03 | Typography
Take a Ride on the Green Side
Brief Summary
The ISTD Student Assessment scheme is reviewed annually to ensure that it reflects current best practices in both design education and industry. Strategy, research, target audience, concept development, typography skills, specifications, presentation and credibility are considered for this project.
One of the following briefs had to be completed for this project: Open | Close, How Sustainable is it?, Mapping the World, The Body Politic, and The Spaces Between.
Chosen Brief
How Sustainable is it?: We were required to conduct a rigorous investigation of a sustainable material or product, or a current sustainable initiative. This could include organic materials that are used in new and exciting ways, or manufactured synthetic products made with sustainable properties in mind. We could focus on a single material or explore the life cycle of a particular product: where it comes from, the raw materials involved, how it is made, and how it is distributed, used, reused, and promoted. What is the human input and does it live up to the claims of sustainability? It is our job to weigh up the evidence, debunk the myths, and evaluate the sustainable value.
We needed to define a context, identify a target audience, and build a strategy that rationally underpins the development of appropriate outcomes. We were expected to keep a rigorous sketchbook research with evidence of your responses to the information that we uncovered. A range of initial potential directions needed to be explored in order to be able to understand what has informed the focus of your subsequent concept and design development. Our sketchbook content should reflect the development of your strategic and interpretive thinking. It should be vibrant and organic – full of visual references; notations; sketches; and exploration of materials and ideas.
Project Strategy
Airlines and their flights create millions of tons of passenger waste per year and due to strict quarantine rules, little of this waste is recycled. One possible solution to reducing this waste is tackling the issue of single-use plastics provided to passengers, especially during mealtimes. By replacing plastic utensils and the containers that food is served in with biodegradable options, we can reduce the volume of waste.
Coir is a coconut's byproduct making it regularly available and an inexpensive material to work with. No glue and chemical agents are needed since natural glues are extracted from the coconut itself during the production phase. The fibres in coconut husks are also high in lignin which makes them naturally burn-resistant as well as anti-fungal.
Coir makes for the perfect eco-friendly packaging and utensil solution as it’s regularly available, has good strength and durability, has low water absorption, and is biodegradable. For these reasons coir can be turned into cardboard, a wood alternative, or even reinforced into bio-plastic, making it easy to shape as well as protect food or other products.
Coir also offers high durability to accommodate food weight up to 1 kilogram in packaging format, which is perfect for storing and holding individual passenger meals. This light material adds less weight than plastic, porcelain, or glass, making it more fuel-efficient as well.
Inspired by coconuts, South African Airways starts a green campaign! All single-use plastics used during meal times on South African Airways flights will be replaced by coir fiber utensils, snack boxes, cups, trays, and containers. The campaign utilises in-flight TV information and airport posters to inform passengers of the huge difference that small changes can make.
The campaign aims to educate passengers on the importance of reducing their cabin waste, whether it be pre-ordering their meals ahead of their flight or downloading their boarding passes online rather than printing them out. Replacing single-use plastic is not the only way to ensure that in-flight waste can be reduced.
All onboard magazines and catalogues will be digital and found on their in-flight TV screens. All the above will help prevent South African Airways from overstocking pre-packaged food onboard, by only loading what is needed. This helps them reduce the aircraft’s weight and achieve a lower fuel burn, while also saving on food waste, as well as cutting down on single-use plastics.
This campaign is marketed towards all South African Airways passengers on domestic flights.
The overall look and feel of this campaign is inspired by boarding passes as well as the airport runway. The colour pallet is inspired by the iconic South African Airways logo. The bright colours contrast against the black and white and link back to the runway markings and flashing lights found at airports. The green is also a clear link to the eco-friendly message the campaign is communicating.
The typography chosen mimics classic boarding pass tickets and ties back to the overall aviation industry in which this campaign is running from.
Research
I started with basic research and brainstorming on the general topic, and from there I narrowed down the sustainable material that I was going to research further.
The intensive research helped me better understand my topic. This allowed me to ensure that my final deliverables were aligned with the subject matter at hand and that the information resented was accurate.
Concept
A campaign created by South African Airways, in partnership with Air Chefs to promote their new eco-friendly packaging alternative and educate passengers on the importance of reducing waste while onboard.
Target market:
Passengers on board domestic flights within South Africa.
Deliverables:
- A digital booklet on airplane TV screens that informs passengers on why it’s important to be aware of how much waste they are creating while on board. They will be educated on the eco-friendly packaging provided to them while on the flight and ways they can reduce waste onboard.
- There will also be posters in airports reminding passengers to pre-book meals, as well as opting for digital boarding passes.
What information will be presented to the passengers:
- Why the flight has reusable and recycled material cups for water instead of individual single-use plastic bottles.
- Why the utensils and meal containers are made from coconut husks.
- Why it’s important to go green.
- The impact of how much waste each passenger makes.
- Why it’s important to pre-book meals.
- Dropping duty-free programs.
- Online airline magazines.
- Rather download boarding passes on phones instead of printing them out.
Moodboard
The concept was inspired by runway markings as well as boarding passes. All linking back to the environment in which one can find this campaign.
Colour Palette
The colour pallet is inspired by the iconic South African Airways logo. The bright colours contrast against the black and white and link back to the runway markings and flashing lights found at airports. The green is also a clear link to the eco-friendly message the campaign is communicating.
Typography
Both the information screens shown on the airplane TV, as well as the airport posters made use of three different typefaces. These three typefaces were Ticketing Regular, OCR B Regular, and Gotham Regular. Ticketing Regular and OCR B Regular are two different monospaced typefaces that mimic classic boarding pass text. They were paired with Gotham Regular, an iconic San Serif typeface in order to balance the block-style lettering out. Together the three typefaces were used for text as well as manipulated into images in order to create a bold and memorable aviation aesthetic throughout the campaign.
Specifications
Grid System
Visuals
Final Deliverables
Screens
Click Through Video
This is a video to show the transitions between screens and to showcase what a passenger would see when reading the digital booklet while on a flight.
Poster
A mock up of the poster to show the scale of it within the airport.
The flat version of the poster.
