National Express: 50 Years
AGENCY
One Black Bear
YEAR
2022
CATEGORY
Brand Identity | Digital | Interaction
National Express Coaches are the nations best loved coach company. They have transported millions of people to there favourite destinations across the country since 1972.
To mark this occasion we were asked to celebrate their 50th anniversary - designing an exclusive identity for the brand that encapsulates the history of there iconic coach vehicles.
They wanted a logo that could be used to celebrate the milestone across various mediums within the business, including the website through to stickers for on the side of there coaches.
In addition to this they wanted to take the concept even further for digital application by creating an interactive Birthday Timeline, that users could scroll through online to learn more about the history of National Express in a colourful and engaging way, as well as highlighting iconic moments through British history.
Process
Creating a sub-identity for a brand that is so well respected and iconically recognised by the British public felt like a bit of a challenge! It was important to find that perfect balance, of keeping the brand recognisable alongside the original trademark logo, colours (red and blue) while adding a celebratory 50th twist on it and integrating the emphasis on coach at the forefront of the design.
Myself and my Art Director worked closely together to create a series of logo options, exploring the number 50 in various ways and styles, including integrating the options of metallic gold and silver colours.
Previous Logo Options
Outcome
The team at National Express finally settled on one of the concepts - selecting the more refined option with bubbled font lettering in the original red and blue colours that included an illustrated vector coach placed at the centre. The logo was then applied to various promotional materials for them to use including stickers on the coaches themselves and even got featured at Wembley Stadium.
The Digital timeline meanwhile was created with the help of National Express developers. It has now become a permanent page online for people around the world to view and get on-board with celebrating the companies milestone! It can be viewed at www.nationalexpress.com/en/timeline (Happy scrolling!)
CREATIVE TEAM
Myself, Jenny Ray (Branding), Amy Gouldson (Accounts) | Timeline Development: National Express