06.11.2026 ————
The Aer Lingus shamrock is famous. So is the tail fin it flies on.
Since 1936, Ireland’s flag carrier has carried the shamrock to cities across Europe and North America, displayed proudly on the teal tail of every aircraft. Together they form one of the most familiar sights in Irish aviation. So when Aer Lingus set out to strengthen the entrance to its headquarters at Dublin Airport, the goal became an entrance as iconic as the brand itself.
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Most totem signs follow a familiar shape: a tall, flat upright that carries a logo and does its job well. The brief started there, with a plan to reskin two existing totems outside the building. As the conversation developed, so did the ambition. Why show the brand when you could show the aircraft?
The idea became a tail fin standing at the front door. It’s a sign that says “airline” before anyone reads a word.
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Aer Lingus came to us with a sample idea. We took it from there, creating the full design from scratch around their brand guidelines and producing the technical specifications for manufacture. With an emblem as protected as the shamrock, there is no room for interpretation. The proportions, the teal and the green all had to be exactly right.
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The finished totem stands 3,000mm high and 2,175mm wide. Its shape is fret-cut from aluminium panels with welded 100mm returns. The panels are formed around a box-section steel frame and sprayed in a 2-pack paint matched to the client’s RAL colours.
The shamrock is cut from 10mm green Perspex and pushed through the aluminium face on both sides. It is backed with opal acrylic and lit with cool-white LEDs. That’s where the real challenge sits. An illuminated logo has to be the same logo at noon and at midnight, so the brand stays true whether the lights are on or off.
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Our certified crew handled every part of the installation. The fin was bolted to the existing concrete plinth through a 10mm steel base plate and twelve chemical anchors. A folded Dibond tray finishes the base and hides the fixings.
An airline puts safety and access above everything, and the site came with strict entrance criteria to match. Every step of the install was planned around them. From first visual to standing sign took two months.
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Few brands have a symbol strong enough to stand on its own at three metres tall. Aer Lingus does, and its headquarters now greets every visitor with it.
If your entrance could be saying more about who you are, our team designs, builds and installs bespoke totem signage that does exactly that.
