The logo for the Dutch Railways dates from 1968 and is now one of the oldest, contemporary corporate identities still in use in The Netherlands. This logo designed by Gert Dumbar and his team of Tel Design, is an example of how the essence of a business activity, a service, can be conveyed in simplicity. In an instant it suggests a track as well as movement and efficiency. Efficient also in its application because wherever it is displayed, however small or large, with or without it’s corporate colours, and whatever the material or technique, it is always rock solid and clear. It’s a logo that in its abstraction, after seen once, anyone could easily draw by hand from memory.
Erik Cox
Erik Cox Grafisch ontwerperHotel New York in Rotterdam was founded in 1992. The hotel was to be located in the former headquarters of the Holland-America Line, build in the early twentieth century. For the logo, I chose the font ‘Bank Gothic’ released in 1930 because it evoked the atmosphere of that exact period.
To me, a good logo means that it is clear and simple. Someone should be able to easily draw it by hand from memory. In cooperation with Dorine de Vos the handwriting of the logo was actually implemented in all kinds of printed matter alongside and in combination with her drawn illustrations.
The font of the logo with the lowered caps became a corporate identity element. Informally called ‘Lowerbank’ it was widely used for introductory texts in brochures, among other things.