A playful and bold identity adding a human touch with the hand drawn signature taking the first row seat in this airline branding.

Tags

Art Direction

Branding

Illustration

Identity for Fly Ernest based in Milan offering affordable flights between Italy and Albania. Briefed to produce an identity that felt personal, warm and stood out from competitors my aim was to give it a human touch using the signature i drew by hand as well as a set of type, illustrations, colors and guidelines allowing them to work on a larger international scale. Behind the signature we envisioned an experienced, well-traveled, kind and grandfatherly personality resonating with the values the airline wished to communicate in a very down-to-earth and personal way we call “folklig“ in Swedish.

Pristine white and pure red, a bold identity for a bold company. The large logo covers about 80% of the plane making it impossible no to notice. Apart from the logo the planes are also decorated with the icon of Mr Ernest and messages like Ciao that can be found underneath it's belly.

Bold and Intensely original – The identity revolves around the hand-written logo and the expressive energy it generates is reflected in the pure energy of the red color applied to the pristine white surface of the planes.

Magazine layout and stationary materials.

Early drawings and proposals where made with ink and brushes – During the initial phase of the design process i went through multiple variations, versions and names before we finally agreed that Ernest was the most personal and characteristic choice.

The idea was to rethink the whole concept of what an airplane could be and how to make it more humane and communicative. Living near the Linate airport of Milan i have many times i've looked up to the sky and seen the Ernest planes passing by with the message "Ciao" looking down at me, so many actually that even my daughter at 4 years old continued to spot them regularly in the sky – not many companies have been able to do that before if any.