Alaska AirlinesCopied

Alaska Airlines had used a hand-drawn script for its name for decades, the whole of "Alaska Airlines" running together in one line with long, sharp strokes that its own newsroom calls the "icicle font." On 25 January 2016 the airline unveiled what its press release billed as its first major brand change in 25 years, created with the Seattle branding firm Hornall Anderson.

The new wordmark keeps the italic sweep but is bolder and cleaner, with only Alaska in script and Airlines set underneath in spaced capitals. "The clean lines and italics of our updated wordmark represent the performance and precision our customers have come to expect when they fly Alaska," said Sangita Woerner, the airline's vice president of marketing. She also stressed continuity: "Our refreshed brand really is an evolution, not a revolution, of Alaska Airlines."

The second big change was on the tail. The face of an Alaska Native man in a fur-trimmed parka, which the airline called the Eskimo and had flown since 1972, was too detailed for screens. The team "smoothed and simplified his features and expanded his ruff to include pops of color," named after places the airline flies: tropical green, and breeze, midnight, atlas and calm blues. Alaska consulted Alutiiq artists Perry Eaton and Alvin Amason. "[The changes are] subtle," said Amason.

Hornall Anderson creative director David Bates told Graphic Design USA that the bold wordmark "confidently signs off everything they do with the trusted Alaska name." The relaunch did hit one snag: Graphic Design USA reported that the campaign line "Meet our Eskimo" drew complaints of racial insensitivity on social media, and the airline changed it to "Meet the Eskimo."

On X the reception from aviation fans was mostly warm. "I absolutely love the new look for Alaska Airlines!" one wrote to Airways Magazine.