2011 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Our main challenge was to create an engaging end product that would live up to the globally recognised, established Emirates brand. We felt that the old logo - based on Emirates' existing typography - allowed the magazine to be overshadowed by the main brand, and that the magazine therefore deserved its own, separate identity. Importantly, we aimed to create an identity that was bold and eye-catching to passengers, highlighting the new, revamped direction that the magazine would be taking.

The Brief

Our task was to revamp and relaunch the inflight magazine of Emirates Airline - 'Open Skies'. As Motivate had published the magazine for 25 years, they were focused on building on the success of this period. Their aim was to energise the inflight medium and showcase all that is best in the print medium. The client required the redesign the logo and cover layout of the magazine to complement its world-class editorial. Emirates Airline have proven to be innovative pioneers in inflight entertainment, service and aircraft - we wished to continue this in the form of their inflight magazine design.

How the final design was conceived

After presenting a few rounds of options to the client, it was decided that a minimalistic, modern representation would be applied. The final logo itself reflects this, combining bold typography with an 'open' top - subtly referring to the name of the magazine itself. The minimalist identity of the magazine also assisted with allowing the covers of the magazine to display interesting, attractive artwork and pictures. By not interfering with the cover art to a great extent, the identity of the magazine and the uniqueness of any cover artwork could co-exist and complement each other harmoniously.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The selected design will be displayed on the 'Open Skies' magazine in all Emirates aircraft, flying to 103 destinations in 65 countries on 6 continents, ensuring that the tens of millions of passengers that Emirates flies every year will be able to pick up and read through a magazine that appears to be stylish, modern and sophisticated. Proposed cover artworks are to come from a variety of respected artists from a number of backgrounds, who will have to take into account the strong new look of the magazine when creating their cover masterpieces.