Soaring Symbols

Whether landscapes or wildlife, airline liveries tell a story from nose to tail.

- DEBRA BOKUR

Way back when, Leonardo da Vinci made a written, slightly dismissive notation that a poet would likely be overcome by sleep and hunger before being able to describe with “mere words” what a painter or artist could convey, in a single instant, through an image. Over the ensuing centuries, this sentiment has become a staple in the world of marketing — including the aviation industry, where meticulously designed liveries deliver a quick flash of branding-meets-possibility.

In 1911 newspaper editor Tess Flanders expanded upon Da Vinci’s rhetoric when she was quoted as saying, “Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words.” A few years later, in 1927, Fred R. Barnard used the phrase in the advertising trade journal Printer’s Ink (later called Marketing/Communications), driving it firmly into the global psyche of branding.

The adoption of liveries was a natural progression not only in the evolution of brand awareness but also in the concept of using the body of a plane as a canvas. The French early embraced the painting of planes, introducing camouflage colors and patterns to confuse enemy pilots in World War 1. Later, custom nose art, often depicting voluptuous pin-up girls, appeared on wartime aircraft, serving the dual purpose of intimidating foes and boosting the morale of comrades in arms.