The times of flying simply to maneuver from level A to level B are over. Delta has simply formally declared that we’re getting into the period of the “life-style airline.”
These days, choosing a flight now not means merely selecting an airline to fly with. It’s a multistep course of that entails navigating a sea of ancillary charges, wading via seating charts, and choosing add-ons like further legroom. Chopping via that noise requires manufacturers to go to further lengths to attract in prospects. For Delta, which means repositioning itself as not only a type of transport, but additionally a luxurious, customized expertise.
The model simply refreshed its core id for the primary time since 2008 to embody that shift. In collaboration with the design agency DixonBaxi, Delta is rolling out a refresh that features new model colours, movement components, and typography to look as “extra than simply an airline,” based on Libby Tsoi, design director at DixonBaxi.
Air journey will get a chaotic rebrand
The panorama of air journey has been in a serious state of flux over the previous a number of years, as the highest airline manufacturers within the U.S. chase greater backside strains via an more and more complicated charge system. According to a Senate report released late last year, between 2018 and 2023, the airways American, Delta, United, Spirit, and Frontier collectively raked in $12.4 billion in income from ancillary fees like advanced seat assignments and carry-on bags.
In 2024 alone, Spirit Airways moved farther from its origins as a low-budget provider by implementing a new seat class with extra add-ons, whereas Southwest deserted its iconic “baggage fly free” and open seating policies altogether in favor of a tiered pricing system. This July, Delta announced that it has begun using AI to institute dynamic pricing primarily based on components like seat availability, present information, climate circumstances, and even fluctuating oil costs.
As manufacturers proceed to ratchet up their further add-ons, they’re beginning to look an increasing number of comparable. Which means the strain to supply the following finest perk or expertise is mounting throughout the board.
Thus far, Delta’s reply to this conundrum has been to start out branding its journey as a premium expertise, relatively than only a type of transportation. The model is at present within the means of redesigning all of its planes’ interiors for a extra luxe really feel, including by installing new seat fabrics, mood lighting, and a swanky color palette. For its most high-paying ticket holders, it’s additionally begun rolling out a collection of ultra-opulent airport lounges.
In 2024, premium ticket choices accounted for $5.2 billion out of Delta’s complete $15.6 billion income. Delta CEO Ed Bastian famous in the company’s full-year earnings report that he anticipated customers to more and more search “the premium merchandise and experiences that Delta offers.” A technique the corporate is supporting that purpose is by adopting a extra “premium” model id.
Is that this the start of the ‘life-style airline’ period?
Delta’s imaginative and prescient with this model refresh was “daring,” Tsoi says. The model’s finish purpose was “to face shoulder to shoulder with the world’s most iconic life-style manufacturers.”
Way of life branding describes a sort of branding that expands a client’s model affiliation past an precise product to a way of life, primarily based on that model’s core values. It’s develop into one thing of a buzzword throughout classes in current months, with names like Tesla, Erewhon, and Sweetgreen all striving for “life-style” standing in some capability.
“Even our earliest artistic campfires weren’t stuffed with plane, however with life-style imagery—folks, moments, tales,” Tsoi says. “This shift in mindset formed all the pieces: the tone, the aesthetic, the system. We introduced an editorial sensibility to the visible language, framing Delta not simply as a provider of individuals, however as a curator of expertise.”
To that finish, Delta’s up to date look has a considerably much less company really feel. The life-style images has been pulled out of the airport or airplane altogether, exhibiting Delta passengers in bustling cities and mountain vistas. The model’s emblem and wordmark stay bodily unchanged, however DixonBaxi reimagined the traditional Delta image as a 3D object, setting tips round how it may be used to carry movement into Delta’s visible id.
Alongside the sort foundry Pangram Pangram, DixonBaxi additionally developed two new bespoke typefaces: Delta Sans and Delta Serif. Delta Serif, which options sculpted terminals “drawn instantly from the angled geometry of the Delta icon,” can be utilized in a skinny weight that may finally lend an artsier really feel to Delta’s web site, boarding passes, and advert campaigns.
And, whereas pink and blue will stay core Delta colours, the total palette has been expanded to incorporate extra emotive accent hues like sky blue, mint inexperienced, and neon pink.
The brand new look began rolling out on Delta’s social channels over the previous few weeks, and can finally evolve to embody lounges, in-flight design, and out-of-home advert campaigns. Tsoi emphasizes that the hassle to reimagine Delta’s branding has solely simply gotten underway, and followers can count on additional updates within the coming months.
Given Delta’s standing as a number one participant within the business, it wouldn’t be a shock if its transfer to develop into a “life-style airline” units a brand new tone for the way different airways start model their very own flight experiences.
