Designers have harsh views on new Aeroméxico logo

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We’ve covered many airline rebrands at Creative Bloq, and new logos across the industry tend to generate strong opinions, especially when it’s a country’s flag carrier. Air India And Air Croatia The rebrands were two recent ones. But we’ve seen few examples that have been torn apart as harshly as the new Aeroméxico logo.

Mexico’s largest airline is implementing a rebrand that aims to modernize its identity and visual language with changes to both its logo and its iconic Aztec eagle warrior symbol. But some people are making unfortunate comparisons to Birdman, suggesting the abandonment of a proud warrior, a voluptuous cowboy, or worse… El Chavo del 8. best airline logos not.

The new logo is Aeroméxico’s most significant redesign since 1998 and comes as the airline celebrates its 90th anniversary. This milestone would be as good a time as any for a rebrand, but this one seems oddly timed. Mucho recently overhauled the company’s broader visual identity.

The company says the new design aims to add dynamism, warmth and modernity to the brand and reflect a more contemporary Mexico. I think the new brand color palette hits the mark here, taking the dominant blue a few shades darker and replacing the red previously used in the livery with fuchsia; This gives it a more modern feel and also sets the brand apart from many other airlines (British Airways). , Air France and American Airlines all use the blue and red colors of the respective national flags).

The redesign of the logo is less convincing (it is not up to the standards of the logo). best logos there). The previous emblem was taken from traditional Mexican art, where geometric shapes were more common than organic ones. This gave the logo a distinctive look that has become iconic. The new design aims to make the human head look more realistic and even give it lips. But as a result, the eagle becomes less visible and people make all kinds of unfortunate comparisons.

The airline’s new face has been likened to the popular comic book character El Chavo del Ocho, as well as being compared to the Knights of the Zodiac, a long-haired biker, and more. “He’s not an eagle warrior anymore, he’s Prince Charming from Shrek!” one person wrote on YouTube. “There was no need to touch something so unforgettable,” designer Karina Soto Martínez wrote on Instagram. “Why didn’t they cover him with gold? Why did they want a cowboy with keratin hair?”

One of the most comprehensive responses to the new logo came Marco the CreatorSpanish video creator with a popular YouTube channel dedicated to graphic design. In addition to distinguishing the new symbol, he identifies what he calls “beginner-level errors” in the new logotype’s typography, particularly the curves in Os, including poor kerning and a lack of extremes to optically adjust the type.

Marco traces his analysis back to the airline’s original eagle design in 1934 and the addition of the Aztec eagle fighter in 1960. One of his conclusions is that the redesign might make sense out of context, but it doesn’t make sense given the airline’s legacy and heritage. Its place in Mexican culture and I agree with that. The softer ensembles of the new Birdman/cowboy might be considered warmer and more contemporary in many contexts, but sometimes there’s more warmth in the timelessness of an iconic design, even if it’s technically cooler.

For more logo design discussions, check out the new logo unreadable logo fashion designer Katarzyna Konieczka and Meghan Markle’s logo rejected.