5. Simple Truths about Logos

This incredibly cute 5 year old actually reveals some basic things about logos and brands that never crossed my mind. When trying to distinguish your brand (cough, cough Jaguar, Puma, GreyHound), it’s incredibly important to evoke an immediate, distinct reaction. In a world defined by split-second consumerism, are we undervaluing the importance of logos?

Watching this video reminded me of the passage in Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs, in which Jobs painstakingly works with Paul Rand to develop a powerful logo for the NeXT computer. Jobs understood what a logo meant to the global community and the emotions it evokes upon a glance or a deep inspection.

When we set out to design something to be seen by the world, we have to remember what ties us all together – what makes us smile, what makes us cry. I believe a logo that can invoke an understanding of a company’s culture is a vital asset to any successful company.

Video via: GOOD

4. Frightened Rabbit’s “Poke”

This song has enough pain in it for an entire album’s worth. I’ve attached the lyrics because their honesty and brutal imagery perfectly describes the feelings almost everyone has had when shit in a relationship feels hopeless.  I really hope these guys can somehow hitch onto the back of the locomotive that is Mumford & Sons right now.  At least there’s enough room for beautiful storytelling and Scottish accents in my library.

“I might never catch a mouse and present it in my mouth
And make you feel you’re with someone who deserves to be with you.

But there’s one thing we’ve got going and it’s the only thing worth knowing.
It’s got lots to do with magnets and the pull of the moon.”

3. Corporate Brands on Twitter

Waking up this morning and seeing yet another social media disaster by another corporation makes me wonder if such brands even need a social presence at all. McDonalds is the perfect example. You have a product with room for ad nauseam ridicule and yet you throw out hashtag promotions without any foresight of the backlash you might receive?

Twitter is a tool just like any other. Corporations shouldn’t feel obligated to use every gadget in the toolshed just because the neighbor is doing so. And if you do choose to utilize a tool, make sure you use it wisely.

On a personal note, I tweeted about Zappos the other day and the hacking emergency they encountered.  I received an direct message within minutes from Zappos thanking me for my mentioning of their honest brand. I was shocked even on their magnificent scale of customer service that on the day their corporation lost 24 million personal accounts, they had the effort and time to communicate with someone who was simply just giving them praise.  That is how Twitter should be utilized in a corporations attempt to stay relevant, honest, personal, and effective.

Picture Via: TurboMilk

2. Ultrabooks and the Revival of PC Innovation

PC Brands and Innovation in the same sentence? Believe it or not, this combination might be something actually taken seriously in 2012. As CES in Las Vegas came to a close last week and the nerds began their diaspora from America’s Playground, it became clear across the blogosphere that Ultrabooks were going to be a revolution. This industry tends to get swept up in buzzwords (see: “cloud”) but the Ultrabook is poised to truly become a household name that’s actually understood.

At CES we witnessed genuine inspiration from the likes of Lenovo, Dell, and Samsung. For the first time in years, it seems these companies have realized that product, not profit, is something that is to be stressed with the utmost importance, and not something gleaned through the exterior glass of an Apple Store. The models have lessened in quantity and increased in quality and end-to-end design (just like Jobs would’ve loved).

From Gizmodo:

“It’s one thing to copy a MacBook and poop out a junkish half-measure; it’s another to borrow almost everything good and add even more desirable features to it.”

I look forward to seeing what Intel’s new Ivy Bridge platform can do when teamed up with genuine PC innovation in the Ultrabook space. After all, some competition will only make this Macbook Air on my lap get that much better.

Picture via: Business Insider

1. Poke Life

“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money.

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is – everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.

The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.

I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

Steve Jobs, from the “One More Thing” Documentary, originally aired on PBS in 1994.

Picture via Diana Walker: The Bigger Picture