LIFT Aero Design Debuts Graphics to Raise Mask Awareness in Aviation
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Tokyo-based aviation design consultancy LIFT Aero Design has released a collection of aviation-themed graphics it believes can help airlines restore confidence in air travel. The graphics include an “I protect you; you protect me” slogan, intended to communicate the two-way benefit of wearing face coverings. Face masks have been touted as a simple gesture that could help reduce transmission in crowded areas like aircraft cabins. In an article penned for the Washington Post, Joseph Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, explained that wearing a mask on board reduces the incidence of infection tenfold.
“The reality is that airlines need to fill aircraft in order to survive and thrive again. A small behavioral change like wearing a mask can protect everyone on board. It enhances perception of the cabin, and by extension, flying in general,” said Daniel Baron, LIFT’s managing director. “Anything airlines can do to reduce angst is helpful to all of us.” As such, LIFT has made the graphics free for use by aviation suppliers and airlines, 15 of which have already been given access to the visuals. However, Baron anticipates “it will take some time” for airlines to evaluate their feasibility and to implement them.
“A small behavioral change like wearing a mask can protect everyone on board.” €” Daniel Baron, LIFT Aero Design
The collection of graphics, which range in style from conservative to playful, can be applied to mask packaging, websites, mobile apps, boarding passes, IFE screens, advertising, placards on partitions or seats. They are meant to strike a “friendly” tone to “remind travelers of the joy of flying in a time of heightened anxiety,” design partner Aaron Yong explained.
According to Baron, the team was inspired by some of the mask awareness campaigns popping up around the world and thought it could help airlines do the same as they instate new protocols. While many airlines had made face coverings mandatory for cabin crew since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, it wasn’t until APEX and IATA advocated that passengers be expected to the same, that mandatory mask wearing for air travel started to become the norm.
“The gravity of the situation – with sudden and strictly enforced lockdowns – has given people around the world a heightened sense of mutual responsibility, a sense that all of society matters, every single one of us,” Baron said. “The two-way aspect of mask wearing is an extension of that, in the aircraft cabin context.”