Aviation Logo Design Issues

Aeronautical logo designing can be amongst the most enjoyable type of designing. Aviation themes are always fun to do, and they usually make for very elegant and futuristic designs.

Most airline/aviation logos are oriented towards one of the following three themes: birds, airplanes or some abstract wedge-type design.

Wedge Design: Delta Airlines has a classic wedge, one that they altered a few years back, but will soon return to its former design. The updated element, with its rounded corners, took the flying them out of the old, original logo. I guess by going back to the first logo that they are getting back to basics.

Another wedge logo is that of Allegheny Airlines, which was absorbed into USAirways. You will see a resemblance to that of Delta’s.

Bird: American Airlines is the best representation of this theme with its eagle. The eagle design has been with American Airlines since the airline’s beginning the 1930s. The eagle was updated in the early 1970s to a more abstract, angular design that also resembled the letters "AA," the company’s initials.

Airplane/Jetliner: The obvious choice for many airlines, but surprisingly, most airlines does not adopt this theme. The most prominent logo of this type was the simplistic airliner graphic of the defunct major U.S. carrier, Eastern Airlines. This design was dark blue and white with two thick lines representing the fuselage and wings of the airliner. Sadly, this elegant logo disappeared along with the airline, but its memory lives on.

Today’s Theme: Most airlines are using text-based logos, such as the "UA" of United, the "NWA" of Northwest and the generic text logo of Southwest Airlines. We long for the days of Braniff, where each of the planes was a different color, highlighted its elegant and abstract text-based "BI" logo.