Brand at a glance
Explore how Lufthansa protected Otto Firle’s century-old crane while refining its ring, proportions, typography, and blue-yellow color system for the digital age.
The pre-2018 identity paired the encircled crane with a bold Lufthansa wordmark in blue and yellow. The circular badge, rational typography, and tightly controlled palette made the airline recognizable across aircraft, terminals, tickets, uniforms, and advertising.
Official source: Lufthansa Group - What happened to the fried egg?
Lufthansa thinned the ring, refined the crane, and gave the bird more room. A darker blue became the leading color while yellow shifted to a focused accent and orientation role.
Official source: Lufthansa Group official redesign announcement
Lufthansa’s crane is one of the rare aviation symbols whose core idea predates the modern airline using it. Lufthansa states that graphic artist Otto Firle designed the crane in 1918. The bird was registered for an airline predecessor in the 1920s and became inseparable from the Lufthansa name. Rather than repeatedly replacing the subject, designers refined its proportions, enclosure, color, and relationship to typography.
The crane succeeds because it communicates flight without drawing an airplane. Its long neck, extended legs, and lifted wings create a poised silhouette that suggests motion and precision. That abstraction helped the mark outlive individual aircraft models, political eras, and changes in travel technology.
In 1962, Otl Aicher’s design program placed the crane within a circular frame and built a disciplined visual system around it. The ring gave the bird a dependable boundary, making it easier to apply consistently on aircraft, signage, printed material, and uniforms. Blue and yellow became the unmistakable environmental colors surrounding the emblem.
The system’s restraint was its strength. A limited palette, rational typography, and repeated grid logic made Lufthansa recognizable across many passenger touchpoints. The logo did not need photographic detail; the circle and bird silhouette carried the identity from a terminal facade to the tail of an aircraft.
Lufthansa’s official redesign announcement describes the 2018 work as modernization for the digital age. The crane became slimmer, the ring thinner, and the bird received more space. These are subtle changes, but at small screen sizes the extra breathing room prevents the icon from becoming a dense blue disc.
The color hierarchy also changed. A specially developed darker blue became the leading brand color, while yellow remained as an accent for orientation and differentiation. Lufthansa did not abandon the famous pairing; it redistributed the colors so that the identity could feel calmer and more premium while still retaining familiar yellow moments.
The modern crane demonstrates how carefully managed continuity can accumulate value. Passengers do not have to relearn the symbol each time the airline modernizes. The design can become cleaner, digital interfaces can change, and aircraft liveries can evolve while the same basic bird remains the anchor.
That makes Lufthansa a useful contrast with American Airlines, whose 2013 flight symbol recombined several heritage cues into a new form. It also complements the hospitality histories of Hilton and Marriott: all three rely on consistency to reassure travelers, but Lufthansa’s continuity is concentrated in a single pictorial emblem.
