A5/05: LUFTHANSA AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
VISUAL HISTORY OF AN AIRLINE
Jens Müller and Karen Weiland [Editors]
Jens Müller and Karen Weiland [Editors]: A5/05: LUFTHANSA AND GRAPHIC DESIGN: VISUAL HISTORY OF AN AIRLINE. Baden: Lars Müller, 2012. First edition. Parallel text in German and English. Quarto. Printed perfect bound wrappers. Printed dust jacket/poster. 128 pp. 400 illustrations. A fine, unread copy.
5.75 x 8.25 softcover book with dust jacket and 128 pages and 400 illustrations tracing the history of the Lufthansa's Corporate Identity Standards as designed and produced at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in March 1963 under the supervision of Otl Aicher, assisted by Entwicklunggruppe 5: Tomas Gonda, Fritz Querengasser and Nick Roericht up to the present day.
A5/05: Lufthansa and Graphic Design: Visual History of an Airline begins with an overview of Otl Aicher and Entwicklunggruppe 5’s ERSCHEINUNGSBILD DER LUFTHANSA [Ulm: Hochschule fur Gestaltung [HfG], n. d. 1963] and continued with numerous illustrations from the corporate archive and background articles and interviews.
Deutsche Lufthansa is one of the most important airlines in the world, with a long and diverse history that goes back to 1926. The visual identity of Lufthansa is just as long and diverse. The beginning of the 1960s saw one of the most important steps in the development of corporate communication. The company employed the designer Otl Aicher and his Gruppe E5 student group to develop a visual identity for Lufthansa. It was substantially realized in 1963 and up until the present day counts as one of the most groundbreaking corporate design solutions of the 20th century. With a focus on the famous brand identity, the design and advertising history of Deutsche Lufthansa from the 1920s to today is comprehensively documented here for the first time.
Otl Aicher [Germany, 1922 – 1991] was a classmate and friend of Werner Scholl, and through him met Werner's family, including his siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, both of whom would be executed in 1943 for their membership in the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany. Like the Scholls, Aicher was strongly opposed to the Nazi movement. He was arrested in 1937 for refusing to join the Hitler Youth, and consequently he was failed on his abitur (college entrance) examination in 1941. He was subsequently drafted into the German army to fight in World War II, though he tried to leave at various times. In 1945 he deserted the army, and went into hiding at the Scholls' house in Wutach.
In 1946, after the end of the war, Aicher began studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. In 1947, he opened his own studio in Ulm. In 1952 he married Inge Scholl, the older sister of Werner, Hans and Sophie.
In 1953, along with Inge Scholl and Max Bill, he founded the Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm), which became one of Germany's leading educational centres for design during the 1950s and 1960s. Faculty and students include such notable designers as Tomás Maldonado, Max Bill, and Peter Seitz.
He was heavily involved in corporate branding and designed the logo for German airline Lufthansa according to wikipedia.
Jens Müller [b. 1982] is a graphic designer and head of the design studio optik based in Dusseldorf. He teaches at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences and realizes research projects on different topics of the international history of design.