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The Great British Railways has a great British brand. The U.K.’s new public railway is leaning on well-known, classic symbolism for its visual identity unveiled this month. Train liveries for the new brand will show a design of a stylized Union Jack flag, while the new logo brings back an old double arrow concept designed in 1965 by Gerald Barney for the old state-run British Rail. The brand’s font is the simple, modern sans-serif Rail Alphabet 2, an updated version of the British Rail font designed in the 1960s by Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir. The new brand was designed in house by the U.K.’s Department for Transport and it will begin rolling out on trains, stations, signage, websites, and a ticketing app by spring 2026. The branding is an outward manifestation of a wider goal to deliver better public transportation. Already, they’ve frozen rail fare for the first time in 30 years. [Image: GBR] “This isn’t just a paint job,” U.K. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said in a statement. Instead, “it represents a new railway, casting off the frustrations of the past and focused entirely on delivering a proper public service for passengers.” A new take on an old brand Modern, minimalist, and geometric, Barney’s original 1965 double arrow logo for British Rail used the lines and angles of the U.K. flag to cleverly communicate two-way transportation. The mark also has staying power. [Image: GBR] Even after British Rail began to be privatized in the 1990s, the double arrow mark remained in use as an official rail symbol in the U.K. at stations and on tickets. And just as with classic mid-century civic design in the U.S., there’s similarly an audience for print standards manuals of the old British Rail brand. The U.K. is in the process of renationalizing its railway companies following challenges like a drop in riders following the pandemic and high ticket prices. Both Conservative and Labour governments have pushed to make more of the country’s railways public, and for now, nine train operators, representing a third of all passenger train traffic in Great Britain, are nationalized. The remaining seven are expected to be nationalized by October 2027. [Image: GBR] Bringing the double arrow logo back, refining an old, classic font, and using a flag-inspired livery design is a smart move that keeps the public’s ownership of the brand front and center with well known and widely understood symbolism. If Great British Railways can deliver on a better experience for riders, the brand could become an example of civic design and public ownership done right.
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E-Commerce
Ryan Coogler’s bluesy vampire thriller “Sinners,” the big screen musical “Wicked: For Good” and the Netflix phenomenon “KPop Demon Hunters” are all a step closer to an Oscar nomination. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released shortlists for 12 categories Tuesday, including for best song, score, international and documentary film, cinematography and this year’s new prize, casting.“Sinners” and “Wicked: For Good” received the most shortlist mentions with eight each, including makeup and hair, sound, visual effects, score, casting and cinematography. Both have two original songs advancing as well. For “Wicked” it’s Stephen Schwartz’s “The Girl in the Bubble” and “No Place Like Home.” For “Sinners,” it’s Ludwig Göransson, Miles Caton and Alice Smith’s “Last Time (I Seen the Sun),” and Göransson and Raphael Saadiq’s “I Lied to You.”The “KPop Demon Hunters” hit “Golden,” by EJAE and Mark Sonnenblick, was another shortlisted song alongside other notable artists like: Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner for “Train Dreams”; John Mayer, Ed Sheeran and Blake Slatkin for the “F1” song “Drive”; Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile and Andrea Gibson for “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” from “Come See Me In the Good Light”; and Miley Cyrus, Simon Franglen, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for “Dream as One” from “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Diane Warren also might be on her way to a 17th nomination with “Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentless.”One of the highest profile shortlist categories is the best international feature, where 15 films were named including “Sentimental Value” (Norway), “Sirât” (Spain), “No Other Choice” (South Korea), “The Secret Agent” (Brazil), “It Was Just an Accident” (France), “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Tunisia), “Sound of Falling” (Germany) and “The President’s Cake” (Iraq).Notable documentaries among the 15 include “My Undesirable Friends: Part I Last Air in Moscow,” “The Perfect Neighbor,” “The Alabama Solution,” “Come See Me in the Good Light,” “Cover-Up” and Mstyslav Chernov’s “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a co-production between The Associated Press and PBS Frontline.The Oscars’ new award for casting shortlisted 10 films that will vie for the five nomination slots: “Frankenstein,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “One Battle After Another,” “The Secret Agent,” “Sentimental Value,” “Sinners,” “Sirt,” “Weapons,” and “Wicked: For Good.” Notably “Jay Kelly and “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” did not make the list.Composers who made the shortlist for best score include Göransson (“Sinners”), Jonny Greenwood (“One Battle After Another”), Max Richter (“Hamnet”), Alexandre Desplat (“Frankenstein”) and Kangding Ray (“Sirt”).For the most part, shortlists are determined by members in their respective categories, though the specifics vary from branch to branch: Some have committees, some have minimum viewing requirements.As most of the shortlists are in below-the-line categories celebrating crafts like sound and visual effects, there are also films that aren’t necessarily the most obvious of Oscar contenders like “The Alto Knights,” shortlisted in hair and makeup, as well as the widely panned “Tron: Ares” and “The Electric State,” both shortlisted for visual effects. “Tron: Ares” also made the lists for score and song with Nine Inch Nails’ “As Alive As You Need Me To Be”.The lists will narrow to five when final nominations are announced on Jan. 22. The 98th Oscars, hosted by Conan O’Brien, will air live on ABC on March 15 at 7 p.m. ET. Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
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E-Commerce
Shares of publicly traded companies operating in the cannabis space continue to perform strongly as the Trump administration considers reclassifying marijuana. Reports first emerged last week that the Trump administration might change marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug, which would lessen restrictions on it. On Monday, President Trump told reporters that he was considering the reclassification. We are considering that because a lot of people want to see itthe reclassification, because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that cant be done unless you reclassify, Trump stated, according to CNN. So, we are looking at that very strongly. Prior to Trumps announcement, a White House official told Fast Company that the administration had yet to make a final decision about reclassification. We have reached out to the White House about its current plans and will update this post if we hear back. Cannabis brands see their shares rise The potential of a reclassification has been enough to bolster shares of cannabis companies since the opening bell on Friday. Below are just some of the impressive jumps to watch. Tilray Brands Inc. (Nasdaq:TLRY) Closing on Tuesday: 27.54% Five-day growth: 71.97% Premarket growth on Wednesday: 3.66% Cresco Labs Inc (OTCQX: CRLBF) Closing on Tuesday: 34.93% Five-day growth: 123.11% After-hours growth: -0.23% Canopy Growth Corp. (Nasdaq:CGC) Closing on Tuesday: 10.24% Five-day growth: 61.49% Premarket growth on Wednesday: 6.01% Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTCQX:CURLF) Closing on Tuesday: 23.18% Five-day growth: 67.89% After-hours growth: 0.38% Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (CNSX: TRUL) Closing on Tuesday: 12.58% Five-day growth: 76.40% After-hours and premarket: N/A Each of these stocks are still significantly down from highs in early 2021, during the early Biden era, when marijuana reform excitement seemingly peaked. Whats the difference between Schedule I and Schedule III? The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) defines Schedule I drugs as those with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Marijuana currently sits on this list alongside heroin, ecstasy, LSD, peyote, and more. The DEA states that Schedule III drugs are those with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Right now, that list includes anabolic steroids, ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, and testosterone. If the change occurs, marijuana would be considered less dangerous than Schedule II drugs, which have a high potential for abuse, such as Adderall, cocaine, fentanyl, and Ritalin. Reclassifying marijuana would have no impact on its federal legality.
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