Superloop Branding & Alternatives

[thelondonthing]

⚠️ WARNING : This is an insanely long post ❗
If matters of branding and design are of no interest to you, I encourage you to scroll past this post at high speed, and never look back.


Now, with that out of the way…

I’ve read lots of comments about Superloop from members here in recent months. I don’t think there’s anyone here who considers the Superloop branding to be a real success; the most generous comments seem to be along the lines of “it is what it is”, or simply “meh”.

Personally, I quite like the overall concept of this express bus network, but I’ve got big, big problems with the branding and design direction they chose. In my opinion, I don’t think they’ve done any of this well at all.



So, buckle up. There are two main parts to this post:

1) why the Superloop brand sucks; and
2) an alternative brand identity design.

(I know there’s a lot of text here, so I won’t hate you if you skim over it and go straight to the pictures. Note: you can click on any of the images to view larger versions.)

Now, obviously, my design ideas are hardly complete – after all, I’m just one person cobbling these ideas together in my spare time. But I do think this design concept goes some way to addressing the many problems with the Superloop brand.

You may well hate these designs (and if you do, that’s okay!), but if nothing else, I hope they get people thinking about how much better TfL could, and should, have done in branding this important new service.

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Part 1:
Superloop is a f**king terrible name

Generally speaking, branding across Transport for London as a whole – in terms of design identity, as well as brand touchpoints (signage, maps, leaflets etc) – is very matter-of-fact; extremely functional, but attractive and thoughtfully crafted. There’s a strong sense of tradition and history behind the brand design of the entire TfL organisation.

Major TfL sub-brands are singularly functional in name too, rather than abstract or flamboyant. Key services are branded with quite literal and self-explanatory names: Overground, Buses, River, Streets, etc.

Superloop throws all of that down the toilet.

It’s a frivolous sounding name; it sounds childish. It sounds like the name of a roller coaster, or a toy, or a cereal. It evokes thoughts of other words and phrases that sound similarly ridiculous – super-trooper, pooper-scooper – none of which sound at all serious, or professional, or appropriate.

‘Superloop’ is a silly word to say out loud too; the sounds that it generates as you say them makes it feel like you’re using a word out of place, out of context. It feels like a word that should apply to something trivial and inconsequential; it doesn’t feel like a word that should be associated with this product; with a flagship bus service. Frankly, it just sounds awkward – hardly a great start for any new brand name, much less the name of a TfL service.

The DLR couldn’t be more literally branded. Even the Tramlink brand has been deprecated in favour of simply ‘Trams’. So why did TfL opt for something so obscure and abstract as ‘Superloop’ for a major new bus service; indeed, a flagship Mayoral project?

Even worse: it's clear that TfL knew the Superloop name would be baffling to passengers, prompting them to add an explanatory footnote to the branding (...which wasn't there on the original 'preview' Superloop livery when it was first announced back in March). This footnote explains to passengers that it’s an “express bus service”, in tiny letters below the giant logo:


Original image credit: Western SMT / Flickr


If the name is so irrelevant to the purpose of the service that it literally needs to be explained the moment people see it, is this really the best choice of brand identity for such an important new London-wide network? Would it not be better to opt for a clearer, less obscure, easier-to-understand name – one that also works better alongside the more functional branding of other major TfL services?



And I’ve mentioned this before, but Superloop is not a new or separate mode of transport. Why on earth has it been given its own roundel design? It’s a frickin' bus service; it’s nothing more than that. This should be a route branding exercise, at best.

Giving Superloop its own unique roundel surely implies that it’s something it’s not – and has led to the painfully stupid situation of buses displaying both an enormous Superloop roundel, and the standard TfL Buses roundel (as well as having both 'SUPERLOOP' text in the roundel, and even bigger 'SUPERLOOP' text repeated right next to it):



It’s just a limited-stop bus service. Why pretend otherwise?

Of course, the only reason it gets its own roundel is because someone in the design team pointed out that the nice round Superloop route diagram they had designed happened to kind-of resemble the TfL logo. Or maybe, geniuses that they are, they planned all along for the network map to look like a roundel. Either way, to really hammer home how incredibly clever they had been, the designers evidently decided it would be brilliantly-super-clever to give Superloop its own super-roundel.

