BRANDING
Delta Navigate: A New Delta AirLines Experience
Branding and visual identity for a new, inclusivity-oriented airline service geared towards individuals with minimal or no air travel experience.
Overview:
Since its 2007 rebrand, Delta AirLines has established itself as a leader in customer service in the commercial airline industry. Delta’s customer-facing, information-based approach to air travel has made the company stand out against their many competitors and grow to become one of the largest commercial airlines in the world.
In this imagined expansion, Delta sought to reach a new audience consisting of individuals who are new to or have minimal experience with air travel. Delta Navigate pairs travelers with Delta representatives who assist passengers with potentially confusing or intimidating airport tasks including check-in, security, gate location, and baggage claim. The expansion was informed and guided by Delta’s humanistic, people-centric values. The brand strategy and visuals emphasize clarity of information, empathy, and passenger empowerment while embodying the notion that travel should be available and accessible to all.
Process
Logo Design
The Delta Navigate logo maintains the contour of the Delta widget while introducing a circular element. The circle and triangular formation evoke the idea of a sun rising over a mountaintop. The sun evokes the notion of positivity, optimism, and clarity while the peak of the “mountain” suggests achievement and overcoming one’s perceived obstacles. The navy color was carried over from Delta’s brand colors so that when paired with the primary Delta logo, it fits in with the brand.
Logo Sketches
Preliminary logo sketches explored various visual means of conveying the concepts of “going,” optimism, direction, navigation, and approachability.
High-Fidelity Renderings
From the sketches, I chose four directions to pursue in high-fidelity. All iterations featured tracked out, all caps type to more closely identify them with the existing Delta brand (who’s logotype features similar typographic treatment). I used a geometric sans serif typeface (Helvetica), which closely mirrored Delta’s custom corporate font.
This design represents divergence of paths from a common place, alluding the the fact that Delta Navigate is the first step in exploring all corners of the world (the circle). The triangular shape of the arrows alludes to the Delta Airlines triangle.
This design maintains the Delta widget but introduces arrows to the letters in a similar attempt to evoke the navigation aspect of the brand.
This logo conveys two roads converging at a center point from which a navigation marker emanates. This concept is more concrete, focusing on the navigation and information-centric aspect of the brand. The two “roads” create a triangle formation, similarly evocative of the original Delta triangle.
The final logo iteration features a sun rising over a mountaintop (the Delta triangle). This concept evokes the concept of optimism and possibility, while maintaining a connection to the larger brand (Delta). Ultimately, I chose this design as I felt this emotional approach would resonate more with prospective customers than a factual or illustrative approach.
Logo Refinement
At this point, I needed to refine the logo I chose. I increased the space between the circle and the triangle to make the negative space appear more equal to the negative space on the lower part of the triangle. I also removed the spokes (the “rays” of the sun). I felt that at larger sizes they were distracting and at smaller sizes, they ran the risk of disappearing into the background.
I also changed the typeface to Avenir, which had a more rounded appearance than the original geometric, Helvetica-esque typeface that Delta employs. Making the type “softer” created a more inviting visual identity that was in line with Delta Navigate’s welcoming and inclusive brand messaging.
Finally, I positioned the logotype to the left of the logo mark and eliminated “Delta.” Because the logo now drew several visual parallels to the original Delta Logo, including “Delta” seemed unneccesary. Though I experimented with placing it above the word navigate, it looked too cluttered (which detracted from the clean, minimalistic visual style I was aiming for).
The finalized Delta Navigate logo
Colors
The brand colors consist of the original Delta Blue (carried over from the current Delta AirLines brand), bright turquoise, and bright coral. The turquoise and coral are brighter, more playful versions of Delta’s blue and red legacy colors. These bright colors frame air travel as something that can be fun, enjoyable, and stress-free. Carrying over the Delta Blue allows for seamless pairing with visuals from the larger Delta Airlines company.
Color Guidelines
When on a white background, the logo should appear in the navy color. When on a colored background, the it can be either navy or white. The logo should never appear in the bright turquoise or coral colors.
The logo should appear only on white or brand color backgrounds. If the logo is printed directly onto an object, it can be either white or navy depending upon the color of the object. The color that makes the logo contrast most with the background is the color that should be used.
Possible color permutations
Visual Design
The brand assets and image style further the notion of simplicity, clarity, and empathy. A minimalistic visual style was favored for its ability to allow the most salient information to stand out.
For informational visuals such as tickets and departure signs, design consisted of color, iconography, and text. Any superfluous visual or informational elements were omitted in the spirit of clarity. The type, set in Avenir for easy readability, was set in a manner that it highlighted the most important pieces of information, reducing the frustration factor. The use of bright colors not only helped in distinguishing information, but sought to instill a notion of positivity, excitement, and encouragement. This notion was in keeping with Delta Navigate’s vision to make travel feel more accessible, welcoming, and less intimidating.
Non-informational visuals (such as advertisements) combined bright blocks of color with black and white, emotionally-evocative, human-centric images. Images were kept in black and white to create contrast with the bright colors while eliminating the risk of competing visual stimuli that could arise with the introduction of a colored photograph. The imagery and color were accompanied by simplistic, encouraging statements that conveyed a range of emotions including happiness, empathy, empowerment, safety, and compassion.
Above: Sample compositions establish the brand’s visual identity including layout, typography, color, and photography. The compositions illustrate the relationship of text and image and provide a sense of the brand’s messaging and language.
