THE CORPORATE DESIGN OF SWISSAIR
1994 Swissair Corporate Design Manual No. 4
Otto Loepfe [President’s Letter], Martin Kessler [introduction]
Zürich-Airport: Swissair Corporate Design, VKD, 1994. Original edition. Translucent corrugated plastic four-ring binder. Fabricoid covered Publishers slipcase. Corporate design manual featuring multiple paper stocks, finishing, and media, including printed vellum section dividers, multiple fold-outs, Perforated Pantone color sheets [coated and uncoated], and Macintosh and DOS formatted diskettes of the Swissair logo in color and black-and-white versions. Elaborate presentation and explanation of the proper usage of Karl Gerstner’s 1981 logo and his subtle changes to the Swissair red. A fine, uncirculated example housed in a nearly fine example of the Publishers slipcase.
“The year 1953 saw the advent of the name “Swissair” with the famed “red arrow” symbol on the aircraft fuselage. Precisely a quarter of a century later, designer Karl Gerstner devised a new logotype for the name “Swissair,” the same one which remains in use today. His choice formed a seamless link to our airline’s proud past, noting that “Swissair” was one of the first airlines to incorporate visual messages as a component of corporate personality.
“Swissair expresses its inner values through its fleet, its advertising, and its offices around the world, proclaiming itself to be a company that marries seriousness with dynamism. Conveying this message is an important today as ever. The artist’s ideas about the appearance of the Swissair name and the Swissair corporate identity require no improvement. Consequently, it will remain as is.” — Martin Kessler, Swissair Corporate Design
8.25 x 12.125-inch corporate design manual housed in a translucent corrugated plastic four-ring binder and protected by the matching Publishers slipcase. Includes Macintosh and DOS formatted diskettes, six pages of Pantone swatches, coated and uncoated paper samples; plus details on the two corporate typefaces, corporate communications (pre-Internet), signage and more.
Contents:
- Introduction
- President’s Letter
- Corporate design and Swissair
- Principles and elements
- Swissair logo: 20 pages including three fold-outs
- Corporate colour: six pages including one fold-out
- Typography: nine pages including one fold-out
- Eleven design themes
- Corporate stationery: 58 pages and eleven fold-outs
- Internal publications: five pages and one fold-out
- External publications: five pages and one fold-out
- External communications: five pages and one fold-out
- Presentation material: five pages and one fold-out
- Inflight articles: five pages and one fold-out
- Vehicles and equipment: five pages and one fold-out
- Aircraft: five pages and one fold-out
- Uniforms: two pages
- Architecture and interiors: five pages and one fold-out
- Identification and signage: five pages and one fold-out
- Appendix
- Reproduction material: Macintosh and DOS formatted diskettes, six pages of Pantone swatches, coated and uncoated paper samples
- Glossary: English, French, German
- Authority matrix
“When Swissair introduced its modernist corporate identity programme in 1953 it was seen as significant achievement. Through the pioneering work of Rudolf Bircher, the airline was able to clearly express itself as a modern, resolute and dynamic airline visually through a cohesive design system, consistently applied to aircraft, vehicles, ground equipment, offices and advertising.
“However, by 1978, air travel had significantly changed. Airlines had upgraded their fleets for the jet age and falling fares saw commercial air travel take off. The airline management felt that, to meet these cultural and technological shifts, it was necessary to update the airline’s values and image.
“In the process of modernising their fleet and ahead of their upcoming 50th anniversary in 1981, Swissair commissioned German designer Karl Gerstner to develop a fresh new livery for its aircraft. Gerstner went all in, presenting Swissair with a completely new visual identity and logo design.” — Richard Baird
“The trademark becomes doubly meaningful when it is used both as an identifying device and an illustration, each working hand in hand to enhance and dramatize the effect of the whole.” — Paul Rand, The Trademark as an Illustrative Device
Steven Heller wrote “Before corporations, entertainment companies, sports franchises, and political parties acquired “brand narratives,” the notion of branding was a subset of a practice called “corporate identity.” CI, as it was known, required companies and design firms to develop, refine, and maintain an integrated identity system defined by laws set down in a bible known as the graphic standards manual.
“This gospel according to the design-creator was handed down to supplicant designers whose job, like scribes of old, was to precisely apply the logos, adhere to the corporate color and typographic palettes, and follow the formats without diverging even a fraction from the established guidelines. For designers and collectors of graphic design, some of these manuals—including ones for IBM, Lufthansa, the New York Subway System, and NASA—are sacred texts, revered for how they help shift graphic design from simply an intuitive practice to a rigorously strategic one.
“Nonetheless, manuals are ephemeral, and many were simply discarded when identities changed or businesses merged or closed.”
Swissair AG/S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002. It was formed from a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero (To the Stars). For most of its 71 years, Swissair was one of the major international airlines and known as the "Flying Bank" due to its financial stability, causing it to be regarded as a Swiss national symbol and icon. It was headquartered at Zürich Airport, Kloten.
In 1997 the Swissair Group was renamed SAirGroup (although it was again renamed Swissair Group in 2001), with four subdivisions: SAirlines (to which Swissair, regional subsidiaries Crossair and Belair, and leasing subsidiary FlightLease belonged), SAirServices, SAirLogistics, and SAirRelations.
By the late 1990s, Swissair was burdened by over-expansion as a result of the controversial "Hunter Strategy". The crash of Swissair Flight 111 in 1998, which killed all 229 people on board, generated a costly lawsuit and negative publicity for the airline. After the economic downturn following the September 11 attacks, Swissair's assets dramatically lost value, grounding the already-troubled airline in October 2001. The airline was later revived and kept alive until 31 March 2002 by the Swiss Federal government. The final Swissair flight landed in Zürich on 1 April 2002.
On 1 April 2002, a former regional subsidiary Crossair renamed itself Swiss International Air Lines and took over most of Swissair's routes, planes, and staff. Swissair Group still exists and is in the process of being liquidated. Swiss International Air Lines was taken over by the German airline Lufthansa in 2005.