The New SŽDC Logo Emphasises the Company’s Clear Role and Position. It Improves the Public Awareness of the State Organisation
19.06.2017
SŽDC sets clearly defined rules of the company’s identity which are in accordance with the organisation’s values in order to increase its image and contribute to a clear perception of the company by the general public. It was therefore of crucial importance to elaborate a new graphic of the organisation’s written name, a complementary graphic symbol and a unified visual style which can be applied in all fields of SŽDC’s activity. This January, the state organisation called a tender for a new graphic rendering of the logo. The tender’s winner was the studio Marvil. The winning logo’s shape will appear in the 2018 timetable publication this December. It will be implemented gradually during the years to follow within operation, maintenance and modernisation.
”We are all aware of the complicated name of our organisation. Because of that, we are often perceived by the general public as part of “the railway” or being historically connected to the organisation České dráhy (Czech Railways). We want to present plainly the importance and position of SŽDC through a clearly designed logo“, says Mr. Jiří Svoboda, Deputy Director General of SŽDC and adds: ”Our company belongs to the biggest employers in our country. It guarantees preserving traditions and at the same time brings progress and modernisation, being closely connected to the railway infrastructure. By taking over passenger buildings, we are now in close contact with our customers and we must be quite readable for the public“.
The current SŽDC logo has several shapes with a number of unprofessional interventions which complicates a correct identification of our organisation. It does not enable a simple application in all graphical environments as well as in small sizes. Moreover, it does not give a true picture of all SŽDC’s activities. Furthermore, no license agreement has been concluded for the current logo. All these facts led to a preparation of a tender for the graphic rendering of a new logo which was called this January. Four graphic studios were addressed: Studio Marvil s. r. o, Dynamo design s. r. o, Side2 s. r. o. and STUDIO NAJBRT s. r. o. The form of addressing was chosen due to the size of SŽDC, i.e. the need for high professionalism and experience of graphic studios. The tender as such took place in two rounds; the winner was the studio Marvil s. r. o.
The winning logo reflects the order given by SŽDC the best of all – the necessity to preserve the current written composition of the mark together with an added graphic symbol which is a part of the logo and can be applied separately at the same time. It is the best representation of our company’s activity, i.e. the connection of SŽDC and the railway infrastructure. Clarity and memorability of the logo is essential as well.
”As the key motive, we chose the letter “Ž” stylised as a scheme of the trackage - three parallel tracks connected by a switch. The “Ž” symbol is at the same time an abbreviation of the Czech word “Železnice” (the railway), summarising the otherwise long name “Správa železniční dopravní cesty” in the best way possible as it can be difficult to remember for the general public. Ž as ”Železnice” is the best way to make the SŽDC company generally comprehensible and able to remember”, explains Mr. Pavel Zelenka from Studio Marvil.
The total order’s value equals CZK 1.9 million. It includes the logo as such, preparation of the logo’s graphical manual and a unified visual style of SŽDC as well as transferring the copyright and intellectual property to the state organisation. In order to minimise related costs, the logo will be gradually modified during the five years to follow within operation, maintenance and modernisation. SŽDC will use the new logo for the first time while publishing the new 2018 timetables.
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