Air Canada — Travel & Mobility

A refreshed experience for Canada’s national carrier

Mission

With a new, energetic president at the helm, Canada’s eponymous airline looked to us to help them become one of the world’s top 10 carriers – and live up to a national legacy of aviation. It all started with a question: what makes an airline Canadian?

Solution

Air Canada is an airline that proudly carries its nation’s flag on every journey. With this in mind, we recentred the brand around the spirit of Canada – one with efficiency, freshness, economy and a deep understanding of nature at the heart of its experience and design. This idea acted as the foundation for everything that followed: a visual identity and livery inspired by the colours of Canada’s landscape, finely curated menus and touchpoints focused on the exact needs of passengers, uniforms that evoked ideas of clean and sharp service, and an in-flight magazine – Navi – that reconnected readers with the magic of flight and Canada’s storied aviation history. The result was a new lease of life for a historic brand, a deeper connection to its local audience, and an improved offer for international fliers.

We went back to the core of what makes this brand and this country, and the relationship between the two, completely unique. 

To elevate Air Canada to the level they deserved, we knew we had to look beyond our brief for a design-led solution. It meant reshaping the entire Air Canada experience – placing Canada’s national identity and rich aviation history at its centre to create a renewed sense of pride.

What we did

  • Brand strategy
  • Experience design
  • Visual identity
  • Livery design
  • Tone of voice
  • Uniforms
  • Editorial content

“Air Canada’s new livery signals a pivotal inflection point in our 80-year history.”

Benjamin Smith
Ex-President, Airlines and Chief Operating Officer, Air Canada
Air Canada Navi