Branding an airline is not for the faint of heart, but Edmond Huot has risen to the challenge.
Despite the fact that many flyers will choose their carrier based on the price, route, and convenience of departure, branding and marketing are big business for airlines. In the United States alone, airlines will spend more than a billion dollars on advertising, according to Statista research.
Although that figure almost halved during the 2020 downturn, the sector is beginning to bounce back. Worldwide, aviation is estimated to have spent more on marketing in 2021 than in 2019. But without a strong brand identity backing up those marketing messages, that money would be wasted.
One of the most prominent interactions any passenger will have with an airline brand will be the design of its logo and livery. That sea of aircraft tails seen at any busy airport represents months of research, development, testing and decision making, led by some of the most renowned marketers in the world.
We caught up with Edmond Huot, Creative Director at Forward Media, to find out exactly what goes into creating a new airline image. As the creator of startup Northern Pacific Airways’ brand identity and livery, Edmond provides a fresh and uplifting take on the role of the creative designer.
Why aviation?
For most creative professionals, aviation is probably not their first choice of disciplines to follow. Both internally and externally, the development of an aircraft livery is hampered by strict regulations and technical challenges, leaving the designer’s hands a little bit tied. But for Huot, a life-long avgeek at heart, those challenges were relished.
Growing up in rural Canada, Huot found himself drawn to aviation from an early age. He said,
“I would lose myself in thought—creating entire story plots and visual scenes with model airplanes that I’d build, play with outside, and ultimately crash in some snowbank! I spent countless hours drawing planes on discarded paper bags and would act out scenes from Arthur Hailey’s Airport in my bedroom.”
Although Huot has worked on non-aviation projects throughout his professional career, when the opportunity to work on a branding and livery project for an airline company comes up, he doesn’t hesitate. Prior to working on the Northern Pacific project, Huot worked on a new livery design for a small inter-island carrier based in Honolulu – Island Air.
This project was a quick moving experience, but gave Edmond and his team a chance to learn some valuable lessons. He noted,
“Airline marketing is really akin to tourism campaigns. Because airlines are often such an important touchpoint for customers, the tone and messaging often speak to a broader idea. We weren’t just designing a brand or a livery; we were designing an experience—one that had to speak authentically to locals, not tourists.”
That was a key learning that he took forward to his work with Northern Pacific. Although the route map of these two airlines couldn’t be more different, the dynamics were surprisingly similar – remote, isolated, and needing a brand that would resonate with the local audience as much as with tourists.
Designing the Northern Pacific livery
As Huot explained, an airline livery project is very different from the general advertising and graphic design world. For a start, these projects are rare beasts, and don’t come along all that often. Most notably, there’s a whole different level of risk involved when you’re talking about painting an aircraft worth tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
Nevertheless, when Forward Media had the opportunity to work with startup Northern Pacific on its brand identity, it was up for the challenge. The early part of the journey was all about understanding the client, as well as getting to grips with the communities it would serve. With future passengers located in diverse geographies – Asia, the lower 48, and Alaska – this was no easy task. Huot explained,
“Unlike larger, full-service multinational firms with the ability to cover more ground in terms of research and analysis, our agency is a smaller, more boutique company. We had to move fast, be resourceful, and quickly prioritize the core issues. I worked closely with the client to better understand Asian cultural significance and hot points. At the same time, I was also speaking with the local team in Anchorage to highlight any concerns around misrepresenting their local indigenous communities.”
Huot had to weave together the messaging required for all these different demographics, as well as regulatory and business audiences. This began to form a thematic story, which Huot titled ‘We Are All Navigators’. That premise has carried through to so much of the subsequent design, including the colors, typography, and even the name of the forthcoming lounge at Anchorage – the Navigators Lounge.
The end result
The Northern Pacific brand and livery were revealed in all their glory at a glamorous event in California last month. The event, orchestrated by Edmond himself, was an experience in itself, with thoughtful elements of the brand running through every step of the journey and a wonderful ambiance that combined class with party. Trust me, ambiance is not an easy thing to generate in a vast WWII hangar!The design itself has been carefully curated to represent the stark beauty of the Alaskan wilderness. The snowy white background is dramatically offset by the black hues of the design, and the soft grey tones are a nod to the mountainous terrain with its ice and snow. But it’s not all monochrome, because at the very tips of the wings and on the vertical stabilizer, pops of sharp turquoise and green bring a taste of the Northern Lights to the design. In a fun twist, the cockpit has had a painted ‘mask’ treatment, adding charm to the ‘face’ of the airplane and eliciting perplexed gazes from fans of Airbus’s trademark ‘Zorro’ mask.
For Huot, this was a dream project to work on, thanks to the openness and flexibility of the Northern Pacific team. He told us,
“The team at Northern Pacific Airways, starting with their CEO, has afforded me the rare opportunity to do good work. This level of autonomy, for me, is rather sacred, since it requires a greater level of trust and respect. In my experience, you can’t put a price on that.”
As for what’s next, well, Edmond is already working on a concept for a new airline startup. Going back to his Canadian roots, this one is a premium regional airline seeking to connect communities across Canada. For that airline, its journey is just beginning. For Huot, the journey continues, with likely many more beautiful liveries to come.
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