Words by Mark Tungate
Illustration by Terence Eduarte
Is it possible to redesign travel? As somebody who frequently finds himself on planes – and, naturally, in airport departure lounges – this was one of the questions I was most keen to answer when I began working on my forthcoming book, The Escape Industry, a history of the brands that built the travel business.
Unless you’re lucky enough to constantly fly business or first class, air travel is a numbing and frequently miserable experience. Innovation is limited as airlines focus on filling seats and passengers insist on cheap flights, thus driving down quality. If you look for airlines that have placed a genuine emphasis on design, the list gets pretty short after Braniff Airways (“the end of the plain plane,”) Pan Am, Virgin Atlantic and, arguably, EasyJet.
Of those, Braniff was a short-lived 1960s affair and Pan Am, while it had a long and glorious history, is no longer with us.
As I mention in my book, in late 2015 the design company Teague proposed a disruptive new airline named Poppi, which would do for air travel what Uber had done for ground transportation. The problem was that Teague’s creation was entirely fictional.
This was a shame, because Poppi was full of good ideas, starting with its mobile app, with which you could book tickets and choose your seat. Aboard the plane, overhead bins had been replaced by slim compartments with room only for coats and laptops. That’s because your luggage had been whisked away before you left home, although it was fitted with an RFID tag that enabled you to track it with your app.
Best of all, those horrid middle seats were now open to sponsorship by brands, which could offer gifts and perks to passengers who chose to sit in them. Vending machines replaced beverage carts; movie buffs could book a seat in “cinema class,” which featured bigger screens and blacked-out lighting.
Even if an airline adopted just one of these initiatives, it would make flying more fun. Actually, a non-airline start-up has already made one of them a reality: trackable luggage.
Based in Buenos Aires, Bluesmart makes a “connected” carry-on suitcase, with larger versions to follow soon. The Bluesmart case links to an app that enables the user to track it via GPS and check its weight. It automatically locks if you walk too far away. And when you walk back again you can use it to charge your devices while you’re waiting at the gate.
Design-wise, the sleek case with blue wheels and handle makes a statement. “It’s a conversation starter,” says Bluesmart co-founder Alejo Verlini. “Our customers love other telling people about it, because what they’re actually saying is, ‘I’m a modern traveller – so I’m investing in the future of travel.’”
As the bag’s designer, Ale Sarra, points out: “Until recently the last big innovation in luggage was when they stuck wheels on it.”
The Bluesmart is no gimmick: sports stars like runner Hussein Bolt and skateboarder Tony Hawk already have one, and Hawk even tweeted a jokey film of himself chasing a Bluesmart suitcase on his skateboard. So far, the start-up has shipped 40,000 units to customers all over the world.
So it’s goodbye to lost luggage – but what about uncivilized airports? For all their myriad shopping and dining experiences, most of them lack an iota of warmth and humanity. If you’re ever in London, compare the elegant red-brick Victorian grandeur of St. Pancras station – hub of the Eurostar train link to Paris – with the visual cacophony of Heathrow or Gatwick airports.
It’s fair to say that airport architects face monumental security and ergonomic challenges, but that does not mean the end result has to be a grab-bag of logos, posters, signs and screens, all bewildering and unnerving even if you don’t have jet lag.
A step in the right direction can be seen at the two Paris airports – Roissy Charles de Gaulle and Orly – which were given a 12 million euro rebranding last year. The results include cheerful, comprehensible signage, red white and blue touches throughout (a nod to the French flag) and new logo that is a graphic twist on the Eiffel Tower. Passengers were also promised new shuttle buses with on board Wi-Fi and a reduced waiting time at security of ten minutes.
All this was backed up by an advertising campaign, notably an online video that showed the airport as a space where stories – and of course romances, because this is Paris – occur. As a couple embrace at the end, the screen shows the slogan: ‘Paris vous aime’ – Paris loves you. As I say in my book, the campaign attempted to do something that might seem impossible: give an airport a soul.
About the Author:
Mark Tungate is a British journalist based in Paris. He is editorial director of the Epica Awards, the only global creative awards judged by the specialist press. Mark is the author of six books about branding and marketing, including the recent Branded Beauty: How Marketing Changed the Way We Look.
This article was published in the adobo magazine Design 2017 issue.
