Saatchi & Saatchi develops visual identity for Transport of Moscow

The Moscow Department for Transport has revealed a new visual identity developed by Saatchi& Saatchi Russia for the transport system of the city. The project includes the development of a so-called thumb-mark logo, as well as the colour scheme and graphic design of a typical public vehicle. 

The icon of «Moscow Transport» is designed to unify all the elements of Moscow’s ever-growing transport system. The agency has conducted a survey of nearly 3,000 Muscovites on how they see the perfect public transportation. Over 75% said that it was important to feel decently while traveling by public transportation, which means they wanted to feel proper respect for them as passengers, they needed full comfort and safety during their trips, as well as overall good customer service.

The agency has tested around 80 design concepts in customer focus groups and revealed the winning «Moscow imprint» variant that also resembled either Sadovoye and Bulvarnoye circular road avenues, or the Moscow metro circle line, or the Moscow circle highway MKAD, or a thumb-mark, or a location tag. To develop this logo for the Moscow transport system, designers considered both public opinion and historical radial and circle urban development of the city.

Saatchi & Saatchi Russia won the pitch to redesign the public transportation of Moscow last year, in 2013. First, they designed diversified travel cards «Single,» «90 minutes» and «Troika,» introduced by the Department for Transport to make traveling by public transport more comfortable and reasonably cheaper for loyal customers.

According to Alex Shifrin, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Russia, it took more than a year to develop the visual identity for the Moscow system of transport. Except the agency’s team, several famed third-party experts participated in the project too. The logo alone was developed by three people: Saatchi’s global design director Blake Enting, Illya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper, the founder of Strelka Institute and Afisha publishing house, and Edward Opara, partner at NY office of Pentagram.

The new logo of different colours will be seen on different public vehicles. Metro will use a red logo, overground transportation such as buses, trams and trolleys will get a blue sign, parking areas will be green, commuter trains—grey, bicycle roots—turquoise, river transport—dark blue, and pedestrians will be marked with a brown sign.

It is expected that the new branding for public transport of Moscow will be gradually introduced during the next five years.

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Photo: new visual identity for the Moscow transport system

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Photo: new identity for the Moscow transport system, photo credit: Sostav.ru
Photo: new identity for the Moscow transport system, photo credit: Sostav.ru