Jean du Plessis

Brand identity · 2010–2011

SLOW / SLOW in the City

A landmark identity system for Comair’s airport and city lounges, built around the rarest luxury of all: time.

Role
Concept · Naming · Visual identity · Creative direction
Recognition
Loeries Grand Prix · One Show Silver Pencil · Antalis Grand Prix
SLOW / SLOW in the City project overview

01 · The brief

Create a premium identity and experience for Comair’s airport lounges, then extend it into a distinctive urban counterpart.

02 · The idea

Reframe waiting as a privilege. SLOW turns time — its passing, saving and stretching — into the organising idea, expressed through generous space, refined materials, measured typography and quietly humorous language. In the city, the same logic evolves through metropolitan maps and darker, more tailored detail.

03 · The outcome

A coherent brand world that moves from airport to city without losing its central thought — recognised locally and internationally for making a simple idea tangible at every scale.

01 · Airport lounge

The luxury of time.

Warm woods, restrained typography and dry copy turn waiting into a more deliberate experience.

SLOW dimensional letterforms mounted individually against a warm timber wall
01Letterforms treated as architectural objects
SLOW lounge details combining witty restroom cards, rich materials and a carefully styled vanity
02Dry wit enters through the smallest details
SLOW lounge world clocks, typographic time artwork and a glass hourglass
03Time becomes part of the visual language
SLOW branded coaster paired with a glass of ice on a dark table
04A simple ritual made distinctly SLOW
SLOW editorial pieces combining landscape imagery, expressive typography and long-form stories
05Editorial layers extend the brand world
SLOW stationery and photographic cards arranged across a timber table
06The system rewards close attention
SLOW writing paper, fountain pen and pencils arranged on tactile timber and textile surfaces
07Words and materials share the same restraint
SLOW circular information graphics and A Day in Time calendar sheets
08Information design turns time into an object

02 · Urban lounge

A slower rhythm for the city.

The system becomes darker and more metropolitan, using street grids, perforation and tactile detail without losing the original restraint.

SLOW in the City wordmark set against a dark perforated wall inspired by a city street grid
09The identity shifts into a sharper urban register
SLOW in the City reception area with a green concierge station and Observatory on Night signage
10Language is embedded into the environment
SLOW in the City menu, bill folder and city-map textures arranged on a pale surface
11The city grid becomes a tactile graphic device
SLOW in the City leather bill folder, printed receipt, glass and etched map coasters
12Maps move from surface to ritual
SLOW in the City map stationery, desk lamp and glass arranged on a deep green table
13A precise system for a faster setting
SLOW in the City map graphics translated into biscuits, coffee and table details
14The graphic language becomes part of service
SLOW in the City printed map card, business card, pencil and etched glass on a green surface
15Texture and typography hold the system together

This working edition uses a deliberately concise project story. Jean’s original image archive remains available in full.

View the original archive

Next project

Mukti — The Magpie

Publication design · 2026