Japanese airline All Nippon Airways has had at least five logos so far. While the first one was radically different from the others, the following four looked like slightly modified versions of the same logo: they shared the palette and basic shapes.
The company’s roots can be traced back to 1952 when Japan Helicopter and Aeroplane Transports Company was established. It was also known as Nippon Helicopter and Aeroplane. In 1958, All Nippon Airways appeared as a result of the merger of two companies.
The original All Nippon Airways logo was based on the Nippon Helicopter logo. It featured intricate, detailed shapes with the effect of implied rotation. The image was encircled by the full name of the company in English. The palette combined red with white and black.
While this logo did not look exactly like the current one, they share much in common.
To begin with, the palette combining dark and light blue with white. The palette has been referred to as Triton blue. The thick diagonal bar seen on the current logo was also already there.
However, the older version was dominated by the name of the company in Japanese. The full name in English could be seen below in smaller letters, while the abbreviation “ANA” in white was written along the diagonal bar. Also, there was a thinner horizontal bar in dark and light blue below the name of the company.
This time, the abbreviation grew larger. It was colored dark blue and replaced the Japanese hieroglyphs. The full name occupied the place of the horizontal bar, which, in its turn, disappeared.
The lettering “All Nippon Airways” disappeared leaving the design cleaner. It now worked great even at smaller sizes and from the large distance.
In addition to the minimalist version introduced in 2002, the airline started using a logo featuring the “Inspiration of Japan” tagline. The tagline can be seen either below the main logo or to the left.
While the abbreviation “ANA” showcases a distinctive custom font, the tagline in the All Nippon Airways logo has been written using a simpler, generic sans.
All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. is Japan’s largest airline by revenue and passenger number. It is based in the Shiodome area of Tokyo. Boasting the fleet size of around 240, the airline flies to around 95 destinations. The number of employees is 14,242 (as of March 31, 2019, according to the Corporate Profile published on the corporate website).