The journey of the BIAL brand mark

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'.

A Brand New Airport

While I was still deliberating joining R+K, Sujata Keshavan (R+K | Brand Union MD) mentioned to me that we might be doing the Bangalore International Airport Identity. It was a fantastic piece of news I thought - after all you don't get to do an Airport identity every other day. Its a once in a career opportunity - or as it was to prove with my first year at The Brand Union - twice in a year one. My first interaction with the Bangalore Airport (the old one along Airpot Road en route to Whitefield) was a complete disappointment. It was a chaotic, overcrowded terminal - the outside was no more reassuring - neither was the traffic on the arterial roads. My memories of Bangalore were of a city in the ago when the Airport was pretty much on the outer fringes. Over a period of time as I began to accept the city as it was - I began to find other facets. The flowers on my windscreen, a number of roads where the trees criss-crossed and hid the skies, the changing colours in the misdt of greens - bright orange, flaming reds, soft lilacs, pinks and whites.

We had already started the work on the Airport logo by then, emphasizing that the identity must connect the airort to the city, just as the airport would connect the city to the world outside. A number of routes were explored, hundreds of sketches revised, redrawn and reviewed. The crossroads of in our approach ws at the juncture of the old and the new. Should we look at a youthful, vibrant Bangalore - India's Silicon Valley or the timeless city of mild weather and gardens?

We opted for the latter, supported by the views of Bangaloreans both young and old, the ones that would frequent the new Airport and the ones who would possibly watch from a distance, until someday they to were passengers. Our choice was ratified by a number of articles in media (around end of 2007), questioning the good that sudden implantation of western MNCs had bought to cities like Bangalore - questioning if all citizens of the new Silicon Valley were indeed happy on the newly acquired status. The answer, the articles suggested, were a clear negation.

The Garden city route was the preferred one, after all Bangalore was better known for its various parks and gardens (and lakes or kere) than its monuments (some of them fairly recent in comparison to its Parks). The current logo, in different hues, made it to the shortlist. And then to the next round and the one after. My colleagues changed the colours, refined the forms and redefined the transparency. The clients voted overwhelmingly for this option (they could have retained an existing marque but didn't). It was a journey of over 7 months, a journey marked by learning and discovery - of losing and finidng a city that many of us now call home.

The graceful, soft forms hints at the act of air travel - of converging and again of flying outwards. The colours are vibrant, the overlap emphasizes the rich tapestry that is a multi-cultural cosmopolitan city such as Bangalore. The colours of the logo are meant reflect the natural environs - the bright hues of the flowers, the softer teal green that represents both water and greens - leaves and grass. The symbol hovers above the typography like a hummingbird in perfect balance. The decision to put in the words Bengaluru instead of Bangalore was in a sense, to pay tribute to its founding fathers - to uncover its roots and be proud of it, whilst being contemporary, responsive and modern in every other aspect. The abridged BLR still holds as good.

Seen against a number of Airport logos that with the city-connect the Bangalore Airport logo is fresh and distinctive - its colours typically Indian - a free, festive spirit, reflecting the spirit of Bangalore.