Launched in 1996 by Microsoft, Expedia is an online travel agency that offers to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, and cruise ships. Recently, the company updated its visual identity, and it’s the second rebranding in two years. The current redesign is based on Expedia’s new sustainable development strategy, entitled “Open World”.
Although the rebranding was carried out several weeks ago, there has been no official information from Expedia Group so far. The company apparently refreshed its logo right after publishing the Open World strategy in May. The press release said Expedia aspires to develop more sustainable ways for the tourism industry. The brand also stated that its strategy will focus on eco-friendliness, climate protection, and responsible use of natural resources. In this regard, the brand’s design was adapted to visually express all these goals.
Compared to the 2021 redesign, the new iteration is a more serious overhaul. The plane in a circle, which has been used since the tourism agency was launched, is clearly outdated. So, the icon was changed to a stylized arrow placed in a yellow square with rounded corners. Like the plane, this sign indicates the direction to the right upward, which means a positive development. The wordmark was revised as well, designed in a version of the previous typeface adjusted to correspond with the forms of the arrow and square.
Over decades, such topics as sustainability and climate protection have influenced much of the design industry, forming the identities of brands and companies. The redesign of the Expedia logo can be regarded as a direct result of more and more intensive discussions over environmental damage from airlines.
As aircraft are believed to be the biggest criminals among conveyances against climate change, there are some issues with images of planes. Such an opinion is expressed by many design experts. And Expedia obviously doesn’t want to have these issues on the board. The removal of the plane from the logo says, in a way, that the company offers something more than air travel. The turnover of Expedia Group’s air division is actually only 3% of the total turnover of the group, which also includes such providers as Trivago, Hotels.com, and Travelocity.
