Gallery: Tales From an Era When Airlines Knew Good Design
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers01TWA-Nr794
*Airline Visual Identity 1945–1975* chronicles a bygone era in travel branding. In 1955, TWA, which folded into American Airlines in 2001, commissioned graphic designer David Klein to do a series of energetic ads for TWA destinations. This optimistic poster marked the 1955 Disneyland opening.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers02TWA-Nr819
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers03Lufthansa-Nr-158
Like many airlines of the 1950s and '60s, Lufthansa struggled with a scattered visual identity. This 1955 ad, by Theodor Abeking, was the company's first poster. It expresses West Germany's optimism after its economy finally began to rebound after the war.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers04Lufthansa-Nr-88
This 1967 poster, however, is more evocative of Lufthansa's enduring design identity. In the 1960s, Bauhaus designer Otl Aicher corralled the design elements into a consistent look that relied on simple type and big photography.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers05American-Airlines-Nr-110
Before Vignelli and his firm, Unimark, stepped in, American Airlines used italicized lettering and different artists for most of its promotional materials.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers06American-Nr-228
This poster, by an anonymous designer, came later. It represents Arizona's desert heat of Arizona with a dripping typeface.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers07Swissair-Nr-59
Swissair was one of the first airlines to implement a strict corporate identity. (Pan Am was the other). This poster is from a series portraying abstracted places. The building is clearly a Manhattan skyscraper, so it represents North American travel.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers08Swissair-Nr-12
A similar strategy is used in Emil Schultess's 1971 series of aerial photography posters.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers09Pan-Am-Nr-24
Abstracted aerial photography was in vogue among airlines for awhile. Panam bought into the trend too.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers10BOAC-Nr-218
British Overseas Airway Corporation had some of the most inventive ads of the Jet Age. This Abram Games print plays off the work of Surrealist and avant-garde artists of the time. Most other posters showed sensational travel destinations; these prints, from 1950, turned elements of the actual plane into eye-catching visual puzzles.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers11Continental-Nr-141
In 1967, Saul Bass overhauled Continental Airline's identity. The logo (seen here in a psychedelic-inspired poster from 1969) was created to capture the powerful thrust of the jet engine.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers12Air-France-Nr-114-2-FA
In 1958 Air France adopted a streamlined logotype and look to underscore the technological behind air travel. This 1964 poster, by Roger Excoffon, evokes velocity and windswept movement.
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers13Pan-Am-Nr-233
Panam was a leader in corporate visual identities among airlines. Hühne calls Pan Am “perhaps the most influential of all airlines."
Courtesy of Callisto Publishers14United-Airlines-Nr-06
Joseph Binder, a founder of the national Austrian designers association (Design Austria) created this poster as part of a 1957 series for United on important travel destinations.
