| The Network SouthEast image was
deliberately
brash and colourful and the publicity materials - posters and leaflets
- echoed
this visual onslaught, although often with more style and subtly than
the
ubiquitous red paintwork! For an organisation extant for a brief eight
years,
the overall effect was a remarkably coherent public image, over a wide
geographical area - a true testament to the drive, determination and
vision of
Network Director Chris Green. |
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| The symbol selected to represent
Network SouthEast was both simple and effective - the three slanting
flashes of
red, blue and grey stamped the allegiance of station, train, leaflet
and staff
member with a possessive homogeneity to compliment the familiar BR
'double
arrow.' Design consultants Jordan Williams were accorded the task of
redesigning
the entire ambiance of all the ingredients that conspired to create the
publicly
perceived image, from infrastructure to apparel and publicity
materials.
Meanwhile Eddie Pond was allotted the artistic assignment of producing
modernistic murals of varying degrees of abstraction and pictorial
accuracy in a
characteristic array of murky tones. Together with the new rich
blue-flecked
seat moquette, these served to imbue train interiors with an enhanced
sense of
locale and identity - not to mention an attempt to embrace culture. |
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Although station signs and suchlike
were in the neat Helvetica typeface, leaflets displayed considerable
variation
General styles and lettering were regularly utterly different - the
only common
denominators being overall size and the Network SouthEast, or variant
thereof,
name and logo at the base. There appeared some superb examples of
airbrush work
and shading, idyllic interpretations of charmed landscapes, plus a
variety of
novel depictions of various subjects in addition to photographs. |
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| The artwork was
occasionally variable -
a possible reflection upon the diverse parentage of these products -
but in
general the standard was high; concept, content and presentation all
consistent
with the design ideals indicative of quality and a commitment to
providing accessible,
intelligent information. Gone was the 1970s preoccupation with dull and
muted
hues - now superseded by an altogether more lively and colourful
approach. The
posters caught the eye, the leaflets invited taking and the messages
too, might
have invoked an involuntary response, for there were frequent offers of
cut-price travel and money-saving ticketing schemes - an enterprising
ploy on
the part of NSE to boost off-peak travel and fill those empty seats.
The figures
demonstrate they succeeded - the exhortations to take the train for a
day out
perhaps materially enhanced by the quality of artwork so eloquently
evoking a
colourful countryside and coast. |
