United Airlines "Evolution" to Globe Livery released

Aptivaboy · Wed May 22, 2019 3:44 am

When I think of a good "evolution" to branding, I think of AirFrance. Curious to hear your thoughts even tough slightly off-topic?

I'm not sure if you were speaking toe VC10er or me, but as you quoted part of what I said I'll chime in.

I tend to view smallish, incremental changes to branding and livery as, "meh." I mean, why bother? If you're going to go to the trouble of a rebrand, then actually rebrand. I tend to look at how American went from the orange Lightning Bolt scheme to the famous baremetal scheme as an example, or United from the Stars and Bars scheme to the Saul Bass scheme. In both cases, they represented clear departures from prior looks. When Continental went from the Meatball scheme to the '90s look that so many people hate today, it was in many ways meant to represent a complete change, literally "From Worst To First." It was classy and businesslike, representing the new airline that Gordon Bethune and others were trying to build from the ashes of bankruptcies, poor customer service and labor strife. The uniforms and all matter of associated paperwork and kit all communicated the same basic idea, at least to these aging eyes. Southwest's branding represents fun. United's old Battleship Grey branding indicated a certain staid, businesslike reliability at a time when United was really attempting to expand it's business passenger and long haul offerings. One could go on.

So then, for me I would expect to see a serious change from what came before, perhaps a (near) total change, with the rebrand representing something. The current United brand refresh actually does neither. It looks more to me like Jetblue painting tails every now and again. I don't see a message coming from it. I'm not sure what it represents. Again, I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either. It is simply, meh.

Bob.

ord · Wed May 22, 2019 12:40 pm

Priestmangoode has put the United livery project on its website:

https://www.priestmangoode.com/project/ ... ed-livery/

ord · Wed May 22, 2019 12:48 pm

Aptivaboy wrote:
So then, for me I would expect to see a serious change from what came before, perhaps a (near) total change, with the rebrand representing something. The current United brand refresh actually does neither. It looks more to me like Jetblue painting tails every now and again. I don't see a message coming from it. I'm not sure what it represents. Again, I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either. It is simply, meh.

As you mentioned, sometimes a rebrand is done to represent a clear break from the past (as with Continental in 1991) or a new direction for the company (United's rebrand in 1993 was meant to reflect the shift from a domestic airline to an international one). Those rebrands had the livery as a starting point. United this time around was different. They actually have been rebranding for the past five years or so. The globe logo was simplified. The aircraft interiors changed. Airport signage is different. Polaris was launched. The new livery in this case is the final visual to bring it all together, rather than a starting point. Clearly they did research that said there is enough equity in the globe that they decided not to make drastic changes. Sometimes that's all that's needed, a refresh or evolution rather a complete overhaul.

blockski · Wed May 22, 2019 2:36 pm

Aptivaboy wrote:

I tend to view smallish, incremental changes to branding and livery as, "meh." I mean, why bother? If you're going to go to the trouble of a rebrand, then actually rebrand. I tend to look at how American went from the orange Lightning Bolt scheme to the famous baremetal scheme as an example, or United from the Stars and Bars scheme to the Saul Bass scheme. In both cases, they represented clear departures from prior looks. When Continental went from the Meatball scheme to the '90s look that so many people hate today, it was in many ways meant to represent a complete change, literally "From Worst To First." It was classy and businesslike, representing the new airline that Gordon Bethune and others were trying to build from the ashes of bankruptcies, poor customer service and labor strife. The uniforms and all matter of associated paperwork and kit all communicated the same basic idea, at least to these aging eyes. Southwest's branding represents fun. United's old Battleship Grey branding indicated a certain staid, businesslike reliability at a time when United was really attempting to expand it's business passenger and long haul offerings. One could go on.

So then, for me I would expect to see a serious change from what came before, perhaps a (near) total change, with the rebrand representing something. The current United brand refresh actually does neither. It looks more to me like Jetblue painting tails every now and again. I don't see a message coming from it. I'm not sure what it represents. Again, I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either. It is simply, meh.

Bob.

This seems like a category error. United is most definitely not re-branding. They never communicated that this would be a re-branding, they have always been clear that a) this is an evolution of their existing brand, and b) that this roll-out was for a new livery only. They specifically did not go to the trouble of a re-brand.

jetmatt777 · Wed May 22, 2019 3:48 pm

blockski wrote:
Aptivaboy wrote:

I tend to view smallish, incremental changes to branding and livery as, "meh." I mean, why bother? If you're going to go to the trouble of a rebrand, then actually rebrand. I tend to look at how American went from the orange Lightning Bolt scheme to the famous baremetal scheme as an example, or United from the Stars and Bars scheme to the Saul Bass scheme. In both cases, they represented clear departures from prior looks. When Continental went from the Meatball scheme to the '90s look that so many people hate today, it was in many ways meant to represent a complete change, literally "From Worst To First." It was classy and businesslike, representing the new airline that Gordon Bethune and others were trying to build from the ashes of bankruptcies, poor customer service and labor strife. The uniforms and all matter of associated paperwork and kit all communicated the same basic idea, at least to these aging eyes. Southwest's branding represents fun. United's old Battleship Grey branding indicated a certain staid, businesslike reliability at a time when United was really attempting to expand it's business passenger and long haul offerings. One could go on.

So then, for me I would expect to see a serious change from what came before, perhaps a (near) total change, with the rebrand representing something. The current United brand refresh actually does neither. It looks more to me like Jetblue painting tails every now and again. I don't see a message coming from it. I'm not sure what it represents. Again, I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either. It is simply, meh.

Bob.

This seems like a category error. United is most definitely not re-branding. They never communicated that this would be a re-branding, they have always been clear that a) this is an evolution of their existing brand, and b) that this roll-out was for a new livery only. They specifically did not go to the trouble of a re-brand.

