Braniff International Airlines Playing Cards

In 1965, Texas-based Braniff International Airways employed designer Alexander Girard to create a full corporate identity for the airline. Working under the direction of Mary Wells, a senior executive with Jack Tinker & Partners, Girard created over 17,000 items to create a total overall of the airline’s brand. Wells also commissioned Emilio Pucci to design uniforms for the flight attendants, who were renamed “air hostesses” by Braniff. Working with a color scheme that reflected Braniff’s Latin American destinations and Girard’s own appreciation for traditional folk arts and crafts, Girard infused the airline with bold colors and a joyous approach in the spirit of Wells’s campaign, “The End of the Plain Plane.” An architect, textile designer, and graphic designer, Girard thought through how to create a design language that would unify color, pattern, texture and structure. He used theme, logo, and chosen colors to create  a whole system that could be applied to the outside and inside of the planes, the ticket counter and waiting lounges in the airport, and ephemera ranging from tickets and timetables to matchbooks and packaging for bars of soap. Girard created a bright, lively, humane brand identity that challenged conventions, reflecting both the modernization of the time and the spirit of the destinations. These playing cards, created as a free item for passengers, go beyond an in-flight distraction. Each card in the deck features an English phrase or question above a corresponding illustration by Girard. Below the illustration, the phrases are translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Playful yet educational, these playing cards become an educational tool, teaching passengers basic language skills that will be useful for exploring their destination. Printed on one side of the box and on the flip side of the individual playing cards is the shorthand for Braniff International, “BI,” in letterforms that became the new logo for the airline. Girard’s logo was used to create a unified image on signage, letterheads and other materials. This logo references progressive modernity with its diagonal, sans-serif forms. The rounded letters and slanted text suggest jet-setting and looking forward. The white lettering with deep purple counterforms sit on top of a vibrant orange background. These colors anticipate and value the culture of the airline’s Latin American destinations. Alexander Girard, an exceptional proponent of folk art, accompanies his modernist font with hand-drawn images of an ace, a club, a diamond and a heart on the additional sides and cover of the playing card box. Surrounded by gold, the naively-drawn decorative shapes give the image a folksy quality that pairs the comfort of air travel with the excitement of global travel.

Alexander Girard. Edited by Todd Oldhamand Kiera Coffee. Los Angeles, California: AMMO, 2011.

Alexander Girard: A Designer’s Universe. Edited by Mateo Kries and Jochen Eisenbrand. Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum, 2016.

Hühne, M.C. Airline Visual Identity 1945-1975. Berlin, Germany: Castillo Publishers, 2015.