For nearly 20 years, Craig Barnett’s company, Scheme Designers, has been creating unique paint schemes (and, more recently, vinyl designs) for aircraft. There are now more than 11,500 airplanes flying throughout the world with paint and vinyl schemes his company devised.  Read the whole AVweb article.

If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, then Scheme Designers founder Craig Barnett is an object of adulation.

During 18 years in business, Barnett and his seven-employee New Jersey design firm have created thousands of custom paint schemes for clients ranging from individual aircraft owners to international airlines. But Barnett’s copyrighted designs also have been mimicked countless times by private aircraft owners, commercial paint shops, and others—and Barnett says that’s not flattery. It’s theft.  Read the whole AOPA Pilot article here.

Scheme Designers President and Chief Designer will lead a free workshop “Designing the Perfect Paint Scheme/Vinyl Design for Your Aircraft”, twice during Sun ‘n Fun 2016.  The workshop will be held twice; the first on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in Forum Room 7 at 9am; the second on Friday, April 8, 2016, in Forum Room 8 at 9am.

The livery of an aircraft reflects the personality of the owner and the brand of the owning company.  Scheme Designers has worked with over 12,000 aircraft owners and businesses in over 140 countries to design aircraft paint schemes that communicate the brand, personality and vision of the company and owner.  Scheme Designers also works with all the OEMs on custom livery for factory new aircraft.

In this session, Owner and Chief Designer, Craig Barnett, will share critical guidelines and best design practices for a variety of makes and models of aircraft, for owners and companies to use when designing their new aircraft livery.  Mr. Barnett’s world renowned workshop is presented in a dynamic, engaging, educational and entertaining, graphic-rich and visually stimulating media.

The interactive workshop includes use of hundreds of photos and design renderings illustrating best practices for aircraft paint scheme design.  The workshop will assist customers in navigating the process to develop their paint scheme and see it through to reality.

Aircraft such as Dwight Frye’s RV-7 N4932L, photos attached (Photo credit and copyright: Dwight Frye) will be featured to help illustrate the process owners can follow to design their perfect scheme.  With the desire to have something different from the usual “perfectly fine, but standard, RV paint scheme”, Dwight, a software engineer with a vision for color and movement for his paint scheme, reports having a concept in mind, but not quite knowing how to bring it to life.  After working through the design process outlined with Scheme Designers, Dwight is “thrilled beyond words with how the aircraft came out.”

The workshop is well known as an educational, unique and entertaining session.  Attendees will never look at aircraft paint schemes the same way again, and will come away well equipped to develop designs for their own aircraft.

Third Annual Scheme Designers Sun ‘n Fun Scavenger Hunt

The popular Scheme Designers Scavenger Hunt is on again at Sun ‘n Fun 2016!  The Scavenger Hunt will take participants in a search across the display grounds in search of aircraft sporting a Scheme Designers paint scheme and special logo sticker.  Entry forms can be picked up at the Scheme Designers Sun ‘n Fun Booth (A-017), and must be returned to the booth no later than 4pm on Saturday, April 9, 2016.  One point will be awarded for each aircraft found with the Scheme Designers livery and logo sticker.  The entry form with the highest number of points wins a custom desktop model from Factory Direct Models (Booth C-023), worth more than $500!

Players should check the Scheme Designers Facebook page regularly where several clues per day will be posted about the location of the stickers.  “Like” and follow the Scheme Designers Facebook page to receive notifications as they happen.  The hunt is limited to aircraft “within the fence” or on formal display at Sun ‘n Fun.

Players can pick up a scavenger hunt form at the Scheme Designers Sun ‘n Fun Booth A-017, and should jot down the make, model and registration number for each display aircraft on which they find the Scheme Designers sticker.  Completed forms must be returned to the Scheme Designers booth (A-017) BY 4PM, SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2016.  A prized custom desktop model from Factory Direct Models (Booth C-023), worth more than $500, is the grand prize!

Scheme Designers and Diamond Aircraft are presenting a unique livery for the newly introduced Diamond DA40 TUNDRA.  The new DA40 TUNDRA, on display at last month’s NBAA Convention, featured an exterior design that embodies the sense of adventure and rugged nature personified by this aircraft.

“It was important to Diamond Aircraft to introduce the new DA40 TUNDRA with an exterior design that illustrates the capabilities of the TUNDRA and the lifestyle that it enables.  We wanted visitors to be able to see all the possibilities that this aircraft opens up for them – be it in the outback, back-woods, or rugged terrain.  Scheme Designers nailed it perfectly – the aircraft’s purpose was self explanatory.  Not only did we get a great design, Scheme Designers were great to work with, they got it done fast and at a fair price.” Said Scott McFadzean, VP Operations at Diamond Aircraft.

Scheme Designers President, Craig Barnett said, “To develop the concepts for the vinyl scheme used for the introduction of the TUNDRA, the Scheme Designers team of artists spent weeks researching the variety of missions and the broad operating envelope of the TUNDRA.  The capabilities of this aircraft will take its owners and operators to the farthest corners and allow them to provide services to difficult to reach areas.  It was important that our scheme visually depict the unique adventures this aircraft will enable.”

