In 1962, Otl Aicher and his development team 5 were commissioned to revise Lufthansa's design. The airline wanted an image that radiated safety and reliability and thus stood for quality and competence.

Aicher began the project with an analysis, which revealed that Lufthansa needed a new, but not a different design. The existing elements were suitable for the wishes of the Executive Board and only needed to be revised and reassembled.

The essence of the brand was formed by the figurative mark, the lettering and font, the type area, the formats, and the corporate colors. As the central element of Lufthansa, the crane, designed by architect Otto Firle in 1918, remained. It was merely redrawn and enclosed in a circle to make it a signet. Aicher's initial proposal to transform the crane into a stylistically reduced arrow was rejected.

The Helvetica typeface was henceforth used as a clear and functional corporate font. Initially, the lettering was set in capital letters, but from 1967 it was converted to upper and lower case. This was a novelty, as other airlines had previously only used capital letters for their lettering. A grid was used to standardize the type area for printed products. Formats were reduced, and folds standardized.
The corporate colors were also used in a slightly modified form. The yellow was made warmer by a shift towards orange and the blue darker towards violet. Aicher suggested designing the tail unit of the aircraft in yellow, but was overruled by politicians and then had to do without it.

Apart from this, specifications were defined for the character of the photographs, display systems, packaging, and information and advertising media.

Thanks to the new design, Lufthansa has an image of reliability, punctuality, and safety, and has thus even become part of the German identity.

The project was completed in 1963 in the manual “Lufthansa Advertising Guidelines and Standards CGN XE 3”. In it, Aicher himself writes: “During the elaboration, we assumed that we would reduce the number of elements and simplify their design. The individual elements are part of the whole. The elements were placed in such a systematic context that they open up sufficient combination possibilities while remaining manageable.” He is of the opinion that the design is only “good”, but has not achieved the optimum, as in his eyes the Board of Directors intervened a great deal in the design and influenced it with its wishes.

To date, the design has been partially adapted to the spirit of the times, but the central elements have always remained, especially the typography and colors, and hold the Group together visually. (kl)