Businessweek caught up with Massimo Vignelli, the designer of American Airlines' logo for the past 45 years, to see what he thought of the new livery and let's just say he doesn't seem to be a fan.
"It has no sense of permanence," he told the news magazine. "The American flag has 13 stripes, right? Not 11. Did American add only 11 stripes [to the flag on the tail] because they are in Chapter 11? I don't think two more stripes would have been a disaster."
And in the interview, Vignelli reveals that he didn't want the eagle in the logo he designed in the 1960s. While some aviation enthusiasts and Twitter folks have lamented the loss of the eagle in American's new design, Vignelli is happy to have an eagle-less logo.
"I refused to do it. We started without it, and the pilots threatened to go on strike because they wanted the eagle on American Airlines. There’s always been the eagle. But I wanted the eagle to be real. As a matter of fact, the post office eagle, I think, is terrific. If you do an eagle, do an eagle with the dignity of an eagle. Don’t make Mickey Mouse out of an eagle. That was my theory at the time. The office of Henry Dreyfuss did the eagle. They were hired to do the interior of the planes. They were the office that originally gave us the assignment of the corporate identity. Dreyfuss was the consultant to American Airlines. The eagle was OK. It wasn’t great. I’m not sorry to see the eagle go," Vignelli said.
The creator of the old logo doesn't like the new logo? Shocking.
Posted by: AAer | January 22, 2013 at 12:20 PM
it looks like a flying hot dog stand.and as far as the new commercial,who was the other idiot who made this up. if you really want to make a stupid commercial do this. look. up in the sky. its a bird, its a plane no its a greyhound bus with wings.some Texan had to create this one.
Posted by: whitey | January 22, 2013 at 07:29 PM
Vignelli happens to be right. The new design is silly and doesn't fit with the previous Logos.
It's a waste of money and a slap in the face to every employee who's taken a pay cut.
Posted by: airline realist | January 23, 2013 at 09:07 AM
There's an online petition on Change.org asking AA to reconsider this change. You can find it here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/american-airlines-please-don-t-change-your-classic-design?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_after_sign
Posted by: jabber | January 24, 2013 at 10:59 PM