American Airlines New Logo

[BlueSky]

i really wonder how quickly this will affect the american airlines center... as mentioned, every seat has the old AA logo sublimated on there, and there's a big AA on the front of the building... AND a huge one painted on the roof.

The roof? My guess is it will change fairly quickly because it's relatively easy and very visible. The seats? Don't hold your breath. Having been at companies who changed their visual identities, it takes a long, long time to get every little thing changed over. In most cases they don't just throw away whatever has the old logo, it's just replaced as needed and the new stuff has the new branding.

@Buc, Meant to address your merger comment but yes, AA has been considering a merger with USAirways, not because US is particularly desirable but because they're the only unattached major left to merge with. You being a former airline guy like me, you may get a kick out of this...AA's pilot's union was all out for the merger and had even met with USAirways executives to talk about it. Then they saw what a merged seniority list would look like and now they want no part of it. My understanding is that when AA got TWA, the TW pilots' list just got pasted onto the bottom of AA's so no AA pilots lost any spots. Not so this time, it'll be a true merged list and a lot of AA pilots will lose out.

[BrianVlietDesign]

I like the change. It may not have been necessary, but I still think it looks good.

[JPDesign]

If Massimo Vignelli were dead, he'd be rolling in his grave.

But since he's not, this just might kill him.

[NoHoJoe]

I like the font they used for the wordmark, but the rest of it is just terrible. Bland, boring, vague...it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their brand except that it's red, white and blue. Take a look at the full paint scheme for the aircraft:

I've seen better artwork from kindergartners.

I like the font they used for the wordmark, but the rest of it is just terrible. Bland, boring, vague...it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their brand except that it's red, white and blue. Take a look at the full paint scheme for the aircraft:

Kinda reminds me of a Beastie Boys album cover.......

I've seen better artwork from kindergartners.

I like the font they used for the wordmark, but the rest of it is just terrible. Bland, boring, vague...it doesn't tell you ANYTHING about their brand except that it's red, white and blue. Take a look at the full paint scheme for the aircraft:

I've seen better artwork from kindergartners.

[BlueSky]

Not sure why AA feels the need to mess with an iconic logo, especially when gradients enter the picture.

Actually, there's a reason behind it: the planes themselves. Some of the planes they've ordered have composite fuselage parts, making their standard silver plane skin impossible to duplicate. So they went ahead and replaced everything in a full-fledged rebranding.

They could have just started painting their planes silver and not screw the whole look up.

No, actually I read an article about this - apparently they couldn't duplicate the 'stainless' look they wanted. Because they couldn't get a uniform look under the old livery, they sought a new one.

Fact is though, I don't give a what a plane I'm boarding looks like. I care whether it takes off and lands without killing or permanently injuring me. Anything beyond that? I'm not all that concerned.

Correct. A friend at AA who has seen one of the new paintjobs up close says the paint looks like the 'pearl' type finish you see on cars.

As for the Beastie Boys cover, was that a joke or maybe you don't know the story? They used an image of an AA 727 and AA protested because the blue/white/red cheatline was trademarked. The dumba**es didn't even change the signature angled cutoff at the end of the stripes. That's why some versions of the cover have the stripes in different colors. I won't dignify them by posting the cover here but this is a beautiful freshly polished AA 727 for comparison.

[NoHoJoe]

Not sure why AA feels the need to mess with an iconic logo, especially when gradients enter the picture.

Actually, there's a reason behind it: the planes themselves. Some of the planes they've ordered have composite fuselage parts, making their standard silver plane skin impossible to duplicate. So they went ahead and replaced everything in a full-fledged rebranding.

They could have just started painting their planes silver and not screw the whole look up.

No, actually I read an article about this - apparently they couldn't duplicate the 'stainless' look they wanted. Because they couldn't get a uniform look under the old livery, they sought a new one.

Fact is though, I don't give a what a plane I'm boarding looks like. I care whether it takes off and lands without killing or permanently injuring me. Anything beyond that? I'm not all that concerned.

Correct. A friend at AA who has seen one of the new paintjobs up close says the paint looks like the 'pearl' type finish you see on cars.

