As chief creative officer and founding partner of Forward Media N.Y, Edmond Huot practices design in the clouds—for airlines, that is. His work involves a range of bespoke services, including naming, brand design, PR, media, advertising and special events for aviation clients of varying sizes.
Huot’s childhood on a farm in Canada “afforded me plenty of time to do more than play with my pet chickens or wander the fields,” he says, “lost in imagination with model airplane in hand.” He spent countless hours drawing and redrawing every type of airliner, obsessively recreating their exterior and interior views and perspectives, honing his skills as an illustrator, mastering the fundamentals of scale, form, dimension and color.
When Huot and partner Peter Clark started their graphic design business, he applied these skills by visualizing concepts in real time in front of clients, “which seemed to amuse and intrigue them. Keep in mind, we were starting out at a time when the Mac and personal computing were in their infancy, so much of the graphics and design business still relied on the craft of producing marker comps and mechanicals for presentations.” His passion for aviation remained somewhat dormant well into the late ’90s. Then, with some grounding in identity work, he decided to take off in the airplane “space.” Below, we talk about how he’s flying high today.
Northern Pacific Airlines.
I understand you’ve been an “AvGeek” since childhood. How did you translate this early passion into a design profession?
In 1998, a random run-in with a newly hired airline CEO led to us being invited to pitch for the WestJet account, a scrappy, young, low-cost startup in Canada competing with the more established Air Canada. Although we were outmatched by the multinational agencies, it was a fun and formative experience that sparked my interest in pursuing more clients in the aviation and travel space. Not long after the failed WestJet pitch, our firm was selected to lead a prestigious branding and naming assignment for the highly publicized construction of a new international airport, designed by world-renowned architectural practice Cesar Peli & Associates. The rest, as they say, is history, and I’ve never looked back!
Design exploration for Pacific Northern.
Tell me about the role your design work has in aviation.
Often, I’m called in to help either build a brand from scratch or, more commonly, to reimagine and rebuild an existing business or operation undergoing some sort of change, such as new ownership, competitive repositioning, or emergence from a restructuring with fresh capital. As a partner in the business, I get involved early on to better understand the intangibles at play that will influence future tactics.
This often involves meeting key decision-makers like CEOs, founders, board members or investors such as private equity firms. For instance, billionaire investors typically have big egos or bold outlooks that must be clearly understood in order to successfully translate their vision into the best design. Beyond my role as a creative director or designer, my first job is to meet with these individuals and listen closely so I may get a clear sense of their hopes, aspirations and, in some cases, their pain points. Iconic business leaders like Oracle’s Larry Ellison are not interested in being lectured on any branding process but rather want to figure out whether or not I’m getting their vision.
Once we align on the big picture, my role as a design professional begins, guiding the client team down a linear and consultative path. This process starts with a great deal of learning, collecting information, conducting audits and key interviews. From there, I work with my team to condense, synthesize and streamline key insights into a briefing presentation of formalized research, category precedents, best-in-class benchmarks, competitive mapping, and the generation of a small number of desired brand attributes. These carefully selected words are essential, as they form the strategic building blocks that will ultimately inform any and all creative ideation.
The next phase is highly imaginative and abstract. I use the approved attributes as starting points for an exhaustive exploration where my team and I pursue and expand on a vast array of visual drivers, graphic motifs, random sketches and collages, as well as cultural, historical and thematic narratives. This phase is highly iterative and typically lives and breathes on pin-up boards where collective review, debate and editing occur. Ultimately, the client will see only the winning candidates in the form of story directions that are titled and themed in cohesive mood expressions. We present, discuss and refine the work based on input from a small group of decision-makers. While there are many who can say “no,” there are few in any organization who have the authority and clout to say “yes.” If we’ve done our job well, we get to “yes” sooner rather than later. However, this phase can be challenging.
Finally, concepts are further refined into approved design applications, which then travel down the ladder as a series of mini-projects managed by an agency producer and account team. If the assignment is small, I do most of this work myself—from start to finish. Bigger clients afford more resources and bigger teams that can help carry and offset the load. In these situations, I often check in on the work, problem-solving along the way. I tend to be more hands-off once the overall vision and concepts are set.
Northern Pacific graphic elements.
I recall when Braniff was recast into a creative brand. The design of airplanes had never seen the like of it before. Were you inspired by that campaign?
I’ve always looked to the past for inspiration around what is new and where we are headed in the future. Braniff’s “The End of the Plain Plane” embodied all that the Jet Age had to offer. The spot’s narrator elegantly presented a dizzying array of innovative features and benefits with effortless charm and swagger. This campaign was driven by ad legend Mary Wells Lawrence, Braniff’s ad agency of record. As evidenced by the airline’s famous “Air Strip” print campaign, Braniff was one of the first airlines to collaborate with artists like Alexander Calder and Emilio Pucci, transforming everything from liveries to uniforms. Beyond Braniff’s greatness, I’ve looked to British Airways and their bold (if not controversial) World Images campaign. The airline replaced its longstanding “Landor” aircraft livery with approximately 50 different tailfins featuring designs representing the many nations served by British Airways, with patterning schemes that included tartan for Scotland and calligraphy for China.
The initiative was ambitious and forward-thinking, based, in part, on the international carrier’s unique position as the “World’s Favorite Airline.” The plan was to present British Airways to the world as a modern, warm and caring airline. It ultimately failed, as the tail designs were perceived by the traveling public as incongruous with the airline’s Union Jack master brand markings and colors. However, despite this branding misstep, it was a bold and notable precursor to JetBlue’s more recent and similar customized tail design program.
Douglas DC-8-62 of Braniff International painted in Alexander Calder’s design at Miami Airport in August 1975. Source: Creative Commons.
Are there limits to the design of airplane graphics imposed by the industry or government?
