The design of The World Civil Aviation Report, Volume 5 underwent a remarkable transformation, as highlighted in the following slides.

As ICAO's flagship publication, it delivers aviation news through the perspectives of global experts

A notable transformation can be seen in the design of the covers over the years. The first two volumes featured photographic covers, while the third marked a shift to illustration-focused designs paired with more refined and sophisticated printing finishes. This evolution reflects the publication's growing emphasis on visual storytelling and high-quality presentation.

The creation of the 5th edition of this publication is a compelling story of leveraging design thinking to establish it as the leading global aviation resource for timely and relevant content. This human-centered approach seamlessly guided the process from concept to launch, prioritizing user needs, feasibility, and sustainability.

The goal of the 5th volume was to build upon the foundation of the 4th, maintaining its strong coffee-table book aesthetic. Like its predecessor, this edition aimed to provide a realistic portrayal of the aviation industry during the pandemic—capturing the challenges of travel bans, lockdowns, and the uncertainties surrounding health restrictions.

Here are the cover concepts developed for this edition, each telling a unique visual story. Drawing from expert insights, we explored aviation's recovery from the pandemic, using gradients to symbolize the industry's transitional phase. After a year of halted travel, we asked: Where is civil aviation headed in a post-pandemic world? This reflection inspired the theme of recovery, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Visual Direction 1: The Airport Series
This series captures airport infrastructure—terminals, waiting lounges, and transit spaces—through the eyes of travelers. The visuals portray a mix of grounded airplanes and others taking off signaling a leap into the future of travel.

Building on the Airport Series, this front and back cover emphasize grounded airplanes and empty airports with canceled flights, capturing the stark reality of civil aviation during the pandemic.

Visual Direction 2: The Runway Series

This series shifts focus to airport runways, offering perspectives that exclude the direct involvement of travelers. The aim was to symbolize the world returning to the skies, illustrating airplanes poised for takeoff—some making their way to the runway, while others awaited passengers to board.

Also part of Visual Direction 2, these covers focused solely on grounded planes taking off, symbolizing the return of travel.

After extensive discussions with the in-house marketing team at ICAO, we’ve decided to continue developing the airport series, with a particular focus on exploring Option 1A. The impact of COVID-19 on us as civilian travelers has underscored the importance of reflecting the deeply personal consequences of the pandemic in the cover design.

The decision was made to depict illustrated characters wearing masks on the cover to reflect the "new normal" and evoke a sense of relatability and connection. Various scenarios were considered, including solo travelers, families, and business travelers. Efforts were made to capture diverse airport behaviors in different contexts while ensuring the characters portrayed were inclusive and representative.

In parallel, an extensive study of color palettes was conducted. This particular gradient was chosen to symbolize a new dawn for aviation. Various tones and nuances were explored, with the lighter color palettes ultimately being favored for their ability to evoke a hopeful atmosphere and contribute to a more uplifting feel for the book. Simultaneously, different illustrated characters, their placement, and the meanings they would convey within the series were examined. The graphics were continuously refined to achieve a polished look and feel, while scale and perspective were also experimented with to enhance the overall composition.

Design thinking was applied to innovate the book's design language, editorial content, and advertising packages. The goal was to deepen the understanding of customer engagement by capturing their experiences with the brand across all touchpoints, with the aim of reinventing the advertising experience.

A customer journey map was created for past, current, and prospective clients, visualizing interactions across social media, online, and offline channels to enhance the experience. One map focused on streamlining the buyer journey, while the other optimized the customer onboarding process to support conversion through the sales funnel.

The 5th volume of the World Civil Aviation Report features a tactile experience, using contrasting coated and uncoated papers to distinguish between content and advertisements. The report provided advertisers with enhanced visibility, along with free stickers at the back of the publication. Special attention was given to the printmaking process, executed in-house by ICAO's printing unit, to produce an eco-friendly coffee table book. The media kit included various consumer-centered plans and brand experiences.

In reimagining advertising packages, postcard marketing was explored as a way to establish a more direct connection with clients. Alongside the regular newsletter targeting past, current, and prospective clients, postcards were considered as a direct mail tool. Despite being traditional, direct mail is reported to bring in 10% more new customers than email when targeted effectively (according to Mailchimp). The postcards would have included a personalized boarding pass with client details and their specific advertising plan. However, due to time and distribution constraints, this approach was not executed for the 5th edition.

Each chapter is color-coded according to ICAO’s strategic objectives. While the tactile experience is difficult to capture in photos, the book is printed on environmentally friendly cotton-based, uncoated paper with a subtle ivory tone and slight texture. Advertisements are printed on glossy, thicker paper for contrast.

The World Civil Aviation Report, Volume 5, is both an online and offline publication. While great care was taken with the printed version, the digital version was also designed to be identical and user-friendly. It is available to read on ICAO's eLibrary.