Logo Design Of American Airlines: Designer: Massimo Vignelli

Great Essays
project information

title or description: Logo design of AA

designer: Massimo Vignelli

client: American Airlines

year: 1967

American Airlines identity and branding were designed by Massimo Vignelli’s design firm, Unimark International in 1967. The logo contains two colors which represent American flag: blue and red. He created something very simple: two A letters and geometric X-shaped eagle. Massimo Vignelli was born and raised in Milan in 1931. He first studied architecture in Politecnico di Milano, and later at the Università di Architettura, Venice. He came to America in 1957, His portfolio contains every field of design including advertising, identity, packaging, product, industrial, interior and architectural design.

His first
…show more content…
The client of this project is American Airlines which is founded in 1930, formerly American Airways Inc.It is a major American airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. They operate international and domestic network which is the second largest airline by number of destinations served, after United Airlines. The assignment was introduced to designers by Henry Dreyfuss, the great designer who was a consultant to American Airlines.

The logo of AA designed by Vignelli is one of the airlines logos that did not changed for over 40 years.

He worked on the project with Heinz Waibl who studied with Massimo Vignelli in high school from 1946 to 1950 and they were close friends while studying Politecnico di Milano.

Originally, the logo firstly designed without eagle, just typeface(Helvetica) in two plain colors. Half of letters are blue(Pantone 281), the rest is red(Pantone 485). He did not designed stylized eagle, but later the image of eagle was added at the request of the client. From Vignelli’s point of view he eagle should be real. If you do an eagle,its supposed to be like the dignity of an eagle. It cant be look as cartoon out of an
…show more content…
New York Subway signage system,corporate identities of American Airlines and the Knoll furniture are directly connected to the design of Vignelli.

A significant note in the growth of American graphic design resulted from the migration of many European designers. Alexey Brodovitch was one of those people who brought European modernism to American graphic design.

He came to the United States in 1930 for begining to advertising. In US he taught students the essentials of European design, while making freelance illustration tasks in Philadelphia and New York. Through his teaching, he created a generation of designers who have a delicate designing approach. In 1934 the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, saw his works and hired him to be its art director.

At Harper’s Bazaar, where he was art director till 1958, he was working with European artists such as Man Ray, Salvador Dali, and A.M. Cassandre, as well as photographers Bill Brandt, Brasai, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. This collabration was something which has big impact on American Graphic

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    David Carson is an American graphic designer, art director and surfer. He is renowned for his unique aesthetic breaking the conventional rules and grid and type system. This aesthetic is called “Grunge Typography”. Carson is the original and a pioneer of “Grunge Typography”. When his work was known to public in early 1990s, his experimental typography and magazine design inspire young designers and produced a plenty of imitators.…

    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Saul Bass Short Biography

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    So this is a story all about how Saul Bass’ life got twistered upside down, and I would like to take a minute just sit right there, I will tell you how he became the most influential graphic designer of the 20th century. On May 8, 1920, Saul Bass was born in the Bronx, New York to Eastern European Jewish Immigrants. Now Saul Bass was definitely the kind of person who made lemonade when life handed him lemons. In his early years, he stayed local in New York and at the age of just 16 years old, Saul Bass was given a scholarship to study at the Art Students League in Manhattan.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stormie Mill Analysis

    • 241 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Born in 1969, Stormie Mills is one of the most respected contemporary artists of Australian culture. On his visit to New York in 1986, his inspiration skyrocketed by the work of street artists, Jenny Holzer and John Fekner. John Fekner’s stenciled messages of urgency and despair contributed to the Perth-based artist’s style. Mill’s new found passion in spray-painting lead him into a career that has taken him around the world.…