The rebrand began years ago with Polaris. Brand is more than a livery. This new livery is only a refresher of the existing brand elements.

blockski · Wed May 22, 2019 3:54 pm

jetmatt777 wrote:
blockski wrote:
Aptivaboy wrote:

I tend to view smallish, incremental changes to branding and livery as, "meh." I mean, why bother? If you're going to go to the trouble of a rebrand, then actually rebrand. I tend to look at how American went from the orange Lightning Bolt scheme to the famous baremetal scheme as an example, or United from the Stars and Bars scheme to the Saul Bass scheme. In both cases, they represented clear departures from prior looks. When Continental went from the Meatball scheme to the '90s look that so many people hate today, it was in many ways meant to represent a complete change, literally "From Worst To First." It was classy and businesslike, representing the new airline that Gordon Bethune and others were trying to build from the ashes of bankruptcies, poor customer service and labor strife. The uniforms and all matter of associated paperwork and kit all communicated the same basic idea, at least to these aging eyes. Southwest's branding represents fun. United's old Battleship Grey branding indicated a certain staid, businesslike reliability at a time when United was really attempting to expand it's business passenger and long haul offerings. One could go on.

So then, for me I would expect to see a serious change from what came before, perhaps a (near) total change, with the rebrand representing something. The current United brand refresh actually does neither. It looks more to me like Jetblue painting tails every now and again. I don't see a message coming from it. I'm not sure what it represents. Again, I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either. It is simply, meh.

Bob.

This seems like a category error. United is most definitely not re-branding. They never communicated that this would be a re-branding, they have always been clear that a) this is an evolution of their existing brand, and b) that this roll-out was for a new livery only. They specifically did not go to the trouble of a re-brand.

The rebrand began years ago with Polaris. Brand is more than a livery. This new livery is only a refresher of the existing brand elements.

Yes, the process began in earnest, years ago, with the Polaris development. But even that was not a full rebranding effort - it was also an evolution of what existed before. They kept the logo, they kept most of the existing brand elements, then as well.

atlflyer · Wed May 22, 2019 3:58 pm

The rebrand looks great. From the Polaris hard product onboard to the lounges to even the seats in economy. It all fits together nicely with the new livery.

VC10er · Wed May 22, 2019 11:09 pm

adambrau wrote:
VC10er wrote:
Aptivaboy wrote:
As I said earlier, I don't love it, I don't hate it. I do think that some of the artwork shown here in this thread is more appealing than the design that United ultimately chose, Carbon Fibre's in particular.

That always amazes me - that companies spend big dollars paying a design company to come up with a new scheme or branding and then they don't knock it out of the park. Okay is apparently good enough.

I have a question and an insider’s factual truth to let you in on, both being in good spirit and respectful.

First: how much is “big dollars” to you? As in how much a branding and design agency is paid? Feel free to provide a range like $700,000 to $1.5 million, (or less or more) etc. And, in particular, how much of that total sum is JUST for the design of the livery alone?

David Ogilvy, of “Ogilvy & Mather” (David O, being one of the advertising world’s most famous and respected people) has one quote that is hugely famous, something he said MANY decades ago, but 100% still relevant today: “A client gets what they deserve” - meaning that no matter how fabulous the work an agency can do for their clients (ideas, ads, branding design, websites-anything) that in the end, what actually makes its way out into the world is absolutely due to what the client has approved.
Forget the new UA livery for a moment. If I see a package design that is magnificent, bold, beautiful and daring, or a logo for a company (either a redesign or new company) that blows my mind because it’s so brilliant- I will give the client MUCH more credit for it than I do the agency that did the work. Far more times than not, the agency presented better ideas and work, but the client teams, over a period of time will demand that changes are made “make this line darker, make the brand name bigger, I don’t like that pattern behind the logo, put a baby in the ad, remove the sculpted bulkhead that’s on the 77W, “Apple” is such a stupid name for a computer- are you crazy, how could you even show me that? this is technology, I want a name like ‘NovoTek” because it says both “new and technology” then it (the ad, the design etc) might go into consumer research! And 15 people out of 36 might say “I hate the purple bottle, nothing is purple in the vitamin aisle!”—but perhaps the purple is EXACTLY what is needed because it looks different than all the others.

Airline livery designs a very seldom researched because of the risk associated with a leak.

SO, how do you know if the new UNITED livery is a version of something you would have loved much more, that a very talented agency did awesome work, but it was then diluted with many opinions- but the client loves it, thinks the agency was fantastic and the new livery you see today was ultimately APPROVED by the client. They (UA) got what they deserved, a livery that most people seem to think (on balance) is an improvement. And Oscar tried to control expectations from the start by stating quite loudly “EVOLUTION” not “revolution”. (I would say Iberia made a revolutionary change) I don’t really like it, but aside from red and yellow- everything from the OLD Landor Iberia was changed. FedEx from its original Federal Express slanted identity was fairly revolutionary.

How much do you think Landor should have been paid to recreate the FedEx brand & Branding?

When I think of a good "evolution" to branding, I think of AirFrance. Curious to hear your thoughts even tough slightly off-topic?

Personally and with tons of respect for your opinion- I disagree. I don’t think virtually impossible for the “average customer” to see a difference is even a change. Evo or Revo! The teeie tiny curve at the bottom of the red and blue speed stripe tail, a tiny red “check mark” as a symbol signaled anything to average fliers. “US” maybe. (Im not saying UA is great) but it does at the very least signal “CHANGE” to John and Jane Doe. The simple fact is when a branding update is done- the core intent is to communicate something has changed, something new, even if not VERY NEW. I think United would have gone further if they didn’t want to totally throw away ALL equity. Spend trillions changing everything else.

I personally love “minimal” design. I like the AF livery. I love Swiss. But when AF made that change I scratched my head because it said nothing to me? Like: more modern? More hip? More Sophisticated than before? - I just got nothing from it. (Can you remind me if the typeface changed?)

adambrau · Fri May 24, 2019 2:50 am

VC10er wrote:

I personally love “minimal” design. I like the AF livery. I love Swiss. But when AF made that change I scratched my head because it said nothing to me? Like: more modern? More hip? More Sophisticated than before? - I just got nothing from it. (Can you remind me if the typeface changed?)

The reason I brought up AF is that it was a refresh/evolution of a classic logo. I think they were able to modernize an iconic brand with classic French elegance.

OLD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4r3AoSBksE

EVOLUTION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkDsYkhCl-U

The font is not so blocky and evolved into a slightly larger and more curvy sans-serif lesser bold.

Air France was run into one word - AirFrance. Simple and elegant.

Tail essentially the same except for curves at the bottom of the the barcode.

Three small changes that, to me, defined a successful livery evolution.

All backed up by very strong marketing coordination by it's agencies.

