The BART logo. Horrible since the 60s. Redesigned, albeit slightly, in 1990. Still horrible.
Since moving to the Bay Area we have become frequent users of the BART system, and each time — I kid you not — that I ride on it, I die a little inside. So, I started sketching what would become the new BART logo, if only for my mind to relax:
I tried a bunch of ideas, but I’m competing with nearly 50 years of the lowercase “ba” in PMS Process Blue. I tried a few different directions, including using the various train lines from the map, the transfer station icons, the “TransBay Tube,: the cars themselves, just plain type….
…and landed on this, typeset in customized Helvetica Neue and enclosed by the drop-like frame (in Process Blue), this just felt right.
And, of course, the reversed-out, one-color option.
If BART wants it, they can have it. But my guess is replacing the logo on 43 stations, 5 lines, hundreds of cars and the like would be cost-prohibitive for a nearly-bankrupt state.
