The Syrian Air Logo Redesign
This step-by-step guide process of the Syrian Airlines logo redesign was employed to translate requirements into symbols, combining national pride with contemporary design.
1. The Request: Syrian Air requested an update to its logo. The mission: honor its heritage while proclaiming a new era in Syrian aviation, modern, timeless, and noble.
2. The Purpose: This is not design work; it's a question of cultural duty. This is more than a logo for a national aviation authority, it is a national identity. So clarity begins by questioning:
1. What is "Syrian Air" to the people and the world? 2. What is the purpose?
Radiate dignity, renewal, and togetherness, not nostalgia alone.
dignity, renewal, and togetherness
3. Define the Brief Result: Logo update that merges heritage with modern sophistication. Limitations: Must work around the world, in English and Arabic, on planes and digital media. Success: An icon that commands respect in the air and at the gate.
4. Learning Framework in Action Structure:
Clarity → Curate → Create → Capture → Reflect
- Clarity: Researched Syrianair's brand history, uniforms, fleet, and font
- Curate: Referenced Swissair, Lufthansa, Emirates
- Create, doodle ideas: phoenix, arcs, calligraphy shapes, compass stars
- Capture: Documented iterations with rationale notes and moodboards
- Reflect: Picked literal vs. abstract balance, honoring heritage and future
5. Execution Steps
Used intense focus sessions (90 minutes, no scroll) to sketch and digitize
design process behind the Syrian Air logo, covering both its symbolic and typographic elements, along with guidelines using the golden ratio rectangle for its consistent application
Researched bilingual composition balance (Syria Air / السورية). Designed thematic moodboards:
1. Heritage
2. Modern Sky
3. National Unity
Conceptualized and refined two logo paths
6. Final Delivery
1. The phoenix takeoff pose as a body container of the abstract "السورية" letters in a phoenix's body.
2. The Horizon crescent with a true north star, above the phoenix head
Some applications Syrian Air Logo (Aircraft livery design, ground & cabin crew, cup, salt & paper envelope, wet wipes sachets, employee id tag card with lanyard)
7. Lesson Learned: Redesigning (developing) an old airline is not design, it's diplomacy. Symbols have feelings. Every curve, every color has meaning. Design with clarity. Champion focus. Construct with purpose. That's the theme of this "logbook" entry.
Final Thought:
You don't build legacies by accident. You build them with clarity, one purposeful decision at a time.
