JetBlue is a refreshing departure from a conventional airline. They maintain a sleek, modern brand, with a flair of exciting playfulness in their aesthetic, while all the while emphasizing customer service in an unparalleled way for major domestic airlines. They have a central brand/marketing/design thesis: we will provide customers with a cooler, richer, better experience than is noticeably different than other airlines. 

1. Aesthetic

JetBlue has maintained a professional yet youthful aesthetic with their styling. The textual lowercase logo with the uppercase ‘B’ is compelling and refreshing from other airlines’ highly stylized logos, such as American or United. The planes often have the logo boldly on the side yet often have a fun colored pattern on the tail fin. Their app and website are active, lively, and use bright colors set in an easy to use structure. Their entire image is designed to show that they are a major player in the airline industry, but the leader of a new generation of modern airlines. 

2. Customer experience

JetBlue pays tremendous attention to detail with their customer experience. From their high quality free snacks, to the Dunkin Donuts coffee, to their free selection of 40 live television channels, to free in-flight wifi, to focusing on legroom in the main cabin, they work on ensure that customers are enjoying amenities that are typically not offered by other airlines — and customers recognize this. These are little details, but in an industry like aviation, these differentiating details matter.

3. Changing the conventional cabin

JetBlue explicitly brands themselves as a “people’s” airline by not using the idea of a first class cabin. Most of their domestic planes are one continuous cabin, and while some seats are more expensive (“Even More Space” seats), there are no physical separations between the cabins. This gives a sense of commonality amongst the passengers, a refreshing break from the classist sentiment that can be generated by having multiple tiers of cabins. 

JetBlue demonstrates a clear, explicit focus on the design of the company’s image and branding.