23 October 2009 /
Great minds don’t think alike
by Noelle Dyer at 9:15 am 23 October 2009
Filed under: Branding, Home Page, Identity
Tags: brand, denmark, Identity, law firms
News & views
Blog / Identity /
8 April 2009 /
Riding in on horses to battle tanks
by Ian Roberts at 10:33 pm 8 April 2009
Filed under: Branding, Luxury, Typography
Tags: arm, brand, Identity, intel
There is a huge battle brewing in the technology industry right now. Netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) are finally becoming the capable machines that science fiction always told us they would. Laptop grade processors are finally small and efficient enough to fit in devices like iPhones. At the same time, processor lines that have been traditionally designed for mobile phones are now able to run a full web browser and laptop computer experience. We are at a crossroads.
This intersection between the iPhone and the Eee PC will be the computing platform for the next five years, dominating market growth in the PC sector. But who will own this market?
All of the handheld/smartphone makers as well as PC vendors all have a shot. It is the Wild West right now, with everyone staking a claim. No one is sure which operating system, hardware, or brands will prevail. One thing is certain however, there soon will be a blitz of advertising aimed at consumers which will confuse and alienate them.
That is why it is important for the players involved to establish their brand now. One doesn’t have to look but a few years back to see how this story will play out for all of the processor companies.
AMD, in the very late 90′s, was able to introduce a 64-bit chip that blew Intel’s best offering away (Intel invested in another technology which wasn’t accepted by the market at that time). They had a lead on Intel chips for the next few years but weren’t able to capitalize. Read more…
27 October 2008 /
Microsoft Azure is to Cloud Computing…
by Ian Roberts at 9:06 pm 27 October 2008
Filed under: Branding, Identity
Tags: azure, Identity, microsoft, naming
Microsoft Cloud Computing
…what Port25 is to Open Source.
Is it me, or is ‘Azure’ the worst name you possibly could think of for a Cloud Computing initiative? The word Azure reminds people of a cloudless sky, a clear day. A world without clouds.
If you look up Azure in a dictionary, you get ‘cloudless’ over and over again. If you look up ’cloudless’ in a Thesaurus, you get Azure as the #1 synonym. Perhaps this is reverse engineering the Microsoft thought process.
It reeks of Phillip Morris’ nicotine addiction programs or oil companies’ alternative fuel advertising. Blatantly disingenuous.
So, what message is Microsoft, the traditional software company, trying to convey with this naming strategy? I think the answer is as clear as day.
1 July 2008 /
New Belfast brand misses opportunities, however understandably
by at 9:56 am 1 July 2008
Filed under: Branding, Identity
Tags: Branding, Identity, Logos
The new brand is spearheaded by a friendly heart-shaped/letter B logo.
The new Belfast “brand’ (really a brand identity, if we’re using our words carefully and correctly) came out this week. Since Saffron is working now for the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, I have been to Belfast a few times and find it a genuinely nifty city something like a Glasgow to Dublin’s Edinburgh, to make an extremely rough comparison (except that Glasgow’s actually bigger than Edinburgh).