Transport for London - Transport for London Identity and Marketing - E

Transport for London - E

Transport for London Identity and Marketing

Each of the main transport units has its own corporate identity, formed by differently coloured versions of the standard roundel logo and adding appropriate lettering across the horizontal bar.

The roundel rendered in blue without any lettering represents TfL as a whole (see Transport for London logo), as well as used in situations where lettering on the roundel is not possible (such as bus receipts, where a logo is a blank roundel with the name "London Buses" to the right). The same range of colours is also used extensively in publicity and on the TfL website.

Transport for London has always mounted advertising campaigns to encourage use of the Underground. For example, in 1999, they commissioned artist Stephen Whatley to paint an interior – 'The Grand Staircase' - which he did on location inside Buckingham Palace. This painting was reproduced on posters and displayed all over the London Underground.

In 2010 they commissioned artist Mark Wallinger to assist them in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Underground, by creating the Labyrinth Project, with one enamel plaque mounted permanently in each of the Tube's 270 stations.

In 2015, in partnership with the London Transport Museum and sponsored by Exterion Media, TfL launched Transported by Design, an 18-month programme of activities. The intention is to showcase the importance of both physical and service design across London's transport network.

In October 2015, after two months of public voting, the black cab topped the list of favourite London transport icons, which also included the original Routemaster bus and the Tube map, among others. In 2016, the programme held exhibitions, walks and a festival at Regent Street on 3 July.

Transport for London Typeface

Johnston (or Johnston Sans) is typeface designed by and named after Edward Johnston. The typeface was commissioned in 1913 by Frank Pick, then commercial manager of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (also known as 'The Underground Group'), as part of his plan to strengthen the company's corporate identity.

Johnston was originally created for printing (with a planned height of 1 inch or 2.5 cm), but it rapidly became used for the enamel station signs of the Underground system as well.

Johnston was originally printed using wood type for large signs and metal type for print. Johnston was redesigned in 1979 to produce New Johnston.

The new family comes in eight members: Light, Medium, Bold weights with corresponding Italics, Medium Condensed and Bold Condensed. After the typeface was digitized in 1981–82, New Johnston finally became ready for Linotron photo-typesetting machine, and first appeared in London's Underground stations in 1983.

It has been the official typeface exclusively used by Transport for London and The Mayor of London ever since, with minor updates to specific letterforms occurring in 1990–1992 and 2008. A new version, known as Johnston 100, was commissioned by Transport for London from Monotype in 2016 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the typeface, and was designed to be closer to the original version of the Johnston typeface.

Transport for London Advertising Bans

In May 2019, TfL banned advertising from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates due to their poor human rights records. This brought the number of countries to 11 from which TfL has banned adverts, due to them having the death penalty for homosexuals. Countries previously banned from advertising were Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

In 2019, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, introduced restrictions on advertising of unhealthy food and drinks across the TfL network. A study estimated that this led to a 7% reduction in the average weekly household purchase of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. The largest reductions were seen in the sales of chocolate and sweets. There was no change in purchases of foods not classified as being high in fat, salt, and sugar.

Transport for London Notes

^ Those mentioned include:

• Peter Hendy, who was at the time Head of Surface Transport division, awarded CBEs.
• Tim O'Toole, head of the Underground division, awarded CBEs.
• David Boyce, Station Supervisor, London Underground (MBE).
• John Boyle, Train Operator, London Underground (MBE).
• Peter Sanders, Group Station Manager, London Underground (MBE).
• Alan Dell, Network Liaison Manager, London Buses (MBE).
• John Gardner, Events Planning Manager (MBE).

Transport for London Overview

Transport for London Abbreviation: TfL
Transport for London Formation: 3 July 2000, 23 years ago
(Greater London Authority Act 1999)
Transport for London Type: Statutory corporation
Transport for London Legal Status: Executive agency within GLA
Transport for London Purpose: Transport authority
Transport for London Headquarters:
5 Endeavour Square
London
E20 1JN
Transport for London Region Served: London, England
Transport for London Chairman: Mayor of London
(Sadiq Khan)
Transport for London Commissioner: Andy Lord
Transport for London Main Organisations:
London Underground
Elizabeth line
London Buses
London Rail
London Streets
London Overground
Transport for London Parent Organisation: Greater London Authority (GLA)
Transport for London Budget: 2019–20: £10.3 billion (47% of this from fares)
Transport for London Staff: 28,000