United https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QjbeFqfajI

United's evolution livery incorporates a swoosh, a huge billboard which is a rectangular block, and then tuned a very timid move away from the round globe logo on the tail. The elements work against each other. To me, it's horrific. Maybe United needed more than an evolution, but regardless they needed a common set of design elements that don't work against each other. After 25+ years of flying the friendly skies through the good and the bad, I wish they had left well alone or hired an agency with balls for something inspirational. I feel this United livery change makes me remember Continental and United in ugly eternity. Last 4 years as GS I have now stopped flying them. Definitely irrational but fell out of love I saw the current Frankenstein. United has lost it's iconic American feeling, and while we can debate the past liveries, I can't say this is even a livery. Perhaps an amateurish random paint job deserving for an airline which once had such great potential. YMMV.

VC10er · Fri May 24, 2019 4:03 pm

adambrau wrote:
VC10er wrote:

I personally love “minimal” design. I like the AF livery. I love Swiss. But when AF made that change I scratched my head because it said nothing to me? Like: more modern? More hip? More Sophisticated than before? - I just got nothing from it. (Can you remind me if the typeface changed?)

The reason I brought up AF is that it was a refresh/evolution of a classic logo. I think they were able to modernize an iconic brand with classic French elegance.

OLD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4r3AoSBksE

EVOLUTION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkDsYkhCl-U

The font is not so blocky and evolved into a slightly larger and more curvy sans-serif lesser bold.

Air France was run into one word - AirFrance. Simple and elegant.

Tail essentially the same except for curves at the bottom of the the barcode.

Three small changes that, to me, defined a successful livery evolution.

All backed up by very strong marketing coordination by it's agencies.

United https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QjbeFqfajI

United's evolution livery incorporates a swoosh, a huge billboard which is a rectangular block, and then tuned a very timid move away from the round globe logo on the tail. The elements work against each other. To me, it's horrific. Maybe United needed more than an evolution, but regardless they needed a common set of design elements that don't work against each other. After 25+ years of flying the friendly skies through the good and the bad, I wish they had left well alone or hired an agency with balls for something inspirational. I feel this United livery change makes me remember Continental and United in ugly eternity. Last 4 years as GS I have now stopped flying them. Definitely irrational but fell out of love I saw the current Frankenstein. United has lost it's iconic American feeling, and while we can debate the past liveries, I can't say this is even a livery. Perhaps an amateurish random paint job deserving for an airline which once had such great potential. YMMV.

I have been a loyal United flier for almost 30 years. I am almost not happy with anything "GLOBE' from a personal sentimental standpoint. I am not in love with this new livery, though I don't dislike it as much as you do.

Hi adambrau, For starters, it was not that the "agency did not have the balls to do something inspirational" - perhaps the agency did indeed show more inspirational design (if they did not, they should have been fired in the first presentation). It is ALWAYS the client who gets the true credit, after all it is the client that develops (writes) the design brief (hopefully based on strategic, consumer and internal insights), starting with a good or bad brief makes an enormous difference! Then briefs the agency leaders on what they want and why and also covers cost implications. After the FIRST presentation, it is the client requests any revisions to the work as they want, and ultimately it is the client who ultimately APPROVES it.
I have said this before: when I see ANY amazing branding, ideas and design, be it a livery for an, aircraft interior design, lounges etc. It's "exactly" the same dynamic for a bottle design of a bourbon, a box of cookies, cosmetics, a new identity/logo for a new or old company (old Federal Express vs New FedEx): I give FAR, more credit to the client for seeing the vision and the bravery to do something very inspirational, different, cool looking or beautiful etc, etc. Much of the BEST work I have done in my career along with the team and presented is totally at the mercy of the client. Sadly, often the boldest and most inspirational work actually sees the light of day.
Many, many factors come into play after that initial presentation. There could be 5 big "stakeholders' in the room, each of whom get a shot at saying what they like and don't like. One very big cheese might say: "I really dislike option A1' (when option A1 is actually the best) I cannot FORCE them to sign off on A1? I can fight for it up until the point where I risk getting fired, but ultimately the client IS THE CUSTOMER. THE SAME FOR BAD WORK: perhaps the agency showed fantastic work...but the client lacked the vision or taste or guts?

As for what did not meet my hopes re: UNITED, was I was hoping for an overall more upscale look given how well they have executed Polaris Lounges, and many other details, the fact that they are going full-court-press after road warriors who pay for premium travel. For me the swoosh, the typeface, the colors etc each alone on an individual basis don't really matter to me. Because as a "non-Globe" lover, I have seen MANY very well done executions of it that maximized it's fairly limited potential, it has been too established to throw away (ex: PriestmanGoode did a great job and someone at UA approved the entryway to the 77W, the Polaris Lounges, the back walls of reception in United Clubs, even the seat tag. It's the holistic take away for the consumer along the journey that matters most, tor the folks who work in the glass towers of NYC, Chicago, SF/Silicon Valley, Houston, DC, Denver and LA. "NOT US" here on a.net.

If you love AF, that is awesome. Personal opinions count very much. My SINGLE issue was when I saw it (and I look at these things through a marketing lens) was "I do not understand what AF is attempting to tell me about their brand that is new or different?" It was too close in to it's previous incarnation to subliminally register to me. Therefore probably not enough for the average French person or French Banker, and say to him ""AF just got better, classier, more up to date" - design wise it was a nice touch.
All that said: I have NO CLUE what AF senior management wanted to get out of it.

adambrau · Sat May 25, 2019 2:02 am

Ironically United and Air France have shared several common structural deficiencies over the years.

Longstanding lack of trust between management and the rank and file.

A high rate of management turnover at both leading to a lack of a longterm vision implementation on management's part. Air France PR's machine is a world of strength to it's own - United learned anything and everything about sophistication from Pan Am and for many reasons United never took it seriously.

United suffered through a very painful and costly merger with Continental, or the other way around, and customers fled.

Air France's upper management has been prevented from developing a more robust operational vision because of longterm political interference and strong union solidarity, which to a lesser degree United has faced too whether it was a pilot slowdown or a much longer sense of general company malaise that I'm not even sure has been significantly reduced in 20 years .

United been through periods where operational reliability lagged it's main competitors.

I will admit AF still has been lazy about getting rid of angled lay flats in Air France Business cabins on the 388's, two of which come into JFK everyday. There are soon to only be 5 left with the other 5 being withdrawn shortly. So be fair, UA installed lay-flat seats on all it's int'l wide bodies and 757's many years ago.