I intensely dislike it. It’s not a particularly attractive combination of colours. It’s far, far too complicated, and it somehow appears worse the smaller it gets. It also looks absolutely horrible when it’s used on a red background. TfL obviously realises all of this, which is why they use a completely different all-white-no-colour Superloop roundel for branding on the red frontage of the bus:


Original image credit: Pedroperezhumberto / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)


Just let that sink in for a moment: TfL designed a logo to be used on its buses, which looks terrible when it's used on those buses. The incompetence speaks for itself: this is branding so bad that it’s literally unfit for purpose.

And one other point: to the casual observer with no knowledge of what Superloop is or means, the logo could quite easily be mistaken for some sort of marketing related to TfL’s LGBTQ+ Pride activities:



Then there’s the Superloop livery, which is just plain… well, plain. Boring. Bland:


Original image credit: Pedroperezhumberto / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)


And because the name bears no obvious relation to the product, if I were just a regular Londoner (or visitor!) who knew nothing about this service, and I suddenly glanced at a passing bus with a non-standard livery and “SUPERLOOP express bus service” on it, I’d probably think it was an express shuttle bus to somewhere called ‘Superloop’, like a theme park or a shopping centre.

But aside from all of that, Superloop is a truly terrible brand because it emphasises and prioritises the one aspect of the service that will ultimately be of the least relevance to most potential customers.

With few exceptions, passengers are likely to only ever use one, perhaps two, of these express routes on a regular basis. It will improve their journey time to work; and they might occasionally take another nearby Superloop route to go and visit a friend, or attend a hospital appointment, or go to the airport.

People want to know first and foremost what this service offers to them. The reality is that most Londoners will rarely use even one service, simply because they don't travel often to the few stops served by their nearest express route. For most people, it’s almost completely irrelevant that this is a ‘loop’ of services that circumnavigates outer London. Few passengers, if any, will ever take 3 or 4 Superloop routes in one journey to get to the other side of the city. 

Focusing on the loop as the key marketing and branding element, when that specific element is of the absolute least relevance to the customer, is completely batsh!t crazy.

So...

The Superloop name is meaningless. It literally needs to be explained as soon as people see it. It’s singularly focused on an aspect of the service – a ‘loop’ around the whole of outer London – that few passengers will ever care about, because that one aspect of the service is something that they will likely never, ever need.

And the rotting cherry on this turd cake? Three of the routes aren’t even part of the loop. TfL chose a brand name that, by definition, excludes 30% of the services operating under that brand.

It’s incomprehensible to me that TfL – which I generally admire for its superb design discipline – has made so many bizarre and objectively poor choices in branding such an important new service.

In my opinion, the primary focus should NEVER have been on the ‘loop’ element of the service. The focus should ALWAYS have been on the ‘express bus service’ element. This is something that people can immediately understand when they see it, and they will instinctively understand the possible benefits of that service to them.

Superloop does not do this. It’s a stupid name. It has to be explained. It makes it harder for people to quickly understand the nature of the service. It’s literally not fit for purpose. It’s just plain bad.

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Part 2:
An alternative design proposal

So… time to put my money where my mouth is. What would I do differently?

Well, TfL is a big lover of its own history, and it’s no stranger to express routes too – so that seemed like a perfectly obvious place to start.

For example, look at the old X43 Red Express. It’s ‘red’ because it was related to the rollout of the new red route road scheme, and it’s an ‘express’. No more complicated than that. The express element of the service is right there in the branding, and the route has an ‘X’ prefix. It’s all very easy to understand. It’s a bus. It’s an express. Got it.



An even more relevant version is the old 607 Express branding, for a route that has now been absorbed into Superloop as the SL8, despite not actually being part of the loop. The 607 Express was a triumph of branding simplicity – it’s very clearly an express bus service. Again, spelt out right there in the branding. Nothing more to explain. (It’s also a nice piece of 1990s design, with its neat incorporation of the Centrewest gold arrow.)



But there was a third historical example that I found even more compelling, because I think it provides the perfect name for – not a loop – but a London-wide network of express bus services.

Now, it’s the SL7. Before, the X26. Once, it was…

726 Expresslink.



And there it is.

So long, Superloop. Enter… ‘Expresslink’.

