On my journey to and from Geneva this month, I had the pleasure of traveling on Swiss International Air Lines– such a pleasant relief from the neon horrors of Easyjet and Ryanair. The Identity (by Winkreative) is the kind of effortless, contemporary modernism that should have most designers wringing their hands with jealousy.
Creating the identity for a Swiss airline must rank pretty highly up there in the ‘designer’s wet dream’ chart— if any client were to understand the typographic importance of subtle elegance and ‘less is more’ it would be Swiss International. Not to mention the iconic red and white colour scheme that the airline inherited from Swiss and the beautiful modernist typeface CH Sans (almost like a more elegant, slim Helvetica).
Considering that Swiss International is an airline built from of the ruins of Swiss and Crossair, and is essentially an inexpensive European short haul flyer—the level of detail and consistency it has carried across all its stationery and livery is extremely impressive.
Possibly my favourite touch was the debossed branding on the small bars of Swiss milk chocolate you’re given in-flight—complete with monogrammed wrapper. Toe curling!
Check out Winkreative’s portfolio page for Swiss International here, complete with type examples and colour swatches of the livery.
