Website Reviews 17 Aug

Fly Baboo
www.flybaboo.com

Baboo is an airline based in Geneva, Switzerland. They fly a couple of dozen routes, mainly south of Geneva. I noticed advertising for the airline whilst I was in Geneva airport last week. The thing which struck me first was the logo, shown here, which has neatly incorporated the Swiss national image (logo?) into the corporate logo. The 'B' of Baboo has been resolved with the cross of the Swiss flag in the cross of the first letter of the corporate name.

Some attempts at logos look contrived, particularly when a message is intended from the logo. Baboo, however have managed to neatly create an original logo whilst noting their relationship to Switzerland, without looking forced.

Having never flown with Baboo I can't report on their service quality, however looking at their website my impression is positive and I'm pretty sure this will carry through to their service delivery. The site is clean, neat and contains pretty well everything you need. One thing it does have that many more airlines could add is carbon offsetting in action. Baboo have added a 'baboo forest' section to their site which shows, in some detail, the levels they have gone to in offsetting emissions. In partnership with a site called Aquaverde they have arranged to plant around 7,000 trees (so far) in a designated area of the Amazon Rain Forest, in a concerted attempt at reforestation, working with local communities deep in the Amazon.

This is a nice touch and demonstrates tangible, proactive moves by the airline. Contrast this with the rather poor efforts of many (most?) other airlines. EasyJet, for example, it seems to me, are in denial about the impact of emissions and have filled their site with content about how little their planes pollute (compared to other fleets) and the contribution to global warming accounted for by air travel (small according to EasyJet). To me this rather misses the point and I'd far rather fly with an airline that was serious about doing something about emissions, rather than take the 'we're not as bad as some' approach. Is there anyone left who thinks another 1000kg of CO2 into the atmosphere is a good thing?

So, well done to Baboo, firstly for the emissions being front and centre, secondly for a nice site and thirdly for a great logo execution.

By the way, if you find yourself in Geneva airport, great food and drink can be had in the Montreux Jazz Cafe. That's 'Rob's Top Travel Tip' for today!

PS. At some point I will return to logo design and in particular 'Suisse' Design, as advocated by, among others, Josef Muller-Brockmann. In the meantime, here's a link to a top designer influenced by Suisse Design - Suisse Studio www.suissestudio.co.uk.