Southwest's New Look Dials Up the Luv

Southwest's new logo and aircraft livery, unveiled today, are a bit more than a simple refresh, and a bit less than a ground-up redesign.

The logo is the biggest change, jettisoning the winged heart and company logotype in favor of a simple heart shape trisected diagonally by the airline's new trifecta of corporate colors. Another version pairs the new heart with "Southwest."

The first impression given by the new aircraft color scheme will be that it's brighter, more vibrant. That's largely due to the orangish element in the old blue-red-orange scheme being replaced by a more assertive yellow. "Southwest" is now prominently splashed across the side of the aircraft, in white, rather than just on the tail fin. And "Southwest.com" is printed across the engine housings, also in bold white.

It is, all in all, a confident but friendly look. The heart is featured more prominently (Southwest is based at Dallas Love Field, and its stock ticker is LUV), appropriately. Many Southwest customers won't notice the change at all. Those who do will likely give it a thumbs-up.

There's a photo gallery of the new

Southwest corporate identity elements here

.



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This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.