Scheme Designers and ONE Aviation have entered into an agreement to provide concierge level design consultation for each customer buying a new Eclipse 550 aircraft.  As part of this arrangement, Scheme Designers will design the factory standard paint scheme for the Eclipse 550 and will provide personal color selection consultations with each customer, at no extra charge to the customer.

“Owners of the Eclipse 550 expect next-level style and elegance of everything in their life.  Scheme Designers has earned a reputation for being able to bring a customer’s vision and personality to life in their aircraft livery, making them an excellent partner for ONE Aviation and Eclipse family of owners and operators.” Said Alan Klapmeier, ONE Aviation’s CEO.

Scheme Designer’s President, Craig Barnett, said of the relationship, “We have enjoyed a creative and forward-looking relationship with the ONE Aviation team and we are excited and energized about our expanded offering to provide Eclipse 550 customers with an unexpected service for their distinctive aircraft.”

Scheme Designers will also be available to provide concierge design services for any customer of a factory new Eclipse 550 aircraft who is seeking a unique, custom paint scheme for their new aircraft.

August 11, 2015 – Five aircraft wearing Scheme Designers paint schemes took home awards from EAA AirVenture this year. Diana Stanger and her Aero Vodochody L-139 received the award for Best Jet; George Bowlds and his RV-8 took home the Kit Champion – Bronze Lindy; Thomas Irion and his Velocity took home the Grand Champion Kit Built – Gold Lindy; Kenneth Orloff and his Marquart MA-5 took home the Grand Champion Plans Built – Gold Lindy; and DJ Dondelinger took home the Gold Lindy for his 1955 deHavilland Beaver.

“It is no surprise to find award winning aircraft with Scheme Designers paint schemes at the top of award lists across the airshow circuit,” said Craig Barnett, Scheme Designers President and founder. “Our team of professional designers works closely with each customer to capture the owners vision for what they want their aircraft to be, for how they want their aircraft to reflect who they are. And our design isn’t final until the owner is completely satisfied, regardless of how long or the number of iterations that might take.”

It is not unusual for Craig to visit with the owner’s chosen paint shop while the scheme is being laid out to ensure that the application of the scheme matches the technical specifications exactly. Grand Champion and Best-In-Show are not unusual monikers for aircraft sporting Scheme Designers livery – for example, nine of the 2014 AirVenture award winners carried Scheme Designers paint schemes.

In other post-AirVenture news, Scheme Designers Scavenger Hunt was again a huge hit with AirVenture attendees. Veteran Scavenger Hunt sister team, Amelia (12) and Piper (10) Stagg (pictured with Craig Barnett, Scheme Designers President & Founder) took home this year’s grand prize for the second year in a row. The whole Stagg family got into the spirit of the paint scheme hunt, making it an important part of their visit to AirVenture. The sisters will take home two custom desktop models from Factory Direct Models as their grand prize.

July 16, 2015 – In Anticipation of EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh, Wis.  Earlier this year, Quest Aircraft Company (AirVenture Main Aircraft Display #263-264) rolled out a new, interactive, three-dimensional online paint selection tool to assist customers in selecting paint schemes and color combinations.  The new tool also allows users to specify custom registration numbers as well as optional exterior styling.  Users can also view the Quest color pallet to look at color combinations before selecting the final colors for their aircraft.  In addition, they can select and view what their aircraft would look like with optional equipment such as amphibious floats and a cargo pod.

Quest Aircraft began working with Scheme Designers (AirVenture booth #3056 in Hangar C) late last year to develop the highly detailed, multi-dimensional selection and configuration tool.  Quest has relied on Scheme Designers to develop their unique, factory standard paint schemes, and with KODIAK buyers worldwide seeking a custom paint scheme, since the aircraft’s development.

“This paint configurator tool is very accurate,” said Steve Zinda, Quest’s Vice President of Sales for Europe, Middle East, China and Africa. “Most web-based configurators are more general and almost generic. We wanted our customers to have a more personal relationship to their aircraft, so they see it exactly as it will be when they take delivery. This tool also lets them select options, such as amphibious floats or the external cargo compartment, so they can see how their aircraft will look with those options and the selected paint scheme.”

The Quest configurator takes the iconic KODIAK paint design, and allows the customer to select from six factory standard colors and forty optional colors.  They can then also further customize “their aircraft” by including a tail treatment and specifying pinstripe colors and logos.

The Quest KODIAK custom paint selector is available at http://questaircraft.com/PaintSelector/

“Quest is such a fantastic manufacturer to work with, both as a partner and as a client.  The whole team is dedicated to helping the customer make choices about their aircraft that will delight and lead to their long-term pride and satisfaction with their KODIAK,” said Craig Barnett, President of Scheme Designers.  “This unique tool will certainly set the Quest KODIAK apart and engage existing Quest customers and airplane aficionados at a whole new level in general aviation.”

The Quest KODIAK Paint Selector is on display at the Scheme Designers booth #3056 at AirVenture in Hangar C.