[Kevin WS]

Airline Visual Identity 1945-1975 - M. C. Huhne.

If you are interested in the development of airlines visual identities, then I recommend this book. It focuses on 13 airlines from the golden age of aviation and is a fascinating read.

There are two editions - a Premium edition (436 pages), and a standard edition (384 pages) - mainly just a difference I believe in the artwork reproduction of the many posters, which in the Premium would be "frameable quality".

I was lucky enough to be given the Premium Edition, and can only rave about it!

The period covered is the golden age of aviation and this means a lot of the pictures and artwork are very colourful and interesting.

After a brief introduction, each of the thirteen airlines covered is given around 40 pages +/-. These cover the airlines' background, the rationale behind their logos, designs and corporate identities, and provide a nice selection of illustration of materials - especially airline posters.

While there is a leaning toward American airlines (Pan Am, TWA, United Airlines, Continental Airlines, Braniff, American Airlines), the classics are mostly there as well - Aeroflot, Air France, Canadian Pacific, Japan Air Lines, Swissair, Lufthansa and BOAC/British Airways.