The Design Panel was originally set up by Sir Brian Robertson of the British Transport Commission in 1956. The panel consisted of a working party of industrial designers and members of British Railways staff. It was established to meet the design needs of the British Transport Commission, document locomotive and carriage design and the development of a cohesive and universal corporate image.

On the abolition of the British Transport Commission in 1962, the panel became attached to the British Railways Board (BRB). Following the Board's approval, an internal steering committee was formed to focus on the development and implementation of a new visual style. The Design Officer, Mr George Williams became the BRB’s Director of Industrial Design, chaired the Corporate Identity Steering Committee and was responsible for the release of the corporate image standards.

In 1964 the Design Research Unit - Britain's first multi-disciplinary design agency founded in 1943 by Misha Black, Milner Gray and Herbert Read - were commissioned to breathe new life into the nation's neglected railway industry, the corporate image of which had remained largely unchanged after its nationalisation in 1948.

The new corporate identity program was launched in January 1965 with an exhibition at the Design Council, London and identified four basic visual elements for the revival of British Railways: a symbol, a typeface, a name-style and house colours. In November 1966 the Corporate Identity Manual was introduced and applied initially in certain fields and to predetermine priorities.

The new symbol replaced the British Railways “totem” and the initials “BR” on printed publicity, certain structures and equipment. This was devised by Gerry Barney of the Design Research Unit who designed the famous 'double-arrow', a remarkably robust and memorable icon that has far outlasted British Rail itself and continues to be used on traffic signs throughout the United Kingdom, as the symbol for the national rail network and more specifically railway stations on that network. This was used in conjunction with the shortening of the company name to “British Rail”.

Rail Alphabet was created as a bespoke sans serif typeface in 1964 by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert. Signs using this typeface with words set in upper and lower case are significantly easier to read at a distance and the letters were sensitively crafted and precisely spaced. Nowadays, one or two train operating companies retain the Rail Alphabet in recognition of its outstanding suitability as a public way-finding typeface.

The three new house colours were Rail Blue, Rail Grey and Flame Red. These replaced the regional colours and Marine Grey will only be used on ships. The introduction of a blue and grey livery became the new standard for carriages until the mid-1980s when a new Intercity livery was introduced along with a number of regional colour schemes.

In 1987, a new department under the control of the Director of Architecture, Design and Environment took over the work of the Design Panel, although the panel remained in existence as an advisory unit. It had ceased to exist by November 1989.