Where YouGo, WeGo: Nashville MTA Changes It's Clothes

[tBBP]

So apparently, right under our noses (I didn't even know until about three days ago), the public transit agency here known as Nashville MTA decided to completely reinvent itself (at least visually), eschewing the orange slice/pie slice/whatever kind of slice brand logo and simple branding that's apparently been around since the '70s for a completely-out-of-left-field brand identity refresh, now calling itself WeGo Public Transit.

 

Among the more interesting points is the perplexing choice of purple as it's primary color. Secondly, its new logo, it seems, somewhat abstractly represents a bus-& if you squint really hard, you may recognize an implied "W" in the lockup. Not the most eye-catching transit logo, but certainly capable enough of building around. Apparently all this rebranding cost the agency under $100K, which from what I've seen is somewhat on the cheap side, so good on MTA--I mean WeGo in that regard. (For the moment we'll set aside the fact that another transit agency up in upstate New York already has this name.)

 

Check out the changes below (old/new):

 

 

 

Soon to be former livery:

 

 

 

And the new:

 

 

This was done by an in-town branding agency.

 

My own personal opinion? It's functional; I suppose it does its job. I actually kinda like it, for what it is. Personally I was hoping for something with a bit more pizzazz (especially after seeing what Rock Region Metro over in Little Rock AR just rolled out not too long ago), but given time I think it'll grow on people. If nothing else, the sight of purple-painted buses rolling down the streets around here is sure to garner attention all on its own--which perhaps was the point in selecting a color so decidedly not Nashville in the first place. (It certainly caught mine--which is the whole reason I even know about this change).

 

Brand New/Under Consideration has its say on the rebranding here.

[Mac the Knife]

The "squares over circles" reminds me not of a bus, but the old Westinghouse logo for some reason.  Purple's not a bad color choice; it's distinctive at least.  And as for names, "WeGo" could've just as easily been "YouGo," which would've prompted all sorts of unintentional fun.

[tBBP]

^ Yeah, I'm waiting for the first time one of the new buses breaks down and someone calls it the "NoGo"....

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

"Its", not "it's".

[Denver_The_Sinaloa]

The new bus looks as if the Sacramento Kings vomited all over it. I love it

[BrandMooreArt]

Orlando has dark purple buses and i've always thought they fit within the city well. for Nashville though? i don't know. it's definitely eye catching, it feels somewhat modern and at the very least no longer looks like it was done in the 1970s. the general aesthetic is friendlier and doesn't look like you're going to hop on and get shanked. a net positive, but im going to guess Nashville folk will be annoyed by purple.

[Cosmic]

Maybe this is terribly obvious, but I didn't see Buc or Brand New explicitly mention it: they're dressing up like Lyft or Uber. Unless I missed it, there's no local branding at all  Strange times when it's felt that it's better to be perceived as a shady app startup from across the country, rather than as an arm of local government. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

5 minutes ago, Cosmic said:

Maybe this is terribly obvious, but I didn't see Buc or Brand New explicitly mention it: they're dressing up like Lyft or Uber. Unless I missed it, there's no local branding at all  Strange times when it's felt that it's better to be perceived as a shady app startup from across the country, rather than as an arm of local government.  

 

I didn't find that obvious, but now that you said so, I totally do. I was taken aback by the disconnect from community in the branding, but I guess it kind of makes sense if that's what they're going for.

 

They shouldn't be, but that's probably a different discussion for a different thread.

[BBTV]

I've been in Nashville (both downtown and East Nash) several times (as recently as last week), and have never seen any public transportation.  I've also never been anywhere where Uber is so cheap.

[MilSox]

7 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Maybe this is terribly obvious, but I didn't see Buc or Brand New explicitly mention it: they're dressing up like Lyft or Uber. Unless I missed it, there's no local branding at all  Strange times when it's felt that it's better to be perceived as a shady app startup from across the country, rather than as an arm of local government. 

 

7 hours ago, DG_Now said:

 

I didn't find that obvious, but now that you said so, I totally do. I was taken aback by the disconnect from community in the branding, but I guess it kind of makes sense if that's what they're going for.

 

They shouldn't be, but that's probably a different discussion for a different thread.

I can't say I'm too happy about it either, but I can imagine a place like Nashville getting a lot of tourists who think all government is the boogeyman.