The approach to typography in this ad was always about keeping things simple. Being a subversion of a joke, the temptation would be to be visually garish and loud, but by being more sympathetic to the concept, the typography helps deliver the story rather than overshadow it. As a long copy ad, the type was set to inspire engagement; spaced and paced in a way that doesn’t feel like a daunting block of text, but flows with the rhythm of a joke. Set in Akzidenz Grotesk, the face was inspired by the work of artist Richard Prince – who famously includes jokes in his artwork set with no flourish in simple Helvetica – whilst also having been chosen to reflect the sans serif fonts common of airport vernacular.

You’ve probably heard the joke. “An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman all walk into a bar….” It is one of the most common and known joke setups in the UK. The joke that follows often plays off and pokes fun at old stereotypes of the English, Irish and Scottish. This instantly recognisable format allowed us to subvert it and instead celebrate a host of different nationalities and modern diversity.

Heathrow is one of the busiest and most diverse airports in the world. In 2017 it saw 78 million passengers, roughly 213,500 every single day. 94% of these passengers are international. From Heathrow, you can fly to 204 different destinations across 85 countries.

As such, if you were to tell a bar joke, it wouldn’t just be an Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman who walk in... but a microcosm of the world. And they’d be walking into a departure lounge.