Korean AirCopied

Korean Air introduced its red and blue taegeuk in 1984, and the mark lasted 41 years. In March 2025, after its acquisition of Asiana Airlines, it unveiled a new identity ahead of a two-year integration, aiming to compete on passenger experience with carriers like Singapore Airlines and JAL rather than on price.

The work is by Lippincott, which won a creative pitch four years earlier; most of the design came from its Hong Kong office, with strategy in Seoul. Lippincott's creative director said the old symbol had become known as the Pepsi logo, and the challenge was to reference national iconography without copying the flag, comparing it to British Airways' use of the Union Jack on its tailfins. The taegeuk was simplified into a single Korean Air Dark Blue, drawing on the flowing ribbons of Sangmo Nori, a Korean folk dance. The capital logotype has tapered terminals evoking calligraphic brush strokes, with Dalton Maag and the Korean foundry Sandoll Tium helping on type. On the fuselage, the name reads simply KOREAN.

Chairman Walter Cho said initial proposals from international designers had removed the taegeuk entirely, which he refused, and that the process took three years. He addressed criticism of losing the red and blue by pointing to global trends towards minimalism. Repainting about 250 aircraft from both airlines was expected to take up to four years.

The Korea Herald recorded concerns that losing the red and blue was unfortunate; Creative Bloq agreed the old mark felt reminiscent of Pepsi.

The Korea Herald caught the most revealing admission at the launch in Incheon. Walter Cho said the first proposals from international designers had dropped the taegeuk entirely, which he rejected because a flagship carrier could not lose it. Answering complaints that the red and blue had been flattened to a single deep blue, he pointed to global trends toward minimalism. He also framed the timing as cultural rather than cosmetic: the identity arrived ahead of the 2027 Asiana integration to set a shared vision, from an airline he wanted known for quality and safety rather than its new size.

Losing the red hurts. The two-tone taegeuk was unmistakably Korean, and a monochrome version reads as generic premium airline. But the brush-stroke wordmark is elegant, and dropping Air from the fuselage is a confident, flag-carrier move.