(08 Sep 2020, 8:54 pm)Storx wrote We've been discussing it in the electric thread and it's been interesting so I thought why not ask the question see what people think.

What's your favourite brand(s) and why?
What's your most hated brand(s) and why?
If you could change a brand what would you change?

Curious if we all think the same or all have totally different ideas. I'll start:

Favourite Brands:
Red Kite: It's straight to the point and actually brought some awareness to something beyond buses local to that area.
Drifter: Another with a link to the local area in terms of fishing and Seaham Harbor
Route 19: Really simple and it stood it's time - wouldn't be outdated now and it followed the A19 at the time.

Hated Brands:
Magic Roundabout: I don't get the point of the branding and links to anything, is there a roundabout on the route...?
Pronto - Yet again do I need to say much unless Bishop Auckland is the new italian pizza centre.
The Pulse - Bizarre brand which doesn't really mean anything and doesn't sound good neither. 

For one I'd change - Coast and Country which will probably come to a surprise to some, this route is just crying for something about coal mines ie. resurrect The Waggonway brand. It pretty much connects ex pit villages and it would be nice to have something for them whereas Coast and Country is a bit corporate and I wouldn't count Stanley / Consett as the countryside whereas Sunderland City Centre is quite far from the coast (for a public transport user at least).

See, for me it depends if we go purely aesthetically or if we look at the meaning behind the routes as well.

Favourite brands:
The Castles Express - goes without saying!
X-Lines - I really do like the X-Lines brand, I just think they've gone a bit over the top with it. I wasn't a fan of it to start with, but it's really grown on me and does stand out. Whether or not it still stands out in a few months time when pretty much every bus running through Newcastle is X-Lines remains to be seen. The charcoal variant is my favourite, followed by Red, Dark Green, Light Green, Blue, Purple and Plum.
Little Coasters - Controversial I know, but I really like the design of it. 

Hated brands:
Toonlink (Black and white): It just looked crap, I didn't mind the purple variant, but the black one, nah.
The 49 + The 9: A half arsed attempt at branding for the sake of branding.
Fab 56: I have the gift of sight, but when I see them, I wish I didn't
X66: Too much going on, you can't see through the windows
Durham Cathedral: It also look like it was designed in 5 minutes

Thing I'd change:
Not sure I'd really 'change' any brands, but if i had to, my changes would revolve around updating liveries to the current design.

Tyne Valley Ten - I'd go back to silver. Here's a quick mockup I did last year based on the Cobalt and Coast using elements from the current livery. Probably could have put more effort into it, but you get the idea.

Drifter - Same thing again, here's a Photoshop mockup I did a while back when discussing it in another topic, but forgot about it!

Northern - I'd have put the Northern livery on a Solo rather than a Versa. Would have looked better IMO