Auckland’s Passenger Transport Network Design Winners Announced

11 October 2001

The search for a team to develop an umbrella brand and theming for Auckland’s Regional Transport network is over with today’s announcement of the winners of Auckland’s Branding and Theming for Public Transport competition. After 6 months of intensive creative application from competitors and deliberation from the judges, the winners are Sanders Design/Stephens and Turner for branding and Jasmax/Mario Madayag/ Creative Lab for theming.

The announcement concludes the final competition phase, which was launched in June to identify a single visual identity for use for all branding and theming for buses, rail, ferries and stations across the entire public transport system.

Sanders Design’s MAXX brand entry and Jasmax/Mario Madayag’s theming entry were chosen from five finalists who were selected to expand and develop their concepts into comprehensive proposals after they were shortlisted from 32 phase one entries from some of the leading design and architecture houses in Australasia.

Each submission was judged against a number of design and functionality criteria, with construction costs and ongoing maintenance issues holding as much weight as aesthetic appeal and transferability. The judging panel, consisting of representatives from backgrounds as diverse as design, marketing, transport operations and local council, assessed the final submissions over a three week period. According to Tony van Raat, Head of Unitec's School of Architecture and convenor of the judging panel, the decision to split the winners has recognised two outstanding submissions which answered all of the competition demands for the branding and theming components.

“MAXX is unusual, powerful and memorable,” said Tony. “The weave of its logo contains elements that could be related to maori and pacifica cultures and the colours of the weave are reminiscent of Auckland’s sun, sand and water. The matrix of the weave can be in-filled with images which might be varied to reflect local character and the Pukeko mascot was a cheerful character to introduce the brand. We were also convinced that the lightweight ‘sail’ feature, which distinguishes the canopies in Jasmax’s theming entry, is perfectly representative of Auckland. By happy coincidence the cross-bracing in their sub-structure is also somewhat akin to the weave used in the MAXX logo and the canopies are simple enough to neither date nor to distract from the street furniture which they will shelter.

The decision has the full support of the region through the ARC Passenger Transport Sub-Committee and was also reflected in more than 200 public submissions gathered from displays around the region.

Councillor Les Paterson commented, “The region will now work with the winners to refine and develop the brand and theme concepts further. The rollout of the branding and theming will be gradual over a five-year period as the Auckland Regional Transport Network infrastructure is developed and when it is deemed that branding of services is appropriate. There was some urgency to confirm our partnership with suitable design teams given the progress on the North Shore Busway and the nearing implementation of stations. However, it is likely that we won’t see the brand applied for some time yet. This gives the region time to involve communities – particularly with the development of heritage stations - and ensure we meet public transport operators’ individual requirements with regard to brand application.”

© Scoop Media