Looking through my collection of hard-to-decipher file names, I came across this interesting little travelogue (below) - albeit in a visual form. The journey of the BIAL mark - from a sketch on the back of an envelope to a recognised marque. A good companion to my earlier rambling on the BIAL identity—therefore this post.
Most journeys for a brand creation or transformation are often seen one fine morning in the local newspaper or on blogs frequented by brandistas like me and my colleagues, or on one those hate-forums of designers that feel that they could have added far more worth and value.
After all design and branding are a profession that are subject to extremes of subjectivism and open to criticism of the n-th degree. The objectivity that one can bring to the subject is the context (which in case of this particular logo was centred around an airport for the city of bangalore); production issues/constraints and long term strategic intent (in this case BIA wanted to get connect better with the city - else they already had a logo). Most skirt around the third issue conveniently - but it is often the most critical trigger for a brand change. BIA ceo Albert Brunner and his team took a strategic decision of opting for a fresh new mark instead of the corporate mark (with multiple arrows) which had no geographical connect.
As the little road map above shows - many objective decisions shaped the final identity, as did several subjective opinions too. Several worth logos made it to the quarter-finals and sem-finals. Some dropped due to subjective preferences and many due to a lack of fit with strategic intent. My European biased colour palette was finally injected with a riot of tropical hues by my many wonderful colleagues, the dots were dropped, the type became stronger, the forms became sharper - perfectly fit for production, legibility and readability. The pleasing part was the partnership that was forged between the client, stakeholders and consultant teams to define what was right and relevant for the airport brand - not was was 'good' or what 'I like' or what 'my son or grandchild loves'.
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