    • 241 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Outline President Ronald Reagan's Speech about D-Day is a very powerful speech. The speech was about the US Army Rangers that landed on the beaches in normandy France on June 6th, 1944. The speech was given in front of the memorial of the 2nd and 5th Ranger battalions who gave their lives on that cliff. This speech that uses a rhetoric style of writing. As a rhetoric style of writing it uses the devices of Logos, Ethos, Pathos, Telos, and Kairos to give a great speech.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    When looking at the history of graphic design its clear how impactful design has been. There has been plenty of inspiring designers who have continued to embark creativity. There have been designers such as Stefan Sagmeister, who developed “Lou Reed” poster design, Michael Bierut, “The Architectural League of New York Light Years” poster design, there is also Massimo Vignelli who created “New York City Transit Authority” subway map. From these innovative designers the main connection they share amongst each other is creativity to create powerful and moving designs as well as being male designers. Throughout history, especially during a time such as the 1950s women were not being recognized for just how creative and inspiring their work was in the graphic design field.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Milton Glaser, a 88 year old man, is one of the most illustrious graphic designers in the U.S. Glaser grew up living in New York City and was very successful in his education; he attended to High School of Music and Art, the Cooper Union art school- who graduated with a Fulbright Scholarship, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Italy. Throughout Glaser’s life he has made countless and prosperous achievements. Like the time in 1954 he co-founded the Pushpin Studios, for twenty years him and Seymour Chwast conducted the institution which made an effective influence on the world of graphic design, with this movement, it became an important display at the Louvres Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. In 1968 Milton Glaser founded the New York…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mexico Research Paper

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States) Mexico is located on the continent of North America, between the United States of America and Central American Countries like Guatemala The weather in Mexico is different dependent on the location, North south or central. The northern part of Mexico is desert like and has very warm summers and very cold winters. The Central part of Mexico is a semi tropical, temperate area.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1940 Art Research Paper

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages

    America never was big on art, Paris was always more popular because there are great artists making wonderful artwork in Europe's famous galleries (“American Art and Architecture”).…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the halftime show of Super Bowl 50 a couple of artists had great performances, but one stood out to the public in a negative way. Beyonce’s performance causes a huge debate over social media over racism. Beyonce wore a black leotard with a gold embellished jacket, while her backup dancers sported afros' and black berets (Biography.com). Everyone turned this into a feud because she was apparently supporting the “Black Panther Party” a group formed to stand against whites that discriminated blacks.…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    At his early ages (only 7 years old), he showed his love towards drawing. And such passion continued also throughout his high school years. He attended the Mckinley High School in Chicago, and took drawing and photography classes, also at night he took courses at the Chicago Art Institute. (A brief illustration: Their neighbors were so interested in his art and creative work, that they bought his drawings. Thus, he gained some money as a teen this way).…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There was once a time in the United States of America when people were afraid to be different and bold. People were scared to become there own person and do what they want in fear of being shunned or becoming an outcast. Many people during the times of postwar turned to culture type things to become different. Jackson Pollock and John T. Biggers were two of many artists who changed the scene during this time. The end of World War II gave artist time to break through and become noticed.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Late Modernism Essay

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It has just been as of late that talks of Tschichold and Dwiggins have extended to incorporate the full extension and majority of their work. That is on the grounds that the postmodern connection has supported differences and unpredictability, and given us a basic separation to evaluate Modernism and its repercussions. In the postmodern period, the line separating modern and classical, great and terrible, new and old, has, similar to such a variety of lines in graphic design today, turn out to be exceptionally blurry, distressed and broken. In the late 80’s, a hostile to tasteful motivation developed contrary to the group of Modernist "good design.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    For the 82 years Paul Rand was alive, he influenced many fields of art from art director and advertisement to graphic design and corporate identities. However, it wasn't his goal to revolutionize any forms of art, all he wanted to do was create great work and become the best that he can. In doing this, Rand introduced America to the modern Europe styles of the time that heavily influenced his work. Paul Rand is one of the greatest graphic designers of all time and is remembered through his many corporate identities that are still being used today. Born on August 15, 1914, with the name Peretz Rosenbaum to a Jewish family in Brooklyn.…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Karl Lagerfeld is one of the most eminent fashion designers in today’s fashion industry. He was born in Hamburg, Germany on September 10th 1938. Karl is mainly recognized for being the head designer and creative director of the acclaimed fashion label Coco Chanel and Fendi. As a young boy, Karl grew up in a wealthy home alongside two sisters; his father was a businessman, and his mother an accomplished violin player, avid fan of fine fragrances, and an inspiration to Karl for her great sense of style. Aside from being inspired by his mother, Karl derived part of his inspiration from history books, and their lessons on costumes through the ages.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Audi Case Study

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Audi logo features San-serif font which exemplifies style as well as…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays