CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/31/2016

The Vitra Book on Alexander Girard

In 1965 Alexander Girard reconceived the graphic and color design for Braniff International Airlines, letting himself be "guided by 'two primary and seemingly contradictory design principles: First, design in depth to ensure variety, interest, and lasting excitement. Second, strip beautiful shapes of nonessentials, to permit freest appreciation of beautiful form.' The conventional striped livery of passenger aircraft was dismissed by Girard as camouflage. Instead, he painted the entire fuselage of each Braniff fleet plane in one solid color, chosen from a coordinated palette of seven different hues: yellow, orange, turquoise, dark blue, light blue, ochre, and beige. The same color scheme was employed for the airport service vehicles and also provided a principal design element in the aircraft cabins. The airplane seats were covered with fabric from the furniture manufacturer Herman Miller in two different simple geometric patterns—checkerboard and stripes—in a total of 56 color combinations. Braniff promoted Girard’s design concept with the slogan 'The end of the plain plane.'”