London Luton Airport has big ambition
London Luton Airport is addressing its image problem with a new brand ahead of its £100m redevelopment programme.
The colourful new visual identity, by Ico Design, has already been implemented in parts of the airport’s interior, and will eventually be visible across wayfinding, signage and other touchpoints.
London Luton Airport is no doubt hoping to achieve a uniqueness that will help it rise to the same level as London’s better known airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick. Vivek Bhatia, creative director at Ico, says that Ico tried to avoid the hackneyed symbols that airports tend to fall back on such as the swoosh icon visible in London Luton’s old logo.
The new identity uses a Tetris-style ‘L’ shape made out of square blocks. The shape is versatile in that it can be used in any rotation and coloured to suit its purpose. The bright colour palette is supposedly inspired by the sky at different times in the day. Images inspired by European street photography will also be added to the new walkways.
Ico says that the concept for the branding was inspired by venues such as London’s St Pancras station, the Olympic Park and Westfield shopping centre; not just infrastructures but destinations in their own right.
Clive Condie, chairman of LLA, says, “The investment from our shareholders Aena and Ardian is proving to be transformational for LLA. Our ambition is to increase our capacity to 18 million passengers per year while putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. The combination of our talented executive team, led by our new CEO Nick Barton, with the commercial and operational expertise of our shareholders, gives us the perfect blend of knowledge and experience to achieve our aims.”
