The Livery Design on Dragonair's 20th Anniversary Aircraft A330-343X

The spectacular work of art that is emblazoned across the length of Dragonair's 20th Anniversary Aircraft took a total of 14 months to realise, from design tender to completed image.The design brief called for an image that would raise a smile, be impactful, and convey the essence of Dragonair to those who saw it.And at the heart of this was a story that linked the greatness of the dragons in ancient Chinese culture with Dragonair's passion for service excellence today.The image also had to reflect the connections that Dragonair has helped built between Hong Kong and the world, especially the China Mainland.The artist whose design captured these requirements most effectively was Hong Kong-based illustrator Tania Willis. She found inspiration for the final design in a variety of sources, including the sophisticated patterns and colours of the folk-art paintings of Tianjin and Jinshan, the hills of Guilin, and the kite flyers on the beaches of Lantau at weekends.At the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse the design took shape on the Dragonair A330 following its conversion from a 2D design using special software. The design required 466 painted stencils to complete, almost double the number used on Airbus' previous most complex livery project.The result is the flying work of art that is Dragonair's 20th Anniversary Aircraft. You can also view my model of this plane at http://www.geocities.com/chewsengkeat or clickhere.