LA: Designing different looks (week 21)

This weeks LA is designing different looks for a website. “Copy the exact content from a homepage of a website of your choice. Now redesign this homepage in three different ways. Each design should evoke a different emotional response from viewers. You can choose what you would like these emotional responses to be.”

 

I have copied the content from Harness Magazine. Harness is and online magazine, community and shop. They have a print edition also.

Their original site looks like this:

 

I have styled the content in 3 other ways.

Corporate blue.

With this style I wanted to create a corporate/business feeling to the magazine. It has the style of a intranet website of a company.  It is simple and has few colors, other than the white is is all different shades of blue. The font is a clean sans serif and there is little decorations or graphics. Only the relevant content.

Magazine

Using more feminine colors and decorative fonts I have tried to create the feeling of a magazine for women. The buttons have rounded edges, to blend well with the fonts. Some softer color here and there help to give the magazine a softer look. Pink and red colors are added to give a feeling of romance and femininity.

 

Science and tech

The last style is a tech and science magazine style. A complete white page with a single color to highlight headlines and categories gives a clean feeling. The serif fonts in the content and “button” text gives a feeling of authority and knowledge. The name of the site is written in sans serif to separate it slightly from the rest of the page.

Understanding positioning (week 04-05)

Task #1
Look at the following logos and explain in your own words what you consider their positioning to be (do this for each one).

 

Coca Cola

Coca colas logo is a word mark

Coca colas logo give me the impression that their positioning is the classical soft drink company, the most familiar drink in the world. Their family friendly and a part of tradition. The colour of the logo is bright and red and the typography is classical. Red as a color gives associations to love and the typhografy is classical. It tells me that they are the traditional, familiar favourite in soft drinks. Red is also bold and can give the sense of famous, red carpet.
You love cocacola and its been a part of your family and traditions for generations.

 

Volks Wagen

The Volks wagen logo is a monogram

Volks wagen metal circle with its initials in it gives me the sense that they want to be maskuline, a car for the people. Everyman car. The name also gives this association. Colorus are cold an masculine and they are a durable car. It is simple monogram, gives the impression to me that they wasn’t to be the durable car for the normal family. Where the man is the archetype.

Visa

 

Visas logo is a word mark.

Gives me the impression that they want the position in the customers mind as a company for everyone. The typography is simple, but the small details that the v has a small line going out of the v and the letter are in cursive leaning forward with two lines above and under, leaning forward gives a sense of speed. This is the fast way of payment. It is a company going forward, its the future. It is also a timeless logo because of its simplicity.

 

Task #2

Lets work backwards! Look at the logo on the Apple iPhone and, by doing your own research, investigate the history of the product and the company that manufactures it. Give an outline, in your own words, of what you consider the following to be:
Describe its brand identity – exactly as you see it
What do you think its positioning is currently?
What do you think the strategy for this specific product was?
What research do you think was done on this by the company who made it?

Appel´s brand identity

 

Innovative and creative. They push forward to create new and more user friendly technology, by thinking different. Intuitive. They know what the customer wants before the customer  knows themselves. Clear. Apple is complicated technology made simple to use. Connection. Apple is your friend, they change the way you communicate and connect. You are part of the apple family.

The stores

Their shops are all the same. They are modern and feel new.
They are open spaces where the customer can walk around exploring their products. They create an atmosphere, where customers can see what is possible, and imagine new possibilities.

The product packaging is consistent, it have a certain look and feel, year after year.

 

Customers

Their target customer is the creative, the ambitious, the young adult with enough money.

 

The Apple logo

 

Simple, recognizable. Not a typical logo for a technology company. Its an apple. A very organic thing. Which also makes it stand out, among its competitors. Samsung and Microsoft. The logo has gone trough some changes during the years and its first logo was very complicated and didn’t last for a long time. However the apple logo as it is today is a very simple and elegant design. With huge market value.

 

Positioning

Apple holds the position as the innovative technology company. It is well known for products that blow peoples mind, and changes the industry. Apple have not come up with very innovative products lately, but I believe people still have them as the nr. 1 company for innovation. Who knows what features their Apple watch will have in the future.

Technology is something that people are very passionate about. Apple have created a base of very loyal customers.

 

The Iphone

Strategy

The apple iPhone is a extremely complex product and I think the marketing strategy for it was exactly the opposite. The phone is simple to use, and intuitive, elegant, and innovative. They market it as a tool for self expression.

Research

When apple wanted to make the Iphone I think their research was focusing on what the customers wanted the most, in my research I found Steve Jobs talking about that people was saying they want to be able to be connect to the internet. Their research I believe was focused on how to make a device that could  connect  well to the internet, and display internet pages more like its displayed on a computer. I also believe they researched how to make the keyboard and functionality of the phone as user friendly as possible and therefore came up with the touch screen. Researching what movements feel  natural for humans to use when navigating the touch screen.