I don't even think UA and AF are true competitors and ignore each other within the varying degrees their alliance and JV's allow them.

The point I was trying to (likely poorly)make about AF, despite it's shortcomings, is the following. AF announced it was going to refresh it's corporate livery and with little advance fuss it did exactly that and (subjectively) very tastefully IMHO. It was a subtly brilliant evolution of a timeless brand that still looks fresh, French, and sexy. Apart from branding elements and a strictly disciplined approach to it's brand management, AF keeps strengthening it with small touches:

-free Champagne served on all economy long haul.
-Better food on board.
-An 80 page guide on how staff are to present themselves publicly in uniform, grooming standards, etc.
-Attitudes may be a little snootier but flight attendants work their butts off and are happy to provide exceptional service.
-Ground staff and flight crew reinforce the glamour of AF history (both the gents and the ladies) because they are supported by marketing, advertising and branding tools which work in step to shape and strongly promote the livery as being one of France's best brand ambassadors'.
-Of course AF occasionally strike which is quintessentially French I suppose. Ben Smith from Air Canada seems to be making some positive outreaches to the various worker gouges .

I am not arguing with you (in fact quite the opposite I very much enjoy reading your posts). It surprised me a bit to hear someone who has worked in branding and corporate design for a big part of your career - your remark that AF's last brand refresh was hardly memorable. For some reason the opposite rings true and confirms to me that Air France branding/identity is not in question to it's stakeholders. Their YouTube channel has several videos, TV ads and in-flight safety demos with are clean fun, sexy, serious and ethereal in nature.

I suspect we both feel disappointed by United's new livery. And can have different reasons for the fact but sadly we know we're stuck with it for at least ten years from the time it first appeared until the last day it flies off to the scrapyard. United (and with the Continental merger) have had many brand liveries since the mid 90's - some really great, some half decent, and now IMHO the worst. And unfortunately it stacks up as perfectly as the pmUA/CO route authorities complimentarily dovetailed the world. The poisonous atmosphere the merger of two conflicted corporate visions nearly resulted in death, a glaring lack of operational competence and promotion of a cultural agent orange we live with today.

There is no genuine pride at United. There is no vision. And this new livery shows me that people are spending more time in the Willis Tower counting there stock options. Air France, in that respect, is a totally different if not perfect animal.

I don't love AirFrance - I haven't flown them in years and infrequently over decades. But AF does understand the importance of their global brand (France). What AF expends on their stylish understated logo/brand evolution, liveries, marketing and advertising, and insistence on at least attempting to provide a very high level of inflight customer experience, it is very telling to me how United's new livery got final sign off.

Do we disagree that much?

Adam

EduardoL · Sat May 25, 2019 4:01 pm

tjwgrr wrote:
EduardoL wrote:
antoniemey wrote:

When the first XE 175 that wasn't already scheduled for painting in the old colors is delivered.

I've already seen United's E175 at the factory with the new paint. By the way, it looks beautiful

Photos please

That's what's on the net for now: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellingto ... datetaken/

Sooner787 · Sat May 25, 2019 5:02 pm

EduardoL wrote:
tjwgrr wrote:
EduardoL wrote:

I've already seen United's E175 at the factory with the new paint. By the way, it looks beautiful

Photos please

That's what's on the net for now: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellingto ... datetaken/

Nice camo ...LOL Reminds me of when my dog thinks she's hidden when she hides behind a table leg

ozark1 · Sat May 25, 2019 5:36 pm

I think the UA redo is so so. 1) I do not like billboard lettering. I think it is tacky....if AA had gone with a dark shade of blue instead of grey for AMERICAN, it would have improved the look. It's a tolerable change for UA because it's still blue. 2) I think the wavy cheatline is tacky. I'm not sure what could replace it..either a straight line or none. 3) Like AA, I think the best feature is the tail. 4) Really like the blue engines and winglets. So in the end, it's a more tolerable, more subtle change than what AA did. Still, these days, i'm not blown away by any airline change. The exception is the Etihad tail which I think is stunning. I'm just glad I was around when there was so much more class. The aluminum AA, the beautiful UA gray/blue livery with UNITED AIRLINES spelled out, and the other one they had with white top, shades lines of blue at the bottom and the tulip on the tail. The colorful Braniff. The distinguished solid red NW tail. So for this day and time, everything is a billboard and I like UA's look much more than AA's, who took a distinguished eagle and made it look like it should go on the side of a bus (but then I guess planes are just flying buses now!). I know UA is improving, and this was the correct, subtle change to make. Never cared for the gold, so in the billboard era, they did some tolerable adjustments. And as others have said, I haven't seen it except in pictures, so it will probably grow on me. AA's? With the exception of the tail, never.

VC10er · Sun May 26, 2019 12:31 pm

adambrau wrote:
Ironically United and Air France have shared several common structural deficiencies over the years.

Longstanding lack of trust between management and the rank and file.

A high rate of management turnover at both leading to a lack of a longterm vision implementation on management's part. Air France PR's machine is a world of strength to it's own - United learned anything and everything about sophistication from Pan Am and for many reasons United never took it seriously.

United suffered through a very painful and costly merger with Continental, or the other way around, and customers fled.

Air France's upper management has been prevented from developing a more robust operational vision because of longterm political interference and strong union solidarity, which to a lesser degree United has faced too whether it was a pilot slowdown or a much longer sense of general company malaise that I'm not even sure has been significantly reduced in 20 years .

United been through periods where operational reliability lagged it's main competitors.

I will admit AF still has been lazy about getting rid of angled lay flats in Air France Business cabins on the 388's, two of which come into JFK everyday. There are soon to only be 5 left with the other 5 being withdrawn shortly. So be fair, UA installed lay-flat seats on all it's int'l wide bodies and 757's many years ago.

I don't even think UA and AF are true competitors and ignore each other within the varying degrees their alliance and JV's allow them.