Yes, plenty. Early in my career as an airline creative, I encountered various design limitations when my preliminary livery mock-ups featured aircraft adorned with vibrant colors. In reality, regulators around the world require any and all paint schemes to adhere to strict guidelines detailing where decals and paint applications are permitted. The wings of the aircraft, for example, are off-limits, as well as numerous locations on the plane’s fuselage, underbelly and tail. Having a strong working knowledge of these rules helps ensure that the aircraft paint facility team will trust and partner with you.
The painting process for commercial aircraft involves masking, chemical stripping, surface prep, base coats, and multiple layers of masking and spraying, taking weeks for larger aircraft and less time for smaller ones. While my focus is more conceptually brand-driven and design-based, I spend a lot of time asking questions and listening to the engineers, technicians, and painting teams regarding the application of the design. I’ve come to respect the capabilities of a facility that has a state-of-the-art electrostatic paint system, digital temperature and humidity control, and a computerized markings system that allows for the in-house creation of stenciling and decals. When you’re painting an $80 million plane, you’ve got to get it right the first time. My reputation and our firm’s success depend on it!
Island Airlines “livery as billboard”.
What has been your most satisfying airline job(s)?
I would probably cite the work I did for an airline rebranding and livery project in Hawaii back in 2013, where our firm was asked to transform the sleepy island-hopper Island Air into a modern commuter airline in order to catch the eye of Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison. Ellison had just purchased the island of Lanai and was looking to buy a local carrier to fly guests to his newly acquired property, the Hotel Lanai, a classic Hawaiian lodge built by pineapple king James Dole. The project was intense, requiring eight months of biweekly travel from NYC and Canada to Honolulu.
For me, the highlight was finding myself and my cameraman squeezed into a single-engine Cessna, tasked with capturing precious air-to-air video footage of the newly painted ATR 72 as it performed daring sweeps above us over the island of Oahu. I wore a headset that was live-connected to the pilot and ATC, calling the timed maneuvers we wanted to film.
More recently, I was lucky enough to be asked to help conceive, design and brand a new low-cost airline concept based out of Alaska called Northern Pacific Airways. The project came to me as a clean slate, and the airline’s CEO, Rob McKinney, afforded me great creative latitude and autonomy, which, as any creative will attest, is both incredibly rare and rewarding. The airline’s livery was well-received, and its launch involved a ‘rockstar’ audio/visual experience that culminated with the newly painted Boeing 757 rolling into the hangar, looming over hundreds of journalists and attendees.
Island Airlines maiden flight.
When I leave or arrive on a runway, I make mental notes of all the different designs for planes. Are the exteriors intended to be billboards, or is there another purpose for design?
Certainly, our clients consider the livery design in those terms. Despite the brand’s far-reaching application across various airline touchpoints, the livery is undoubtedly the show-stopper that garners a disproportionate amount of attention. And for good reason—when done right, this distinctive decalling brings sexiness and harmony to a jet that can easily cost over $100 million. While the marketing goals of the airline’s livery tend to focus on general awareness, promotion and affinity (both on the tarmac and in the sky), the design goals I set go beyond the notion of “livery as billboard.”
From a branding perspective, the design must reflect the airline’s values and complement the aircraft’s shape. For travelers, an effective livery should stand out in the sky and on the tarmac, using artful color schemes and refined graphics that communicate universal themes across cultures and languages. Airline marketing resembles a tourism campaign, embodying the themes and values of the regions they represent.
Cutaway illustration.
At what point do you get involved in the process of design?
I would start by secretly admitting that I’m actually thinking about design as soon as I catch wind of the proposed project! This is unavoidable when you’re a creative person who is also an AvGeek. I really love this type of work—I can’t help it!
On a more official note, however, the design work never begins until we have an intimate understanding and appreciation for a range of marketing and planning criteria. This includes stakeholder segmentation, customer profiling and personas, market analysis, historical research that factors in previous trends and highlights, and a fleet review based on the equipment and aircraft types the airline currently owns or plans to upgrade to.
Customer journey.
What is there still to accomplish for you in the aviation world?
There’s so much more I want to do. While any sort of airline rebrand assignment falls nicely into my wheelhouse, I’d love to expand my portfolio to work on private jet branding and livery. I’d also love to reimagine an FBO (Fixed Base Operation) lounge experience for private jet travelers.
I’ve dabbled in some brand-related interior work for a former seaplane client, ensuring that the ground experience matched the inflight journey. One of our clients, Aero, based in California, has really set the bar for ensuring a seamless passenger experience; their ground facility does a fantastic job of extending the customer journey from point to point.
Beyond interior spaces, I’d love to apply my knowledge and experience in livery design to newer “next-gen” aircraft types such as eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing) and the next generation of supersonic air travel. Manufacturers like Archer and BOOM Supersonic have developed some fantastic new prototypes that are catching the attention of airlines and ground facilities. I think this mode of travel will drive some innovative design approaches based on their unique size and shape.
What’s next?
I am currently interested in finding ways to marry commercial aviation and the art world. I’m working on an exhibition concept that is very much in the early stages. My working title for the concept is “Worlds in Motion.” It revolves around playfully exploring a range of airliner and travel-related themes brought to life by selected artists’ interpretations. My vision is that the work will be part of an exhibit hosted in a gallery setting as a backdrop to a gathering of the world’s leading airline and travel community. It will be a chance to support and promote the community in a fresh and interesting way.
I’m also thinking about how I can excite and inspire the creative community to become involved in the next generation of aviation and aerospace. Similar to what happened in the 1950s when the design world engaged and brought the jetset age to life, I believe the business really took off. We are at that time again; the world is going to be a very different place in terms of how people connect and move around, and I can’t wait to see how the creative and art worlds interpret and propel the aviation industry forward.