Logo in the sky: Pionair private aviation

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • The Waughpath
    • Design from a Creative Brief
    • Creative print design
    • Terms of service
    • Client Proofing
      • National Weavers Exhibition
  • The work
    • Advertising & Promo
      • Advertising design work
      • Brochure design
      • Poster design
      • T Shirts & other
      • Social Media
      • Writing & Research
    • Brand & identity systems
      • What makes a good logo?
      • Business Naming Service
      • Rename & Rebrand
    • Case studies & awards
      • Bionona brand presentation
    • Corporate communications
    • Illustration
    • Packaging design
    • Photography
      • Classic motorcycle racing photography
        • Burt Munro 2015 Event
      • Composite images
      • Documentary photography
      • Event photography
      • Phil Price Sculpture
      • Photojournalism
      • Travel photography
      • Wildlife photography
    • Video production
    • Web Design
      • Energise an image-heavy website
      • Web design overview
  • ARCHIVE
    • Advertising & Promo
    • Identity
      • Vinevax creative brief & presentation
    • Illustration
    • Packaging design
    • Web Design
  • shop
    • Shop Mens
    • Shop Womens
    • Surface Active wildlife art prints
    • About Surface Active Limited Edition Fine Art Prints
    • Surface Active: A Retrospective of New Zealand Printmakers Chrissie Terpstra & Shaun Waugh (1986–2021)
  • Blog
  • Contact

Logo in the sky: Pionair private aviation

Convair CV580 aircraft livery specifications plan.
Convair_Livery_spec-A1_close-up
Convair_Livery_aircraft_surface_prep
Convair_Livery_aircraft_mark-up_details
Convair_Livery_aircraft_mark-up_pano
Pionair Australia Convair VH-PDV nearing the end of refurbishment project in the Fieldair hangar
KSA-Tauck_draft
Side elevation, Convair CV580 ZK-KSA, inaugural flight, Palmerston North to Wigram Airfield Christchurch, newly refurbished and sporting the new specialised Pionair aircraft ‘fluid’ livery’.
Pionair Australia Convaiir VH-PDV taxis for take-off
Pionair Australia Convaiir VH-PDV taxis for take-off Brisbane airport, Queensland, Australia, 2007.
Rare birds-eye view of Convair CV580 ZK-KSA, inaugural flight, Palmerston North to Wigram Airfield, Christchurch, newly refurbished and sporting the new specialised Pionair aircraft ‘fluid’ livery’.
Convair CV580 VH-PDV, dynamic air-to-air view, newly refurbished and sporting the new specialised Pionair aircraft ‘fluid’ livery’.
Pionair aviation | Rebrand
Convair_new_Pionair_TAUCK_livery-1
Convair_CV580_specifications_poster
Convair CV580 Cabin Safety Instructions Card, inside spread, close-up. Land ditch, over-wing exit, and aircraft evacuation instructions.
Convair CV580 Cabin Safety Instructions Card, inside spread, and cover close-up displaying Pionair and Convair aircraft branding on both sides of the Safety on board card.
Convair CV580 Cabin Safety Instructions Card, back-over, close-up. Donning the lifejacket.
Convair_Safety_Card_poster-1600
Pionair Australia Convair VH-PDV, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Tim Scott and Robin Tauck with Pionair Australia Convair VH-PDV (ZK-KSA
Composite air-to-air image of Pionair Australia’s Convair VH-PDV
Composite air-to-air image of Pionair Australia’s Convair VH-PDV with her new fluid livery.

Pionair logo, rebrandWorking for Pionair Aviation in the old Air Force Tower at the Wigram Airfield in Christchurch, and at Sydney Bankstown Airport in Australia, my strength at creating powerful brands that flow across all print and web media as well as hands-on skills with 3D objects and sign graphics was put to good use.

This pacific design has two bold calligraphic lines that elegantly flow from one side of the fuselage to the other. The dynamic two-tone blue on white ribbon device with cool grey wings are clean and modern while the polished metal nacelles are a stylish gesture towards its mid-century origins. Overall the fluid design is a cool change from the cheatlines of most mid-century aircraft. The tension between the two fluid swoops draws the eyes away from the nose section and appears to lengthen the aircraft. With its notched profile, the nose gives away the fact the Convair is more than 50 years old.. To further de-emphasise the nose section it has been painted clean, featureless white.. The swoop design and fresh colour scheme appears modern and effortless, always turns heads and inspires confidence in passengers overcoming any reservations they may have about flying aboard older aircraft.

The brief was for the livery to be variable, the design needed to be able to accept either the Pionair logo in the prominent vertical stabilizer position, or the brands of air charter clients and other entities. The inaugural livery featured the compass rose icon from TAUCK, a US operator of all-inclusive guided tours and cruises that was Pionair’s most significant private air charter client on both sides of the Tasman at that time.

Background

As part of the Pionair rebrand in 2006 I designed a new specialized livery and logo standard. This aircraft’s complete restoration and livery makeover was a first in the history of the firm, a first for me, and a tremendous career highpoint. The brief was for the livery to be variable, the design needed to be able to accept either the Pionair logo in the prominent vertical stabilizer position, or the brands of air charter clients and other entities. The inaugural livery featured the compass rose icon from TAUCK, a US operator of all-inclusive guided tours and cruises that was Pionair’s most significant private air charter client on both sides of the Tasman at that time.

The new livery was the icing on the cake of a complete refurbishment of one of Pionair’s two ‘business class’ passenger Convair CV580, the aircraft was subsequently registered in Australia as VH-PDV.

After sending the specifications plan for the new livery to Fieldair’s ‘Pete the Painter’ Pionair received the response that if we wanted the new ‘swoops’ design on the aircraft that I would have to travel to Palmerston North and apply the design to the aircraft myself. Because, it turns out that while painting a cheatline, a decorative horizontal design composed of single or double band of colour was one thing, but, as one of the engineers remarked about the new livery design when he saw the plan on my first day in the Fieldair hangar;

Methodology overview

The portfolio explains the method visually, in preparation for applying the swoops the fuselage had been painted white as specified, in short the task was to;

  • scale up the design onto the fuse and draw it precisely on the white paint with a sharp chinograph pencil,
  • once the four outlines of the swoops were drawn, Pete applied the mask. This begins with thin 5mm masking tape masked up to the drawn line. Once the 5mm mask outline was placed he used broader guage masking tapes to affix his standard masking materials to the design,
  • once masked up the painter was able to spray paint the fluid two-tone blue design.

PDV_Tauck_horiz_flight_1024

The TAUCK compass rose was applied with cut solid 3M aviation grade vinyl by a Palmerston North signwriting firm.

Credits


Design and Art Direction / Signwriting: Shaun Waugh
Aircraft painting: ‘Pete the painter’ Fieldair Engineering


Search

Select language to translate

Client Industry | Clients | Context | Era | Genre | Subject

Magenta Dot Meta

  • Login
  • RSS
  • Comments RSS

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 164 other subscribers

Join the Dot on Facebook

Join the Dot on Facebook
Follow MagentaDot Brands on WordPress.com
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • MagentaDot Brands
    • Join 85 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • MagentaDot Brands
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...