The point I was trying to (likely poorly)make about AF, despite it's shortcomings, is the following. AF announced it was going to refresh it's corporate livery and with little advance fuss it did exactly that and (subjectively) very tastefully IMHO. It was a subtly brilliant evolution of a timeless brand that still looks fresh, French, and sexy. Apart from branding elements and a strictly disciplined approach to it's brand management, AF keeps strengthening it with small touches:

-free Champagne served on all economy long haul.
-Better food on board.
-An 80 page guide on how staff are to present themselves publicly in uniform, grooming standards, etc.
-Attitudes may be a little snootier but flight attendants work their butts off and are happy to provide exceptional service.
-Ground staff and flight crew reinforce the glamour of AF history (both the gents and the ladies) because they are supported by marketing, advertising and branding tools which work in step to shape and strongly promote the livery as being one of France's best brand ambassadors'.
-Of course AF occasionally strike which is quintessentially French I suppose. Ben Smith from Air Canada seems to be making some positive outreaches to the various worker gouges .

I am not arguing with you (in fact quite the opposite I very much enjoy reading your posts). It surprised me a bit to hear someone who has worked in branding and corporate design for a big part of your career - your remark that AF's last brand refresh was hardly memorable. For some reason the opposite rings true and confirms to me that Air France branding/identity is not in question to it's stakeholders. Their YouTube channel has several videos, TV ads and in-flight safety demos with are clean fun, sexy, serious and ethereal in nature.

I suspect we both feel disappointed by United's new livery. And can have different reasons for the fact but sadly we know we're stuck with it for at least ten years from the time it first appeared until the last day it flies off to the scrapyard. United (and with the Continental merger) have had many brand liveries since the mid 90's - some really great, some half decent, and now IMHO the worst. And unfortunately it stacks up as perfectly as the pmUA/CO route authorities complimentarily dovetailed the world. The poisonous atmosphere the merger of two conflicted corporate visions nearly resulted in death, a glaring lack of operational competence and promotion of a cultural agent orange we live with today.

There is no genuine pride at United. There is no vision. And this new livery shows me that people are spending more time in the Willis Tower counting there stock options. Air France, in that respect, is a totally different if not perfect animal.

I don't love AirFrance - I haven't flown them in years and infrequently over decades. But AF does understand the importance of their global brand (France). What AF expends on their stylish understated logo/brand evolution, liveries, marketing and advertising, and insistence on at least attempting to provide a very high level of inflight customer experience, it is very telling to me how United's new livery got final sign off.

Do we disagree that much?

Do we disagree? NO! We are simply conversing about branding in the aviation sector! As I believe I said, but want to reinforce, everyone’s opinion must be respected and I respect yours even if it is different than mine. I totally respect your high regard for the AF refresh. My only point was that the average French citizen and the customers from other countries of origin who fly them, would, in my professional opinion not really notice it or care much. I’ve spent the better part of 35 years redesigning famous brands (or what we call “mature brands” vs NEW brands) and you would be truly blown away at how little people pay attention to branding or the design they have seen their whole lives and how much change it would take to get them to notice, AND if they do notice, will have any impact or move their well established opinions.

(Are you American?) I have participated in research with average consumers. Pretend example: If Kellogg’s came to us and said “we are just as natural as these new small brands but consumers don’t believe it as they have lost trust in big companies”- So we make design changes to the box (say 20%) to the GIANT rooster Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, make it more realistic vs graphic, add a farm scene etc to communicate that it’s actually more natural than processed, and we show it to 60 consumers who have bought Kellogg’s Corn Flakes at least once in the past month, and eaten it since childhood, 2/3 of them would probably say “something is different but I can’t put my finger on it?”- We would continue making changes until we consistently got feedback that the client would hope to hear “it looks more natural and healthy” and it could require more than 20% change to get there, but then you risk backlash from changing an iconic American brand. So, in a nutshell: people don’t pay as close attention as you do.

AA was a big noticeable change: but mostly the tail, maybe the removal of the red, white & blue stripes. BUT WE NOTICE EVERYTHING, because we are aviation enthusiasts, and because we can be so emotional about it, what is a big deal to us is not so much a big deal to others. My best friend absolutely cannot understand why United starting to fly to Cape Town is exciting to me? Or my crazy obsession with flying on a 787-10.

As for everything you listed in bullet points: that’s not “branding” - that is brand behavior that impacts the AF experience and the AF brand. Brand is different than Branding. One reason I respect Singapore so much is that they know not to fundamentally change the branding, because people want to know that Singapore doesn’t change; it’s considered the BEST and most luxurious by most.

I do think we disagree in one or two ways. United does have a vision and it’s crystal clear to me. They want to be the best choice for road warriors and the emphasis, effort and investment in Polaris is astonishing. Neither legacy UA or CO would have created the Polaris Lounge to be as luxurious and comfortable as it is, neither would have used as much real estate of a wide body aircraft for Polaris/PE. They know their hubs are all amongst the biggest business cities in the USA and their route map speaks for itself. It’s why I’m not in love with the new livery- I was hoping for something sophisticated and it looks like an average mid tier livery. Perhaps not as dowdy as the gold, not as tasteful (to me) as I hoped. The large UNITED is not bad, at least it projects some bold pride vs shrinking away from its past negative perceptions.

Last Wednesday I went to a GS cocktail party downtown, on the Hudson under all the financial mega skyscrapers. Some big execs were there and spoke. No presentations, but they did speak from the heart. They made no bones about their plans, they plan to matter BIG TIME in NYC, and said business community engagement is critical and to expect a lot more events...and, its true EWR is much closer for the booming NYC financial district.

I’ll close with this, everything UA has planned for Gay Pride month is pretty darn bold! I know it’s all business, but UA certainly is not going the safe corporate way! Drag brunches at EWR!

Have an awesome Memorial Day weekend
R

Adam

unitedewr737 · Sun May 26, 2019 12:49 pm

Check this out, I've been checking for a while but they are finally up. Boeing makes 3D computer models of each airline livery on each plane that their customers have and that they still sell. They finally updated the United livery, so you can now see what it looks like on the 777, 787, 737, and 737max. You can also move it around to see each angle.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/custo ... s/#/737max

splitterz · Sun May 26, 2019 2:13 pm

Is there anywhere you can buy a model with the new livery?

Speedalive · Sun May 26, 2019 2:55 pm

unitedewr737 wrote:
Check this out, I've been checking for a while but they are finally up. Boeing makes 3D computer models of each airline livery on each plane that their customers have and that they still sell. They finally updated the United livery, so you can now see what it looks like on the 777, 787, 737, and 737max. You can also move it around to see each angle.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/custo ... s/#/737max

Looks insanely sharp on the 77W!

