Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Aren't WMT's signs - and indeed the rest of the branding package - specified Transport for the West Midlands anyway?
It appears to me that the same guy has done both those (including the "diamond" branding generally) and the LNR part of the franchise which is down to the franchisee. And I wouldn't say I'm a fan of either, really, particularly that hideous orange and purple livery.
He is I believe ex-Virgin Trains East Coast, which also makes him responsible for that hideous livery too, the nastiest thing I've ever seen to disgrace a Mk4 (and LNER's plan to paint over it can't come soon enough). He seems to use some of the design elements that Best Impressions do (indeed I originally thought that was a BI job, albeit not their best) but doesn't seem to use them as well.
The guy seems to quite like vertical elements on train liveries, which (while the doors are required) don't look great when overused - horizontal elements make a train look sleek and fast, which is what you want.
Edit: to give him some credit it seems he's also responsible for ScotRail which is one of the better branding packages, but I suspect was very tightly specified.
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