Customer Reviews

Airline: Identity, Design and Culture

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nobody has tried to undertake such an ambitious project from the totally unique viewpoint of design.

I'm an airline Captain, but the son of a graphic artist and an art historian. So it's doubly in the blood! I salivated when I heard of this book about airlines and the design/identity/graphics they've emblazoned on their unique place in transportation history.

I agree with the other reviewer that it was a bit scant on text and illustrations to a certain degree. That isn't to say that it lacks for them either. Mr. Lovegrove has chosen a rather minimalist approach to his presentation. Perhaps this is due to the fact if he had tried any other way the book would be 1000's of pages long. This is not a book about airplanes nor airlines and their history. I had to keep reminding myself of this fact as I read through my copy.

It is a unique attempt, through the eyes of an author who is a designer, to chronicle that element of the airlines. I commend him for this first effort. Full page photographs of stewardesses in past uniforms and unique aircraft paint schemes are accompanied by a brief textual explanation of each element. However, I was surprised that there wasn't more about airports and their design as the late 20th century has produced some monumental and creatively designed gateways (Denver, Schipol, Munich, Orlando, Hong Kong...).

If you appreciate the whole package of art/design/fashion/graphics as it relates to airlines, this book is a real treat. If you're looking strictly for airline photos, history, or airplanes, there are books that better address those subject areas.

For those of us who have spent thousands of hours in and traveled millions of miles on airplanes, take a look at Airline. It will turn that permanent scowl of jaded airline travel back into a playful grin (at least for a while). It's fascinating to see where the various features we take for granted came from - drink carts, flight attendant uniforms, airline company logos, the color schemes of the planes themselves. Fortunately, Lovegrove took an international perspective and not just a domestic (either UK or US) one. OK, so do I take the book on my next trip (AA BOS to LAX tonight)? Sure, and then when the plane is delayed (due to air traffic control the pilot will say) I'll lean back, smile and consider what it used to be like...

This book gives an interesting and innovative look into the ephemera of airline design and marketing over the years. It is a great coffee table/armchair indulgence read, not a serious analysis of the airline business. The book covers everything from design graphics on the plane, stewardess uniforms (some of them hilarious), interiors, catering and marketing techniques right through to designs of salt and pepper pots on board.

As a frequent flyer, I found the book to be most enjoyable, and and excellent digest of trends through the years.

Buy one for Xmas for anyone who has flown on or who is interested in air travel!!!

Lovegrove's excellent book covers everything that is kitsch and stylish about life at 40,000 feet - from stewardesses in mini-skirts and hot pants to the best and the worst of airline food - from the interior of Hugh Hefner's Love Bunny private jet to airline logos and posters of today and yesteryear. Buy it and wallow in the strange world of air travel. This is a must gift for anyone who has ever traveled by airplane.

If like me, you have a passion for airlines, that most people find somewhat weird, stop reading my review and go buy the book! This is nothing short of a great companion book, it goes everywhere with me, at home, the office, the morning commute, even the bath. The author has captured our ever chaging world through a perspective that I have never seen done so well. We all take flying to far away destinations for granted. For myself, each and everytine I board a Boeing, I cast my mind back to the first time I flew. Now I have something to trigger those memories of childhood for me. The paperback guides you through the changes that we have tended to forget. Looking in on the passage of time and style within an aircraft the reader can familierize with styles, fashions, colors and attitudes of those golden years, how we used to live, what shaped who we are today. We see how certain luxuries were traded off for volume, but how over time designers have always strived for some kind of balance. Keith Lovejoy has put together a wonderful, relaxing, comforting book that I really enjoy. This is no history project, but just a blast from the past. The photographs are great, a mix of black and white and bursts of technicolor makes each page exciting to turn. Go on, treat yourself, you will not be dissapointed.

A quick flick through the pages of Airline takes you 35,000 feet up and quite a few years back through gorgeous shots of style, style, style. Fashion, fuselage and food. Even the BEA open-beef sandwich with gherkin garnish has a Pucci twist.

A serious browse brings you closer to the 4711 smell of the cabins, the powerful jet propulsion and the trilling, high-class, first-class, chattering classes.

A snuggle down on the sofa with a good glass of cognac, your feet tucked under you and Airline laying in your lap provides you with the right stuff - the written stuff. Oozing from every word is Keith Lovegrove's wit, passion and delight in his observation of style in the air, through the ages. Read it and fly.

Who doesn't miss the "innocent days" of commercial airline travel? If you are even remotely interested in commercial flight, remember the days before the metal detectors, the Boeing 707 or simply enjoy a well designed book about fashion, food, design and airlines, this book is for you. I bought this book without hesitation and am 100% satisfied!

I was anxiously awaiting the release of this book. I was expecting a historical book on the evolution of airliner design and culture. What I got was a very pretty, well designed book with little substance. The trivial text is written as if for a kid in junior high school. There is just no depth to Lovegrove's discussion of the evolution of airline design. I was certainly expecting some details of what it was like flying from Britain in India back in the 1930's or crossing the Atlantic on a Stratocruiser. Many of the photos are slick promotional shots used by the airlines as marketing tools. They are interesting but I wanted more HISTORICAL photos of actual cabin interiors. Nonetheless, Lovegrove did include enough enticing photos to justify giving the book three stars. However, I cannot recommend it to a serious student of classic airliner lore. There is just very little substance to warrant spending 20 bucks on this book.

WHO DOESNT LOVE FLYING?
THE INDUSTRY HAS CHANGED SO MUCH OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, BUT IT IS STILL ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO BE IN THE AIRPORT AND IN THE SKY.
WORKING FOR AN AIRLINE FOR 8 YEARS AND STILL ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE OF IT. THIS BOOK WAS A PLEASURE READING AND LOOKING AT ALL OF THE WONDERFUL PHOTOS OF CHANGES OVER THE YEARS.
BOY DO I WISH I WAS AROUND BACK THEN TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ENJOY SOME OF THOSE WONDERFUL UNIFORMS AND TICKET COUNTERS. I LOVE ORANGE AND BROWN!!
HAVE FUN AND KEEP ON FLYING!

Lovegrove's excellent book covers everything that is kitsch and stylish about life at 40,000 feet - from stewardesses in mini-skirts and hot pants to the best and the worst of airline food - from the interior of Hugh Hefner's Love Bunny private jet to airline logos and posters of today and yesteryear. Buy it and wallow in the strange world of air travel. This is a must gift for anyone who has ever traveled by airplane.