• As a brand name, it’s simple and easy to understand at a glance. You see ‘Expresslink’ on the side of a bus and you immediately get that it’s an express bus service. The name makes sense in relation to the product. It sounds focused and professional, as one would expect from a TfL brand. Superloop is the opposite of all of this.
• It solves the problem of radial routes not fitting in to the core ‘loop’ concept. By dropping the fixation on the loop, you can focus instead on branding an integrated express network. Expresslink works as a universal brand for a network of routes across the capital.
• It has a connection with London’s transport history, which is exactly the kind of heritage goodness that TfL goes nuts for these days.
• It fits well into TfL’s wider branding conventions of more functional, rather than playful or obscure or f**king stupid, names for its services.

So, let’s dive in.

(Also: please forgive the ‘not a real TfL document’ watermarks on some images – unfortunately, experience has taught me that some morons out there think they’re achieving something by taking unofficial concept designs like these and trying to pass them off elsewhere as ‘real’ or ‘official’ documentation. The watermarks will hopefully dissuade at least some of these miserable fools from doing so this time.)

First, the colour palette. It’s a bus service, so red is of course at the heart of the brand identity. The background is a rich, dark, inky purple, delivering visual impact and vibrant contrast across the whole Expresslink brand.



There is no new roundel for Expresslink. It doesn't deserve one. It's a bunch of bus routes, FFS.

Instead, there is a logo, incorporating red, the TfL roundel, and a raked ‘E’ shape, tying in with the Expresslink name, and giving an understated impression of speed:



This ‘E-symbol’ has a slightly retro, pseudo-Art Deco aspect to its appearance, subtly implying a connection with TfL’s wider, illustrious design history, thus making Expresslink feel like a more established part of the wider TfL brand family from day one.

Here’s the full Expresslink logo. As you would expect, the wordmark is based on TfL’s Johnston typeface, with a few minor tweaks.



As you can see, the Expresslink brand also has a tagline: “Fewer stops. Faster connections.” Yes, it’s a bit marketing-agency-jargon-trite, but it also neatly explains the nature of the service to passengers and the key benefit it offers them.

The brand name is self-explanatory. The tagline reinforces and affirms the brand's commitment to the customer. It’s an express bus service, it serves fewer stops, so it gets you where you need to go, faster. Got it.

Now, here’s the money shot – a new and fully rebranded version of the network map diagram.



Key features in the image above:

• At the top left, the core of Expresslink branding. Posters, leaflets, signage, all with the deep purple background, and with the E-symbol placed within a slanted red ‘notch’ at the top left. It’s instantly recognisable and easy-to-spot among other posters and adverts.
• At the bottom, an additional Expresslink branding element – three red lines trailing off to the right of the E-symbol.
• All the routes have been recoloured on the Expresslink network diagram. This was done for two reasons: first, the colours chosen by TfL for Superloop routes are almost all hideous – look at them! ⬇️

• ...and second, I wanted to select a more attractive range of colours that provided a vibrant contrast with the dark Expresslink background.
• Most notably, all the routes have been renumbered with a simple ‘X’ prefix instead of ‘SL’. The SL prefix is, to me, one of the most idiotic elements of the whole Superloop mess. X is a very widely understood prefix for express bus routes, across the UK and beyond; SL obviously is not, and was clearly only chosen to work with the Superloop name, which – as we’ve established – was a sh!tty choice in the first place. X is also phonetically linked to ‘Expresslink’, so it’s the perfect fit.
• I also addressed a minor oversight related to route SL4. On the Superloop network diagram, the route is shown as going over the Thames; on the Expresslink version, route X4 goes under the Thames (i.e., through the Silvertown Tunnel). It’s a small detail but given that the route is being introduced as a direct result of the new tunnel’s construction, it feels like the kind of detail that TfL usually obsesses over.

Here's a further example of the Expresslink brand in action – an onboard route diagram poster for the X7:



As you can see above, all the key brand elements are present and easily recognisable. In addition to showing all of the (few) stops en route, and highlighting stations, hospitals and airports, the route diagram also prominently features interchange points with other Expresslink services, using a ‘lozenge’ shape that combines an E-symbol and the brightly-coloured X-route number alongside it.


