MD-80.com

In the 1960s, the jet age was leaving airlines’ literal emblems behind. American Airlines had invested heavily in new aircraft and introduced the first electronic booking system, and that commitment to modernisation extended to its corporate identity. Massimo Vignelli of Unimark International and Heinz Waibl stripped everything back to a single typeface, Haas Helvetica, and two colours, the national red and blue: a wordmark with no space between ‘American’ and ‘Airlines’, and two initials, AA, distinguished from one another only by colour. It was reduction gone too far for management and staff. A ‘revolt’ led by flight attendants demanded the return of the eagle American had used since 1934, so Henry Dreyfuss Associates drew a stylised eagle swooping down between the letters. Vignelli would concede that it “was not so bad”, and the identity lasted over 45 years. Read the full story behind the logo → logohistories.com/p/american…