The South African National Roads Agency (SOC) Limited (SANRAL) has a new corporate identity. This is its first change since inception in 1998.

The identity includes a new logo, colour and font which reflect how far the agency has come from the date of its creation.

“SANRAL’s new logo is a modernised version of the existing logo and reinforces the brand, carrying it into the 21st century,” said the agency’s general manager of communications, Vusi Mona.

“The transition was developed to speak to who the agency is, how it has evolved and the impact it has had on lives through the national road network over the years,” he said.

A long journey

Prior to the agency’s formation, its responsibilities were in the hands of the now defunct South African Roads Board, which was an organ of the then Department of Transport.

Studies subsequently revealed that the department’s activities could be more efficiently and cost-effectively undertaken in specialised environments by professionally managed agencies.

The Department of Transport restructured and rationalised its operations establishing four different agencies of which SANRAL was one.

It’s been a long journey since then.

A fresh look

“The refreshed logo focuses on SANRAL’s mandate of roads and road infrastructure – hence the image of a road as the dominant feature,” said Mona.

The logo is clear with a clean execution and a refreshed colour palette that has been reduced to three primary colours, thus offering a richer, crisper spectrum.

The agency’s name is spelt out with the intent to clarify the evolution from ‘Roads Agency’ to ‘SANRAL’.

This is in line with the naming of organisations which are otherwise known by their acronyms,such as ACSA which stands for Airports Company South Africa. The acronyms, rather than full names, are much more pronounced in the logos of these organisations.

SANRAL’s new font is synonymous with the agency’s collateral, with the graphic adding visual emphasis to what it has evolved.

The brand’s idea – ‘Building South Africa through Better Roads’ – is integrated into the logo to strengthen the agency’s fundamental meaning – though all the logo type will not necessarily be used in all applications.

The evolution of SANRAL’s corporate identity is a bold execution signalling improvement and growth.

Mona said that the agency will be embarking on a phased roll-out of the new corporate identity, to mitigate any excessive spend from the beginning of October 2017.