VC10er · Mon May 27, 2019 10:45 pm

This opinion is totally subjective (not professional)

I really liked the original wave a lot on the first 787. It worked hard to add something fresh to the old livery.

Now, I don’t like it at all! Although as it stretches across a long WB, it feels less prominent than the 737. Yet, all I want to do is make it straight! I think it would have been more integrated with everything else, especially the new large branding.

The new livery does look much better on the 77W and 787-10 (is that a 10?) than on a short bird. And I can’t help but try and imagine a 748, with the big branding and new tail, but the wave I bet would really fight the hump of a 748.

I am CERTAIN that Oscar got to see a real 3D model of a 787 or 77W before sign off. Someone, somewhere had a few models worth a fortune on eBay!

xxcr · Mon May 27, 2019 11:17 pm

Speedalive wrote:
unitedewr737 wrote:
Check this out, I've been checking for a while but they are finally up. Boeing makes 3D computer models of each airline livery on each plane that their customers have and that they still sell. They finally updated the United livery, so you can now see what it looks like on the 777, 787, 737, and 737max. You can also move it around to see each angle.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/custo ... s/#/737max

Looks insanely sharp on the 77W!

I agree!

the new livery looks stunning on a widebody. its looks whatever on the 788/789....maybe im just used to seeing the current livery with the modified cheatline. Im waiting for united to paint the 752 and the 77W.

Sooner787 · Tue May 28, 2019 12:32 am

splitterz wrote:
Is there anywhere you can buy a model with the new livery?

I'm sure Geminjets , Hogan Wings and others are already at work on their models.

I'm betting it'll be fall before we see the pre-sale notices appearing on Ebay and such ,
just in time for Christmas shopping

Beedo46 · Wed May 29, 2019 2:29 am

ozark1 wrote:
I think the UA redo is so so. 1) I do not like billboard lettering. I think it is tacky....if AA had gone with a dark shade of blue instead of grey for AMERICAN, it would have improved the look. It's a tolerable change for UA because it's still blue. 2) I think the wavy cheatline is tacky. I'm not sure what could replace it..either a straight line or none. 3) Like AA, I think the best feature is the tail. 4) Really like the blue engines and winglets. So in the end, it's a more tolerable, more subtle change than what AA did. Still, these days, i'm not blown away by any airline change. The exception is the Etihad tail which I think is stunning. I'm just glad I was around when there was so much more class. The aluminum AA, the beautiful UA gray/blue livery with UNITED AIRLINES spelled out, and the other one they had with white top, shades lines of blue at the bottom and the tulip on the tail. The colorful Braniff. The distinguished solid red NW tail. So for this day and time, everything is a billboard and I like UA's look much more than AA's, who took a distinguished eagle and made it look like it should go on the side of a bus (but then I guess planes are just flying buses now!). I know UA is improving, and this was the correct, subtle change to make. Never cared for the gold, so in the billboard era, they did some tolerable adjustments. And as others have said, I haven't seen it except in pictures, so it will probably grow on me. AA's? With the exception of the tail, never.

I miss the variety of schemes and aircraft types (like we used to have in Atlanta). Southern blue and white, Ozark green, Allegheny red. I would like to see some of the major carriers put Airlines (or Air Lines, in the case of Delta) back on the planes. I remember really liking the 1st Republic scheme after the merger. I think I'd be okay if there were no flying billboards promoting everything under the sun.

Like with AA, I'll save judgement until I've seen the new UA scheme in person.

chicawgo · Wed May 29, 2019 6:15 am

Lucky me I caught her at ORD. Not bad

I’m not a huge fan of the new livery but I actually think it looks better on the smaller birds. The Boeing render of the 77W looks horrendous. There’s absolutely no cohesion between any of the parts and they’re so far removed from each other. It looks like the titles, the tail and the line were constructed completely independently. I really do think just getting rid of the grey bottom would make a big improvement.

chicawgo · Wed May 29, 2019 7:44 pm

chicawgo wrote:

Lucky me I caught her at ORD. Not bad

I’m not a huge fan of the new livery but I actually think it looks better on the smaller birds. The Boeing render of the 77W looks horrendous. There’s absolutely no cohesion between any of the parts and they’re so far removed from each other. It looks like the titles, the tail and the line were constructed completely independently. I really do think just getting rid of the grey bottom would make a big improvement.

https://ibb.co/b3S2zM9

Here's the link. Image doesn't seem to be showing.

TUSPHX · Wed May 29, 2019 8:20 pm

unitedewr737 wrote:
Check this out, I've been checking for a while but they are finally up. Boeing makes 3D computer models of each airline livery on each plane that their customers have and that they still sell. They finally updated the United livery, so you can now see what it looks like on the 777, 787, 737, and 737max. You can also move it around to see each angle.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/custo ... s/#/737max

Man that 787 looks real great. Can’t wait for the real thing!!!

CLEguy · Wed May 29, 2019 10:20 pm

Error

dmstorm22 · Fri May 31, 2019 9:11 pm

The June hemispheres mag has the fleet page with the new livery. They definitely look better on the widebodies

jworks158 · Sat Jun 01, 2019 8:20 pm

dmstorm22 wrote:
The June hemispheres mag has the fleet page with the new livery. They definitely look better on the widebodies

I composed a tweet with the images from the new hemispheres magazine. It appears there is a rendering issue within their website, so sorry for the image quality.

The clearest image appears to be the CRJ series along with the ERJ. Personally I like the livery on the ERJ series the best.

Link:https://twitter.com/theOrangetechie/status/1134916250591735808

strfyr51 · Sat Jun 01, 2019 9:26 pm

adambrau wrote:
Ironically United and Air France have shared several common structural deficiencies over the years.

Longstanding lack of trust between management and the rank and file.

A high rate of management turnover at both leading to a lack of a longterm vision implementation on management's part. Air France PR's machine is a world of strength to it's own - United learned anything and everything about sophistication from Pan Am and for many reasons United never took it seriously.

United suffered through a very painful and costly merger with Continental, or the other way around, and customers fled.

Air France's upper management has been prevented from developing a more robust operational vision because of longterm political interference and strong union solidarity, which to a lesser degree United has faced too whether it was a pilot slowdown or a much longer sense of general company malaise that I'm not even sure has been significantly reduced in 20 years .

