Russian Railways

Rebranding of Russian Railways started in the distant 2003 and soon enough became one of the largest and most ambitious projects in contemporary Russia. In the summer of 2007 Mildberry joined the rebranding process when our consultancy was entrusted to develop a comprehensive visual identity for Russian Railways. The main feature of this project boiled down to the fact that at that moment a new logotype had already been accepted and replaced the old one, which practically hadn’t changed since 1932.

 

Work on the project started with developing the Russian Railways brand architecture taking into consideration the company’s development plans and all the areas of its business activities.

 

Upon completing this phase we suggested a few Russian Railways visual identity concepts based on the already existing logo. Each of these concepts demonstrated a possible vector for style development in regards to both the Russian Railways mother company and its to areas of business—passenger and cargo transportation. According to research and consultations with Russian Railways management ‘A New Level of Development’ concept was selected.

A unique super graphic reflecting the company’s shift to a new level of development is the key concept element. The red line is a symbol of the mother company uniting all the Russian Railways companies in the holding. The grey lines symbolise the various business competencies and the Russian Railways daughter companies. They are parts of a whole, but they are independent in their aspiration to achieve common goals. The foundation for these colour solutions are red and shades of grey. Red signifies strength, energy and emotions, while grey symbolises technology, quality, confidence and reliability.

 

The comprehensive solutions, recommendations and regulations developed by Mildberry formed the foundation for Russian Railways’ contemporary visual style. After completing the project our colleagues from branding industry successfully developed and effectively applied this concept by contributing their very own new solutions and ideas.