Moving on to other aspects of Expresslink branding…

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I don’t particularly like the design of the current bus stop flag elements used for Superloop.

The full-width Superloop branding at the bottom isn’t at all prominent and does little to capture one’s attention. It also seems a strange choice for the route tiles to be in solid dark-red, when the Superloop brand is much more heavily focused on the colour-coded routes and multi-coloured roundel. Why do the tiles not use the route-specific colours shown on the network map and on the sides of the buses themselves? Why does the red on the route tile not even match the red in the Superloop logo FFS? 



(And good grief, how bad is that Superloop tile on the Heathrow bus stop flag? Two Superloop routes squashed in, with little clarity for confused passengers about which route goes where.)

Expresslink branding on bus stops and shelters would, I think, be more attractive, more consistent, and far less garish (the image below includes some additional notes on these design elements within it):



What about the livery?

In creating the Superloop brand, TfL seemed to implicitly acknowledge the need to visually set this service apart from others, even creating that ghastly new Superloop roundel. Evidently, they believed it was necessary to distinguish the appearance of these express buses, clearly and obviously, from those on the ‘regular' TfL Buses network.

But the Superloop livery feels like such a weak cop-out. If these services were truly supposed to stand out, then why hold back? Why not do something truly distinctive to make these express buses really grab people’s attention? In my opinion, TfL should be leaning in a whole lot more to the idea of making its express bus network stand out from the crowd of all-red buses, while ensuring that they’re still instantly recognisable as Transport for London services.

With that in mind, here’s a (very!) basic representation of the Expresslink livery (…on some kind of boxy knock-off MCW Metrobus?!?). Again, I’ve included additional design notes within the image itself:



I think it looks unmistakably like a TfL service, while clearly standing out among other ‘regular’ London bus services in ways that the Superloop livery does not.

And that’s kind of the point. TfL could have done something really different, really special to brand its new network of express bus services. They certainly could have done better than my musings – but god knows, they could have done infinitely better than the embarrassingly poor Superloop brand.

I’m certainly not deluded enough to believe for one moment that my design concepts are the best idea ever, or the best possible solution instead of Superloop, or the best anything. The simple fact is that these are just the ramblings and sketches of an obvious madman one guy who threw some ideas together.

But what I hope this post shows is that there are better solutions compared with what we’ve ended up with – and if even I can come up with a vaguely coherent solution that objectively makes more sense than the current design, then surely a more capable bunch of designers could easily do far better than what we have in Superloop.

London’s new express bus loop network deserves better than the sh!tty, ill-conceived branding it’s now stuck with.

And in my opinion, the whole launch of this network would have made a lot more sense to a lot more people – and might even have been greeted with a bit less derision – if its branding hadn’t been quite so dreadful.

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Part 3:
One last thing...

Broadly speaking, I really like the express bus network that TfL is rolling out. The Superloop name is profoundly terrible, but I think the general concept is sound, and on the whole, much of the proposed network seems sensible and well-considered to me.

But like many of you, there are a few things that, I believe, could do with tweaking. Here are some changes that I would make to the network, highlighted on the diagram below (with unchanged services/stops faded out):



Minor tweaks

• The Silver Street stop on the X1 now includes ‘for North Middlesex University Hospital’ in its name. The hospital grounds are well within a walkable distance of the stop, compared with other similar TfL bus stops serving ‘nearby’ locations.
• Added West Norwood station to the X6 on the route diagram. I'm not sure why this stop was excluded from the SL6 on the Superloop map, especially given the enormous gap between Waterloo and Croydon.
• On the X7, I’ve added both Hatton Cross and Worcester Park stations; again, I’m unclear as to why these were excluded from the SL7 on Superloop. I’ve also added ‘for Teddington Memorial Hospital’ to the Teddington stop. (The Thames has also been reshaped to (slightly!!) better reflect local geography.)

X2:
The North Woolwich terminus is renamed ‘North Woolwich Ferry’, along with a representation of the river crossing to Woolwich Ferry.


X3:
Woolwich Ferry is now the northern terminus for the X3. I think it makes an awful lot of sense to integrate this crossing point with the express bus network (and yes, I do see the irony in my proposing to ‘close the loop’ here after b!tching about it earlier). In my opinion, it would help to improve journey times for many passengers to the ferry, while also helping to make this method of crossing the river a more attractive and viable proposition for more people from further afield.