United been through periods where operational reliability lagged it's main competitors.

I will admit AF still has been lazy about getting rid of angled lay flats in Air France Business cabins on the 388's, two of which come into JFK everyday. There are soon to only be 5 left with the other 5 being withdrawn shortly. So be fair, UA installed lay-flat seats on all it's int'l wide bodies and 757's many years ago.

I don't even think UA and AF are true competitors and ignore each other within the varying degrees their alliance and JV's allow them.

The point I was trying to (likely poorly)make about AF, despite it's shortcomings, is the following. AF announced it was going to refresh it's corporate livery and with little advance fuss it did exactly that and (subjectively) very tastefully IMHO. It was a subtly brilliant evolution of a timeless brand that still looks fresh, French, and sexy. Apart from branding elements and a strictly disciplined approach to it's brand management, AF keeps strengthening it with small touches:

-free Champagne served on all economy long haul.
-Better food on board.
-An 80 page guide on how staff are to present themselves publicly in uniform, grooming standards, etc.
-Attitudes may be a little snootier but flight attendants work their butts off and are happy to provide exceptional service.
-Ground staff and flight crew reinforce the glamour of AF history (both the gents and the ladies) because they are supported by marketing, advertising and branding tools which work in step to shape and strongly promote the livery as being one of France's best brand ambassadors'.
-Of course AF occasionally strike which is quintessentially French I suppose. Ben Smith from Air Canada seems to be making some positive outreaches to the various worker gouges .

I am not arguing with you (in fact quite the opposite I very much enjoy reading your posts). It surprised me a bit to hear someone who has worked in branding and corporate design for a big part of your career - your remark that AF's last brand refresh was hardly memorable. For some reason the opposite rings true and confirms to me that Air France branding/identity is not in question to it's stakeholders. Their YouTube channel has several videos, TV ads and in-flight safety demos with are clean fun, sexy, serious and ethereal in nature.

I suspect we both feel disappointed by United's new livery. And can have different reasons for the fact but sadly we know we're stuck with it for at least ten years from the time it first appeared until the last day it flies off to the scrapyard. United (and with the Continental merger) have had many brand liveries since the mid 90's - some really great, some half decent, and now IMHO the worst. And unfortunately it stacks up as perfectly as the pmUA/CO route authorities complimentarily dovetailed the world. The poisonous atmosphere the merger of two conflicted corporate visions nearly resulted in death, a glaring lack of operational competence and promotion of a cultural agent orange we live with today.

There is no genuine pride at United. There is no vision. And this new livery shows me that people are spending more time in the Willis Tower counting there stock options. Air France, in that respect, is a totally different if not perfect animal.

I don't love AirFrance - I haven't flown them in years and infrequently over decades. But AF does understand the importance of their global brand (France). What AF expends on their stylish understated logo/brand evolution, liveries, marketing and advertising, and insistence on at least attempting to provide a very high level of inflight customer experience, it is very telling to me how United's new livery got final sign off.
I can aTTEDT
Do we disagree that much?

Adam

WHAT?!? Does a lousy Paint job have to REALLY do with Service or reliability OF Service?? United kept the globe so show where we were and where we're going. ONLY the service is going to show whether we'll get there, And? WE'RE Getting there!! The Profits are showing it! The Reliability is showing it.
That you have some Beef with United? Sure as Hell shows it. And if you or anybody Else doesn't want to fly United? WELL? Good for You!! There are other choices than to fly United and you should AVAIL yourselves to fly them. But then again I can say, YOU Haven't flown United recently Because the service is Great! I'm Not sure I like the full Planes, But I CAN SAY FOR SURE the service isn't any better on American, or Delta. And I've flown them BOTH recently as well.

adambrau · Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:53 am

Look we all have our options and I respect yours. And just because I have been GS for the last 4 consecutive years doesn't make me right. But I can assure you I am recently familiar with UA service standards

strfyr51 · Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:33 am

SheddingVortex wrote:
While better than the current, it's unfortunate they did not push the thinking further...for example, if you have a light blue and medium blue tail, why not incorporate more of that light blue on the rest of the fuselage to harmonize. For example, maybe use light blue as shadow on the UNITED titles, or some of that light blue instead of the gray.

I think they did it that way because it's easy to maintain. paint needs maintenance every so often and the yearly C check is where it might get touched up but to repaint the airplane is not possible. the paint now? Can be easily maintained except for that Waterline stripe because I can BET they do NOT have the paint color match to touch that stripe up.

Beedo46 · Sun Jun 09, 2019 3:32 am

jworks158 wrote:
dmstorm22 wrote:
The June hemispheres mag has the fleet page with the new livery. They definitely look better on the widebodies

I composed a tweet with the images from the new hemispheres magazine. It appears there is a rendering issue within their website, so sorry for the image quality.

The clearest image appears to be the CRJ series along with the ERJ. Personally I like the livery on the ERJ series the best.

Link:https://twitter.com/theOrangetechie/status/1134916250591735808

I'm thinking this might look good on the T-tails. Too bad T-tails are disappearing.

lindy field · Sun Jun 09, 2019 3:58 am

Am I the only person that thinks this paint scheme looks like a tennis shoe with the swoopy gray belly looking like the sole? These colors look terrible together.

DocLightning · Sun Jun 09, 2019 4:26 am

Am I correct in understanding that UA has only painted two aircraft in the new livery over a month after the unveiling?

Scarebus34 · Sun Jun 09, 2019 4:34 am

DocLightning wrote:
Am I correct in understanding that UA has only painted two aircraft in the new livery over a month after the unveiling?

As has been stated MANY times - the paint lines are closed for the summer. Re-paints will pick up again at the end of August.

Amwest2United · Sun Jun 09, 2019 4:34 am

DocLightning wrote:
Am I correct in understanding that UA has only painted two aircraft in the new livery over a month after the unveiling?

Yes, You are correct. With the 737-9 MAX issues, all paint lines were suspended until the fall. The new deliveries of the UAX E-175's for ExpressJet will start arriving later this month with the new livery, which is why they had to unveil it. I think the 787-10's and 777-300's that come in 4th Qtr will be in the new livery as well

questions · Sun Jun 09, 2019 4:57 am

xxcr wrote:
Speedalive wrote:
unitedewr737 wrote:
Check this out, I've been checking for a while but they are finally up. Boeing makes 3D computer models of each airline livery on each plane that their customers have and that they still sell. They finally updated the United livery, so you can now see what it looks like on the 777, 787, 737, and 737max. You can also move it around to see each angle.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/custo ... s/#/737max

Looks insanely sharp on the 77W!

