Scandinavian Airlines rebrand by Bold is stripped back and heavier on the blue

Design studio Bold has rebranded Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), with a comprehensive new corporate identity aimed at frequent travellers. Working with the existing logo, typography and brand colour, Bold has simplified and modernised the airline’s aesthetic, while adapting it to work better across digital platforms.

Bold had a tough brief, working with a long-established brand, which at the time of the original brief in 2014 was suffering declining sales and “a deteriorating reputation” it says, as well as “a lack of direction” in its visual identity. “Our brief was to provide a more coherent, premium and Scandinavian expression that would create a sense of community,” the team says. Based on extensive research, the rebrand focused its efforts on appealing to frequent travellers, who apparently represent 70% of the airline’s revenue.

One of the major changes Bold has made is introducing a blue-on-blue colour scheme, with a palette of five blues used together. This makes for an overall more sophisticated look, and visually ties in with newly commissioned photography by Erik Wåhlström, showing the gradated colours of Scandinavian skies from the air.

Across the identity, old-fashioned and unnecessary elements of the branding – including the box around the logo – have been stripped back, going towards its simpler style. The typography has been subtly adapted for easier readability on digital platforms, with two new weights added.

As part of the all-encompassing project, Bold produced a system for all layouts in graphic communication, including all advertising in print and digital, and the airline’s website. It produced a range of symbols and pictograms in keeping with the new identity, and replaced all brand photography with more contemporary landscape shots, all using a soft gradient of colour that also fit with the rebrand.

It also redesigned all the on-board food packaging, inspired by a cyanotype. As such the packaging depicts negative imprints of foodstuffs silhouetted in blue-and-white on blue, while other items use a gradient of those same colours.

The rebrand has even stretched to new livery on one of the SAS planes, featuring a sky gradient.