#and the visualizer pattern has basically the bi flag colours

[tradingstorieswiththeleaves]

Happy anniversary to THE SONG I haven't got tired of listening to in a whole year:

Combing through the wreckage, pouring through the sand Surrounded by the remnants, what we could and couldn't have Raking through the ashes, falling through my hands Charcoal on the faces in the burned up photographs

[thedreadvampy]

stop referencing Wales it's a baller flag but have you ever tried to paint it on your face? nightmare. you gotta simplify for a protest flag. labrys is good cause it's simple readable shapes that anyone can paint, draw or sew. flags like Wales and Mexico and Bhutan Objectively Slap but you don't need a complex illustration to make a flag visually distinct and for the purposes we tend to use pride flags it's an issue.

but insignia can work. bear pride has the paw print, leather has the heart, there's the labrys, there's stars and crosses and floral silhouettes if you want to take a national flag inspired approach, or the Mars and Venus symbols, hearts, fists, clasped hands, circles, infinities, chains, etc if you want to take a more Queer Symbology approach. it needs to be simple and replicable and immediately readable.

but also like. my point is you can just have colours and still have it visually distinct from other flags by moving away from horizontal even stripes. like it was fine in early flag terms - 7 for the rainbow flag, 3 for bi, 5 for trans, 4 for nonbinary, and all the most famous older subculture flags (leather, bear, femme/lipstick) follow the model of narrow stripes with a silhouette insignia in the corner (bear and lipstick are both recolours of the 7 stripe rainbow but leather is actually a 9 stripe flag). that means all of them are distinct at a glance and even if you are colourblind or they're faded/misprinted you can tell the difference - they're distinct in all relevant ways.

but the insignia have vanished off a lot of 7 stripe flags and now there's like. A sea of flags using 7, 5, 4 or 3 horizontal stripes (and of the 3 stripe flags only the bi flag uses variable line width), often in very similar tonal arrangements and colourways. and like. instead of focusing all your effort on finding new colour combinations you could put some into a Slightly Different Orientation. you don't need to draw a Complicated Sick Dragon you could just. make a line wavy or diagonal or vertical. or even just use a 2 stripe or 9 stripe configuration or alternating colours or variable line width. stick a circle or a diamond in the centre.

like realistically the function of a Pride flag, much more than a national or regional flag, is to be a) easily replicable and b) highly flexible.

you know like. can someone recognisably make a bracelet of it. can they paint it on their face. can they use a colour or pattern scheme to indicate it. can they paint it on homemade signs and can they sew or dye it onto clothes and flags. can it be combined with other iconography, you know, can Scottish Pride organisations put it under a white saltire and Jewish queer groups put a star of David on in it and can you write across it and still have the flag be readable? can you lower the transparency and not have it confused with other flags? will an amateur non-artist be able to draw the flag and have it be readable? like pride flags aren't national flags and they have different uses and before we start jumping to using complicated multi-tonal illustrations we could really just. mix up the basic shapes.

look at the intersex flag. doesn't look anything like any of the flags it's usually alongside. but nothing complicated - it's a flat field with a circle on it. the straight ally flag (which I don't think it's needed but 🤷‍♀️) pops because of its use of a chevron, even though it's another 7-bar horizontal stripes flag. Over in kink the Rubber Pride flag uses largely horizontals but they're variable weight and they have a zigzag in them so the form is unique. The Progress flag (with the trans and PoC colours in a sideways chevron) also is clearly visually distinct from other rainbow flags and it's a good example of not overcomplicating imagery, because the fact that it's using colour-only flags means they're readily combined and remixed.

oh my god people if you're making new Pride flags I am begging you to explore options other than horizontal stripes. try verticals. chevrons. quartering. simple ensignia. this is all getting very samey like is a 90° rotation so much to ask? a vertical? a diagonal?

[thedesignair]

MEA doesn’t often feature on TheDesignAir, as it has slipped under the radar for a while with its older fleet and less-than-design approach to aviation. However it seems the airline has turned a corner and is featuring firmly on our radar now. While not as ‘bells and whistles’ as many other Middle Eastern carriers, it has certainly grown up with the first of its ten A321neos featuring a modernised livery and smart interior brought to life by Beirut based Joe Farah Design Studio.

The livery is fresh, and better balanced, with the blue coloured swash elongating and ‘weighting’ the plane, creating a dynamic fluid image. The use of red green and blue, being the core additive colour model of light is a difficult palette to master. After all, these basic colours reflect a child like quality, and somehow remind me of a Sony Triniton Anode TV logo from my childhood.

However the matured use and dulling of the green Cedar tree logo mature the design and both the sharklets and raccoon mask on the cockpit complete the design with needed design details to balance the front half of the aircraft which is mainly white. We like the fact the Cedar tree has been both simplified and made abstract on the tail by just featuring part of it. It has a better visual balance for the livery, although interesting to see the MEA logo still features the more detailed tree showing the airline isn’t rebranding entirely, instead it has opted to purely reflect the Lebanese flag detail on the tail.

While the outside is bright and bold, the interior couldn’t be more different. Brought to life by working with studio Joe Farah, famous Lebanese Interior designer, the airline has a smart, professional cabin which is designed to mean business.

And ‘business’ is the operative word with no less than seven rows of Recaro CL5710 seats in a 2 x 2 configuration on the A321 which means that 28 business class seats in the front, virtually extending all the way to the over-wing exits (bar two rows of economy seats).

The business class seats feature a slate grey simple textured fabric, which work in conjunction with the carpet textures and smooth grey leather headrests embossed with the MEA logo. The seat controls are nicely designed, clean and match the general design of the cabin, however these seats do feature the IFE controller right next to the knee, which we have knocked several times in the past making for watching IFE a little more challenging.

However, that said, we do find these seats incredibly comfortable thanks to the deep padding they offer.

In economy, like many airlines, the airline and design studio have opted for a complimentary design palette, albeit with differing textures and patterns.

In economy, the seats offer a deeper, more complex weave pattern which allows for greater wear and tear while still offering a smart, sophisticated cabin concept.

On the reverse of the seat, there is a large TV screen allowing for touchscreen entertainment as well as a bi-fold table, common to the Recaro CL3710.

Overall, this cabin product, while sadly lacking some of the colour and vibrance of its ornate cultural roots, certainly positions the carrier as an internationally acceptable cabin product.

Hopefully this new cabin design and approach will lend itself to the new A330-900 neos that were (and maybe still are) scheduled to join the carrier next year. Although we hope the four A321 XLR’s that will feature a better flat-bed business class product for those longer-haul single aisle routes that the aircraft is designed to fly.

The Big Picture

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Images from MEA

  MEA receives new A321neo with new interiors and livery MEA doesn't often feature on TheDesignAir, as it has slipped under the radar for a while with its older fleet and less-than-design approach to aviation.