To accommodate this revision, the X3 would be routed from Abbey Wood to Plumstead, Woolwich, and Woolwich Ferry. (Sorry, Thamesmead…)


X4:
In its current form, the SL4 makes very little sense to me, totally disconnected from the rest of the express network. The Superloop name is bad enough for radial routes; it’s surely worse for a radial route that doesn’t even connect to any other service that’s actually in the loop.

With Expresslink, the focus is on a network of interconnected orbital and radial routes. To that end, I think it’s essential to connect the southern end of the route to provide interchange with at least one other express route. Here, the X4 is extended to Bromley, connecting with the X3 and X5.

The northern end of the X4 is also extended in this fantasyland. Instead of terminating at Canary Wharf, it runs through to London City Airport. I think this extension makes a lot of sense – I see a tremendous amount of value in providing a direct express bus service to the airport from southeast London, with no changes required, along with the connections to this service for passengers from towns around Bromley, and beyond.

Running through to LCY would also help to boost passenger numbers along the route throughout the day, when fewer commuters would be travelling to and from Canary Wharf. The increase in availability of more affordable ‘leisure’ fares from airlines operating at LCY makes a direct express bus connection from southeast London an even more compelling offering.

Also, for no reason at all, I added a groovy shadow effect to the route at the Silvertown Tunnel.


And finally: one more (express) link in the chain…

You’ve probably already spotted the elephant in the room – an entirely new addition to the network diagram (50 bonus points to you if you also spotted the reference to it on the bus stop earlier in this post).

I’ve seen lots of posts recently proposing extra stops or speculative extensions to various Superloop routes – so I hope you’ll permit me one further indulgence, in proposing an entirely new express route:

The X11, from Richmond Bus Station to Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

I know, I know… you probably think it sounds utterly ridiculous. And at first glance, I would probably agree with you. But I do think there’s a case to be made for an express route of this kind: a north-south bus link spanning inner west London (if only as a new candidate for the least reliable route in the capital).

In the image below, you’ll see the full route diagram, along with a whole bunch of notes explaining the thinking behind this deranged proposal:



And if you’re ready to get balls-deep into this fantastical nonsense, here’s a full geographical map showing the proposed line of route, along with some essential key stats:



Anyway, I hope that this post has given you something to think about; something to shout about; something to point at and laugh mockingly; or even something that just made you go ‘huh’.

Personally, I think the key takeaway from all this is that I had way too much free time on my hands this week.

[southlondon413]

thelondonthing I won’t quote the entire post but I love your concept. So much better, more distinct and a more innovative overall approach to a unique set of services. The only thing I would swap would be livery, reversing the red and black might be slightly better and would help reduce heat inside vehicles during summer. But otherwise a brilliant well put together idea. Kudos to you!

[matthieu1221]

Deserves its own thread imo! Would also be interested to see if you had other branding ideas for other routes/services in London!

[borneobus]

Wonderful post, bravo. So well thought-through and executed; I particularly enjoyed the comparison of the "Superloop" Map versus your "Expresslink" route with use of colours and the "Fewer Stops. Faster Connections" strap-line together with the re-numbered routes. Also the bus stop design is classy and distinctive. If you're not already you should be working in a Soho based marketing agency!

[greenboy]

Just had a quick flick through the post from thelondonthing and some very good points, Superloop sounds to me like the latest ride at Thorpe Park or Chessington!

[mkay315]

So I've taken my time to read the post thelondonthing has nicely written. I have to give you a round of applause for detailing a great suggestion. That would be a befitting way to separate the general bus routes to the express bus routes with specific stops.

[15002]

One of the best eloquently put posts I’ve seen on this forum; well designed images, and good constructive points being made here as well, and well articulated too. Particularly agree with the point about having the X, the Superloop sounding ridiculous and definitely like how the network connecting with each other too.

[WH241]

thelondonthing I have been a member on and off for many years and never seen such a detailed excellent post such as what you made today regrading branding. You must have spent a huge amount of time and effort on this!   

I have no idea of your background but if anyone in the industry was to see this I would hope they approach you with an offer of work or work with you as a consultant to them.

