own individual brands and identities with use of Rail Alphabet declining as a consequence[2]. The typeface remained in near-universal use for signage at railway stations but began to be replaced with alternatives in other areas, such as in InterCity's 1989 'Mark 4' passenger carriages which made use of Frutiger for much of their interior signage.
The privatisation of British Rail from 1994 accelerated the decline in use of the typeface on the railway network with most of the privatised train operating companies who now manage individual stations choosing to use their own corporate identities for station signage and publicity. Some of the privatised train operators, such as Arriva Trains Wales[3], First Great Western[4] and Merseyrail[5] have continued to use the typeface for station signage and its use is still prescribed for trackside warning signs and safety/operating notices within the trains themselves[6].
Usage Outside British Rail
The National Health Service in England and Wales adopted Rail Alphabet for its signage and it is still the dominant typeface used in signage in and around hospitals. It ceased to be used in new builds in the late 1990s. The English NHS now uses Frutiger[7] while NHS Scotland uses Stone Sans[8].
Rail Alphabet was also widely used for signage by the British Airports Authority and by Danish railway company DSB.[9]
New Rail Alphabet
In 2009, a newly-digitised version of the typeface was publicly released. Created by Henrik Kubel of A2/SW/HK in close collaboration with Margaret Calvert, New Rail Alphabet features six weights: off white, white, light, medium, bold and black, with non-aligning numerals, corresponding italics and a set of Eastern European characters.[10]
See also
- Gill Sans - the predecessor typeface to Rail Alphabet, used until 1965.
- Transport Typeface - Another typeface designed by Kinneir & Calvert for use on UK road signs.
- Johnston Typeface - The typeface used by London Underground, designed by Edward Johnston.
- Public signage typefaces
References
- ^ Design Museum - Jock Kinneir + Margaret Calvert. Retrieved 9 October 2006.
- ^ Institute of Railway Studies: Railway Ephemera
- ^ Disable ENGLISH.pdf
- ^ Station sign on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- ^ Liverpool South Parkway on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- ^ 7033 complete.pdf
- ^ NHS CFH visual identity guidelines, section 4
- ^ NHS Scotland: Corporate Identity
- ^ Eye blog » Rue Britanica.Typeface name changes after Eye magazine goes to press
- ^ New Rail Alphabet
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