Railway 200. Creating a unifying brand system for a national celebration
Role: Graphic Design, Art Direction, Pictures Editor. Agency: Storycatchers
Context
Railway 200 marks the 200th anniversary of the modern railway in 2025 – a once-in-a-generation, year-long programme involving rail operators, heritage organisations, museums, community groups and industry partners across the UK.
The challenge was scale. With hundreds of contributors producing their own communications, the brand needed to be flexible enough to work everywhere while remaining coherent, recognisable and high quality.
I was provided with a core logo and colour palette and asked to develop a complete brand look and feel that could be applied consistently across all communications – from motion and digital to print, large-scale exhibitions and physical environments.
I developed the visual language and then designed a comprehensive partner brand toolkit, enabling other agencies, collaborators and event organisers to create their own Railway 200 assets confidently and correctly.
Alongside this, I acted as a pictures editor, responsible for sourcing, curating and quality-controlling imagery across the programme.
The visual approach needed to balance celebration and authority. Railway 200 had to feel nationally significant without becoming formal or exclusionary, and contemporary without losing its historical grounding.
I created a flexible system built around clear layouts, confident use of colour and a distinctive framing device that could hold both historical and contemporary imagery. The system was designed to scale easily, whether applied to a social post, a leaflet or a large exhibition panel.
Every design decision was made with handover in mind – clarity, repeatability and ease of use were as important as aesthetics.
I also storyboarded and developed a short promotional film for Railway 200, working with an editor to translate the brand language into motion and create a unified visual introduction that was screened at Rail Live and shared across social channels.
The partner toolkit
A key output was the Railway 200 partner toolkit, which provided practical guidance and downloadable templates for anyone promoting an event or activity as part of the celebration year.
The toolkit included:
– brand principles and visual rules
– guidance on applying the identity across formats
– downloadable print, digital and social templates
– clear instructions to avoid brand drift or misuse
The aim was not control for its own sake, but to raise the overall quality and consistency.
Exhibitions and live events
In addition to the core brand system, I designed large-format exhibition graphics and a promotional film for Rail Live, a specialist industry event.
This involved adapting the brand language for immersive, physical environments, ensuring it held its own at scale while remaining legible, engaging and clearly connected back to the wider Railway 200 identity.
8 panel exhibition panel for Rail Live
Image curation and quality control
Railway 200 drew imagery from a huge range of sources, including train operating companies, Network Rail, museums, heritage railways and community groups.
I sourced additional historical and contemporary imagery where needed and sifted through large volumes of supplied material to establish a consistent visual standard. This involved setting best-practice guidance around tone, authenticity and composition, ensuring that all imagery felt aligned regardless of origin.
This picture-editing role was critical in maintaining credibility and coherence across the programme.
Outcome
The resulting brand system enabled Railway 200 to roll out a complex, multi-partner programme with confidence.
By combining a clear visual language with practical tools and image governance, the work ensured that hundreds of independently produced assets still felt part of a single national moment – consistent, recognisable and high quality.