Spanair brand history

On January 27, the Spanish airline Spanair became one of the first European airlines this year to suspend its operations, followed by Hungary's Malév within a week, and perhaps more to come as debt-burdened governments withdraw support from loss-making airlines. To mark Spanair's demise, here's a summary of how the airline's corporate identity has changed through the years.

Spanair was formed in December 1986, and commenced flights in March 1988. The logo at the top of this page was probably the airline's first logo, a wavy orange-blue symbol and a Berling Bold wordmark. It was initially a charter airline, and the planes had a plain white livery with the symbol on the tailfin.
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Malév brand history

The end of a national airline means the end of a brand that has been a source of pride for a nation for well over a half century. The changing structure of the worldwide aviation market has seen the collapse of the likes of Sabena, Swissair, Olympic Airlines and Alitalia. Some brands were confined to history, others were carried over to a slimmer organisation formed to fill the hole left by the flag carrier.

Malév Hungarian Airlines, the Hungarian state-owned airline, is the latest flag carrier to meet this fate, as it abruptly ceased operations last week after two decades of economic struggles. Unless a plan to revive the airline is realised, this will likely mean the end of a brand that has been in operation since 1956. To mark this occasion, here's a short summary of Malév's corporate identity through its existence.
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Swiss Miss brand history

Swiss Miss is an American brand of cocoa mix powders and chocolate puddings. Having been with the American people for half a century, it is one those classic brands that many remember growing up with.

Thanks to the Internet, innovative companies and people willing to share their collections, we can get a good view of how the brand and its packaging has progressed through the years. A special thanks to Jason Liebig who has given me permission to use some images from his collection. If you want even more packaging nostalgia, you should visit his Flickr photostream.

Swiss Miss original logo, used from the 1960s until the mid-1980s.

The "instant cocoa mix" powder, which creates delicious hot cocoa by just adding water, was developed by Sanna Dairies in Wisconsin, who were also manufacturing instant dry milk. It was originally served on airlines. In the early 1960s, Sanna Dairies were packing the product under the name "Swiss Miss Instant Cocoa Mix" and selling it to grocers. The original packaging was developed with "old world" aestethics, with decorative flowers and an old calligraphy typeface for the logo. A newspaper article published in February 1963 explained it thusly:

"The chocolate flavor developed by Sanna Dairies is reminiscent of delicious Swiss milk chocolate... thus the name and the attractive "old world" design package."

The black-and-white image of a Swiss Miss package on the right is from a 1962 ad. It may well have been the very first Swiss Miss packaging design.
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The Tepco logo - a future target for satire?

A logo is usually the primary face a corporation. If said corporation does something bad, like destroying an ocean or institutionalizing accounting fraud, the logo will stand in satirists firing line. Do a search for "bp logo" or "enron logo" in Google Images, and you'll find Landor Associates' helios symbol drenched in oil or Paul Rand's slanted E giving you the middle finger. I wouldn't find it hard to believe that the images mocking Tony Hayward or Ken Lay are outnumbered by those that mock the logos of their respective corporation.

Because of the ongoing crisis in Fukushima, the management of Tokyo Electric Power Company, who owns the power plant, has faced criticism, although I am certainly not the person to judge whether or not they should be blaimed. If they should, their logo is an easy target for mockery.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, who also use the English abbrevation Tepco, has a logo made up of six circles, five smaller ones which form a T and a larger one which surrounds the two circles that make up the "stem" in the T.

For anyone with some time one their hands and a little creativity, it wouldn't be hard to turn it into a mushroom cloud. I have not yet found any satirical images with this logo. I don't know why, but perhaps the country has better things to do than mocking company logos at the moment.

I've understood that the Tepco logo was introduced in 1987 and that it was created by graphics professional Kazumasa Nagai (born 1929). It is a common sight on the streets of Tokyo. There's lots more to see and read about the corporate identity on the site of Nippon Design Center (in Japanese). (archive)