Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) rebrand

The Regional Transportation Authority is responsible for coordinating the Chicago region’s transit system, including overseeing financing and planning together with the three major transit operators: CTA, Metra, and Pace. Span was invited to refresh the brand identity for the organization in advance of announcing the RTA’s next strategic plan — a multi-year vision of how to achieve a safe, reliable, accessible public transportation that connects people to opportunity, advances equity, and combats climate change.

Span’s new brand reflects the agency’s focus on accountability, transparency, independence, and equity — four important goals identified during five separate workshops with stakeholder teams.

The logo is a solid monogram reflecting speed and strength with an ”overline” running through the characters like a train or bus pulling into the station. The typography is a customized version of Graphik by Commercial Type, a hard-working sans serif typeface selected for maximum recognition, with modified r, t, and a characters, to better align with the visual language of the logo itself. The color palette is focused, using combinations that are ADA-compliant up to level AA+. Illustrative transit paths as well as an icon suite add additional visual expressions to represent all aspects of life around transit.