As for the Beastie Boys cover, was that a joke or maybe you don't know the story? They used an image of an AA 727 and AA protested because the blue/white/red cheatline was trademarked. The dumba**es didn't even change the signature angled cutoff at the end of the stripes. That's why some versions of the cover have the stripes in different colors. I won't dignify them by posting the cover here but this is a beautiful freshly polished AA 727 for comparison.

Remember...you can't spell American without MCA!

[Lee Noire]

I like everything about this except, as others have mentioned, for the odd feeling that comes from the icon being designed to mimic the tail of a plane, but the tail not actually featuring that design. Yet, I like the design that IS on the tail. So I can't fully embrace it, but it's nice.

Yeah I'm in the same boat, but I think I have an idea as to why this tail logo makes sense. In their presentation there were many instances were the logo was shown without the wordmark. Similar to how Apple and now Starbucks brand everything. You see the logo and you just know what it is. I think AA is going for that. I see an eagle with its red, white, & blue wings spread and I see an airplane tail wing...that's American Airlines! That might be true pretty soon, at least they hope.

You can make an argument that the old logo did that just fine with the AA and the eagle, but that logo was beyond its prime. AA needed to change on the outside as it makes its changes on the inside. They needed to catch up. They seem to want to be apart of this new design world where words aren't needed to be recognized. A "We don't need the letters AA to show who we are" type of mentality. Just a thought really.

I also like that they didn't put the logo on the tail. One, too easy, and two....well I think the stripes are just cooler. It gives off that speed effect. Like the entire plane was painted in stripes but the plane is so fast the paint peeled off showing the metal underneath. Very West Coast Customs-ish lol.

[BlueSky]

I like everything about this except, as others have mentioned, for the odd feeling that comes from the icon being designed to mimic the tail of a plane, but the tail not actually featuring that design. Yet, I like the design that IS on the tail. So I can't fully embrace it, but it's nice.

Yeah I'm in the same boat, but I think I have an idea as to why this tail logo makes sense. In their presentation there were many instances were the logo was shown without the wordmark. Similar to how Apple and now Starbucks brand everything. You see the logo and you just know what it is. I think AA is going for that. I see an eagle with its red, white, & blue wings spread and I see an airplane tail wing...that's American Airlines! That might be true pretty soon, at least they hope.

You can make an argument that the old logo did that just fine with the AA and the eagle, but that logo was beyond its prime. AA needed to change on the outside as it makes its changes on the inside. They needed to catch up. They seem to want to be apart of this new design world where words aren't needed to be recognized. A "We don't need the letters AA to show who we are" type of mentality. Just a thought really.

I also like that they didn't put the logo on the tail. One, too easy, and two....well I think the stripes are just cooler. It gives off that speed effect. Like the entire plane was painted in stripes but the plane is so fast the paint peeled off showing the metal underneath. Very West Coast Customs-ish lol.

Kinda like this?

JK...I know what you meant.

Interesting you brought up the "we don't need the letters" thing. The original '68 design only had the initials AA on the tail. The designer disliked the eagle and didn't want to use it. AA feared employee and customer backlash and contacted Mobil, which had recently updated its look and done away with the iconic flying horse. They asked Mobil what the reaction was and the memorable answer was, "You'd have thought we just shot Christ!" AA kept the eagle, morphing the old realistic one into the so-called "scissor eagle" shown above.

I guess I'll have to update one of my favorite image creations to a triple exposure now.

[BlueSky]

Sorry, DP

[bosox]

The wordmark is alright, though it's a shame to see a change occurring. They easily could have updated the airplanes without changing an iconic logo. Either way, I'm sure it will grow on me eventually.

[JPDesign]

The wordmark is the worst part of this whole thing. The icon I can deal with, but the font is soooooooo...blech.

[Gothamite]

Hmm. I feel the opposite - the word mark is the only thing I'm 100% in favor of.

[JPDesign]

The icon, while not incredible by any means, is at least clever and unique, something that can't be said of the wordmark. If I just saw the wordmark on it's own, separate from the eagle, I think I would assume that it was just typed out in whatever default font was set.