I agree!

the new livery looks stunning on a widebody. its looks whatever on the 788/789....maybe im just used to seeing the current livery with the modified cheatline. Im waiting for united to paint the 752 and the 77W.

The 77W and 787 look good because the titling is in front of the wing/engine. Like Delta, it appears United is using a one size fits all titling but with the opposite effect. It fits wells on larger aircraft, i.e., better proportion to fuselage size; and is too large on smaller aircraft, i.e., it becomes the dominate feature of the livery. Regardless of which you like best, the size proportion should be consistent with the size of the aircraft.

VC10er · Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:08 pm

I think for most of “us” we tried to maintain a low expectation, while secretly hoping for something really fresh and fabulous.
Had they unveiled a fairly radical change (more revolution than evolution) the reaction would have been way more polarized than it is now. Very strong positives but with way more strong negative reactions. NOTHING can please everyone!
My initial reaction was more negative than I thought it would be. Personally I think a few opportunities to communicate “something” new and special have been missed.
However, with time, and seeing the livery in better environments than a hanger or parked outside has helped me like it a bit more, Eg; some of the air to air shots of the new livery in flight.
Smaller details have taken on a bigger role, like the gradient above the globe on the tail, the giant branding seems less imposing.
The TRUE strength (or not) will happen in real life on a 77W or 787. It will be interesting to see it on a 767 & 757- two very old and familiar aircraft and if it helps freshen them up as the winglets did a bit.
IMHO, even with the most amazing livery on a 737, it will still be a 737 first!
It would be great if Airbus did a 3D CAD of an A350 with the new United livery!

VC10er · Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:34 pm

The other “wait and see” (and something difficult to imagine) is: “IF” you are in a Polaris Lounge (EWR is a good example) which is very elegant (I don’t think many would disagree with that) and you look out the giant wall of glass at many 777s, 787s & 767s parked at the gates, many tails of various sizes, and every 5 or 10 minutes see a 777 taxi across...will this NEW livery feel consistent, sending the same signals, with the very classy lounge you’re in?
My fear is NOT. My fear is the Polaris Lounge will feel much more premium and not connected to the many bold and bight blue aircraft outside the window. And with UA having such large Polaris cabins, the new livery looks less vs more premium (I don’t know?) which is why I feel a Polaris star logo small in the space above the globe on ONLY international WB’s with Polaris could be a nice detail.

jworks158 · Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:18 pm

What do you think of the E175 in full colors? https://www.airliners.net/photo/United-E ... LL/5560595

hOMSaR · Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:10 pm

jworks158 wrote:
What do you think of the E175 in full colors? https://www.airliners.net/photo/United- ... LL/5560595

Looks fine, except that the "EXPRESS" titles are very low contrast. Maybe that was the goal, to de-emphasize the express?

FlyHossD · Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:17 pm

AirCalSNA wrote:
I thought it looked passable when it was presented in the hangar. In the real world it is not a good look. UA blew it ... again.

I saw it at ORD recently and thought it was better in person than the photos. So I was somewhat dubious at first - didn't like it, but didn't hate it either - and I'm a bit more positive about the revised scheme now that I've seen it.

N649DL · Tue Jun 11, 2019 10:34 pm

TUSPHX wrote:
unitedewr737 wrote:
Check this out, I've been checking for a while but they are finally up. Boeing makes 3D computer models of each airline livery on each plane that their customers have and that they still sell. They finally updated the United livery, so you can now see what it looks like on the 777, 787, 737, and 737max. You can also move it around to see each angle.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/custo ... s/#/737max

Man that 787 looks real great. Can’t wait for the real thing!!!

Widebodies definitely look a lot better in the new scheme than the 738. The paint job just looks awkward on it, partly because I think the Globe logo is too big for the tail.

jworks158 wrote:
What do you think of the E175 in full colors? https://www.airliners.net/photo/United- ... LL/5560595

Ew, that's the worst I've seen yet. The "EXPRESS" is barely readable and the bottom really makes it look like it's an AS aircraft.

coleblue11 · Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:05 pm

Personally I think it looks great. The Express is a bit light though.

RyanairGuru · Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:14 pm

The barely readible Express titles are almost certainly deliberate as they don't want you to know that you aren't flying United...

...well at least not until something goes wrong and then of course it is all [Republic/SkyWest/ExpressJet/etc] fault.

VC10er · Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:15 pm

I personally think the EXPRESS in this shot is a victim of the photo, I think sun glare is hitting it and is disappearing due to glare- I think

SyracuseAvGeek · Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:44 pm

The first 737max in the new United livery is now out of the shop, I got pictures of it. It’s not a great picture as I took a photo of the camera screen, I wanted to make sure I was the first to post it. I will make sure to upload a better version tonight, but here it is for now...

https://twitter.com/gerardiaviation/sta ... 5851585536

AVENSAB727 · Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:01 pm

SyracuseAvGeek wrote:
The first 737max in the new United livery is now out of the shop, I got pictures of it. It’s not a great picture as I took a photo of the camera screen, I wanted to make sure I was the first to post it. I will make sure to upload a better version tonight, but here it is for now...

https://twitter.com/gerardiaviation/sta ... 5851585536

Looks the the 787 wavy line is a lighter shade of blue?

timf · Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:08 pm

AVENSAB727 wrote:
Looks the the 787 wavy line is a lighter shade of blue?

They definitely used the same "United Blue" shade as the titles instead of the proper "Rhapsody Blue". I wonder if this was a mistake or intentional change to reduce the number of colors used.

N649DL · Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:30 pm

I took another look at the E175 after the post "glare" comment. It looks better upon a second look, mainly for the tail compared to the 738.

This is one color scheme where I look at it and it from different angles based on the dimensions and go back and fourth on how I feel about it. Sort of like DL's "Wavy Gravy" scheme or even the recent AA livery by comparison.

It's not an aspiring paint scheme but it's certainly more interesting to look at than the former. I'm wishing to make it's debut soon on a 777 or 757. The 738 was the wrong choice for the release scheme. It just doesn't fit the aircraft in terms of sizing.

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