[busman]

thelondonthing Absolutely brilliant rebrand - everything the Stupidloop communications should and could have been. That post deserves its own thread.

To split hairs and be really pedantic on a local element of your post - The X3 reroute to Woolwich Ferry - firstly the Woolwich Ferry is often closed (at times no-one knows when and comms are all over the place about planned closures) so it is hardly a convenient link to north of the river. The foot tunnel is more reliably open, but I hear the lifts have ongoing issues which makes accessibility a problem. Even if the Woolwich Ferry became more robust (fewer faults and an extra ferry for added resilience) and/or the foot tunnel lift issues were resolved I would also suggest an extension of the X3 from Thamesmead rather than diverting via Plumstead. This would be faster end to end especially during peaks by avoiding jams on Plumstead High Street.

Otherwise a solid 9.99/10 for your post 😉

Btw If you’re not already working in some form of marketing communications, you might want to strongly consider a move in that direction if it aligns with your interests. Brilliant ideas, coherent presentation and logical arguments for each change. That plum purple background is a masterstroke imho.

[cardinal]

Give this person a job

[Jack]

I've moved this post and the subsequent comments into a thread of its own. It is far too good to get buried within another thread!

[ServerKing]

Excellent! I always questioned the SL route numbers, which make it look like Slough postcodes These "Express" buses may not be much quicker than the regular ones, I can see the white and red ageing quicker than Katie Price in a solarium, it will look grubby in winter and there's no standard vehicle spec, we have elderly B9TLs alongside existing electrics or hybrids, there was even talk amongst the clamour on the Arriva thread of the ex 312/329 Streetdecks going on the SL1

Most people just don't travel such circuitous routes... last time I had to get from North London to West was on an unfortunate trip to Willesden Magistrates Court (driving ban) and the 232 and heavy footed driver sufficed... so I can't see many wanting to sit on the choked roads on the North Circular when there's so many quicker modes of transport.

I think Sadiq thought he'd burn through the cash from the government knowing his time is up, after destroying central London with 20 zones, and making a rod for his own back with ULEZ.

Love the ExpressLink branding much more. Everyone else in the UK has Express (ie X) routes, why did he choose SL instead... and the Grove Park and Uxbridge routes aren't really part of the Loop, I would have even gone with SuperLine (even though it sounds like a naff computer hub off Amazon or something )

[ServerKing]

Excellent! I always questioned the SL route numbers, which make it look like Slough postcodes These "Express" buses may not be much quicker than the regular ones, I can see the white and red ageing quicker than Katie Price in a solarium, it will look grubby in winter and there's no standard vehicle spec, we have elderly B9TLs alongside existing electrics or hybrids, there was even talk amongst the clamour on the Arriva thread of the ex 312/329 Streetdecks going on the SL1

Most people just don't travel such circuitous routes... last time I had to get from North London to West was on an unfortunate trip to Willesden Magistrates Court (driving ban) and the 232 and heavy footed driver sufficed... so I can't see many wanting to sit on the choked roads on the North Circular when there's so many quicker modes of transport.

I think Sadiq thought he'd burn through the cash from the government knowing his time is up, after destroying central London with 20 zones, and making a rod for his own back with ULEZ.

Love the ExpressLink branding much more. Everyone else in the UK has Express (ie X) routes, why did he choose SL instead... and the Grove Park and Uxbridge routes aren't really part of the Loop, I would have even gone with SuperLine (even though it sounds like a naff computer hub off Amazon or something )

[twobellstogo]

I have to say that I’m really not a fan of the dark purple/violet primary colouring, for either the buses themselves or the concept sheets. I just don’t think the buses will stand out with such a dark livery. Were it me, I’d go for a brighter blue - blue on the blinds has always been a London ‘express’ colour and I think that would stand out a lot better.

Otherwise it’s great, and it’s clear a lot of effort has gone into this.

[S.152]

I was shocked at how good this concept was and decided to make the choice to make a visual of how the livery would look on the X26/SL7(X7).
After some collaboration with thelondonthing and I must say he was very helpful, I am glad to be able to share this render with everyone here. Hopefully this truly represents how nice the livery is compared to the current Superloop livery. (Will add that the base B9TL was not made by me)