[Lee Noire]

I like everything about this except, as others have mentioned, for the odd feeling that comes from the icon being designed to mimic the tail of a plane, but the tail not actually featuring that design. Yet, I like the design that IS on the tail. So I can't fully embrace it, but it's nice.

Yeah I'm in the same boat, but I think I have an idea as to why this tail logo makes sense. In their presentation there were many instances were the logo was shown without the wordmark. Similar to how Apple and now Starbucks brand everything. You see the logo and you just know what it is. I think AA is going for that. I see an eagle with its red, white, & blue wings spread and I see an airplane tail wing...that's American Airlines! That might be true pretty soon, at least they hope.

You can make an argument that the old logo did that just fine with the AA and the eagle, but that logo was beyond its prime. AA needed to change on the outside as it makes its changes on the inside. They needed to catch up. They seem to want to be apart of this new design world where words aren't needed to be recognized. A "We don't need the letters AA to show who we are" type of mentality. Just a thought really.

I also like that they didn't put the logo on the tail. One, too easy, and two....well I think the stripes are just cooler. It gives off that speed effect. Like the entire plane was painted in stripes but the plane is so fast the paint peeled off showing the metal underneath. Very West Coast Customs-ish lol.

Kinda like this?

JK...I know what you meant.

Interesting you brought up the "we don't need the letters" thing. The original '68 design only had the initials AA on the tail. The designer disliked the eagle and didn't want to use it. AA feared employee and customer backlash and contacted Mobil, which had recently updated its look and done away with the iconic flying horse. They asked Mobil what the reaction was and the memorable answer was, "You'd have thought we just shot Christ!" AA kept the eagle, morphing the old realistic one into the so-called "scissor eagle" shown above.

I guess I'll have to update one of my favorite image creations to a triple exposure now.

That's interesting. Didn't know any of that. That being said, this type of logo centric design(again just my theory) makes even more sense. As far back as the original logo, the eagle was the staple of the company, not the letters.

[RedSox44]

Love it ALL. Seriously. Nice refresh.

[BlueSky]

Thought I'd post an update since we're now getting to see the new paint on planes in service. One thing I wished they'd done is stick with the red titles with the white capture line. The gray on silver doesn't pop at all. I never liked the "billboard" style titles because the windows can make 'em look bad and this is no exception:

Here's a closeup of the tail. Note the patterns within the stripes. Kinda weird.

For anyone wondering what Eagle would look like, the only difference appears to be the American Eagle titles:

I love American but that tail is awful.

[bosrs1]

Wow...that tail. So understated.

Reminds me of the car dealers that put out 500 American flags and then have a 100-foot pole with another flag the size of a gym floor. It's a little much even for the most avid patriot.

The blue is too light for my tastes and I guess that little pointy thing is an eagle's head but it looks more like a drawer pull or something.

Could definitely have been better.

Knew I'd seen that tail before...

From aa.com:

===

Inspired by our proud past, our new look symbolizes our passion for progress by incorporating the colors and symbols you've come to associate with American.

Reflecting the soaring spirit that is uniquely American, our new logo - the Flight Symbol - contains the eagle, the star, the "A," and refreshed shades of red, white and blue. Together, they represent a clean and modern update to the core icons of our company.

===

Yeah, okay.

An artist's rendering:

It'll be interesting to see this on the t-tailed birds like the MD-80s.

You won't get to. The Super/MD-80's are going to be phased out in the next 5 years so they won't be getting the new paint job.

The world mark is the only part of the new AA logo/styling that I do like. The rest of it looks like some shlep designed by committee. And to eliminate what was arguably the most iconic airline design left is just sad. Guess that title goes to Southwest now seeing as their current design is still just a derivative of their original design from 40 years ago.

[Waffles]

According to the Associated Press, the airline created by the AA-US Airways merger will be known as American Airlines. So all this won't be for nothing as far as that goes.

[BlueSky]

According to the Associated Press, the airline created by the AA-US Airways merger will be known as American Airlines. So all this won't be for nothing as far as that goes.

That had already been announced actually. A friend at AA pointed out that the new tail design pointed towards a merger since it incorporates elements of USAirways' tail treatment.

[crashcarson15]

However, the new airline will be run by USAirways.

Call me crazy, but I love the rebrand.