United Airlines, a legacy carrier known for its iconic branding, has retired its ‘Tulip’ logo. Over the years, United Airlines has gone through several rebranding phases, each reflecting changes in the airline’s strategy and identity.
In its early days, United’s logo featured a silhouetted map of the United States before transitioning to a shield design. This shield underwent various modifications over time, eventually giving way to the ‘spike’ logo with blue and black lettering. During these years, United also experimented with different aircraft liveries, including the “Friend Ship” livery in the 1960s.
The most notable change came in the 1970s when United hired graphic designer Saul Bass to create a new brand identity. After two years of research and development by Bass and Associates, United unveiled its new logo in 1974. The design consisted of two overlapping U-shapes slanted at a 68-degree angle featuring red, blue, and white colors. This logo became known as the ‘Tulip.’
With this new branding came significant changes to the aircraft livery. Vibrant stripes were added along the fuselage as part of a popular paint scheme trend called cheatlines. The updated branding also included modernizing the wordmark with “a modern square-like sans-serif in all-caps,” according to Logo Histories.
United retained this logo for decades until another rebranding exercise in 1993 introduced a dark blue and gray fuselage known as the ‘Battleship’ livery while keeping a smaller Tulip design. In 2004, British design company Pentagram further evolved the branding with larger cropped versions of the Tulip.
In 2010, following a merger with Continental Airlines that created one of the world’s largest airlines at that time, United adopted Continental’s globe logo instead of retaining its own Tulip symbol. Former CEO Oscar Munoz stated: “As we improve and elevate our customer experience…this modernized design enhances…the very best of United’s image.”
Other airlines have similarly evolved their logos over time; American Airlines replaced its eagle emblem between two As in 2013 while Emirates revealed an updated livery in 2023 featuring bolder gold lettering across aircraft bodies alongside dynamic UAE flag designs on tailfins among other elements.
