Although Ubuntu's target description suits me well, I think, it did not catch me. Their palette is in colors of my home, but un my top box I need to have somethinng geek, shiny, cool, sci-fi, strong, aggressive... That's why I do prefer an orb as logo, because it is so versatile. The shape, materials, the symbols. Easy to remember. But I guess it is taken... Is it? Ubuntu failed miserably in my case... In look and stability. I think it is of a good marketing though. Is the name 'Mageia' immutable? Do you suggest to rename it?
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 4:00 PM, Graham Lauder <[email protected]>wrote: > The artguide and logo guidelines are seriously incomplete and need a lot of > work. Free software projects have a history of rushing into branding that > they will be stuck with for a very long time, from logo to colour scheme to > pallett. If it's not thought through and given the consideration it needs, > it > can turn into a millstone around the projects neck or a chaotic round of > ever > changing looks that confuses the market. > > The project needs to get it's branding process it's organised. Until then > everything should be fluid, even the name should be seen as a "Working > Title". > > So therefore: > > We need to identify our vision, > Identify the way we want the world to see us. > We need to identify our target market > and then come up with a Brand to suit that market. > > The brand does not have to be out there until the announcement of the first > release. > The brand that is created now, will shackle the Marketing team for all > time. > The marketing team will only hang around if the brand is good. Hackers > need > the tools to do their job, if the IDE they are forced to use when making > code > is a pile of shit then they'll go elsewhere. It's the same with marketers, > give them a good brand and they'll come in droves to be part of it. > > Ubuntu's strength was in that initial marketing, targeted at 18 to 35 age > group with warm a comforting and attractive pallett (Browns Reds and > Yellows) > and a slightly zany way of doing things (Warty Warthog and so on) They > identified a market of young people of above average intelligence who were > not satisfied with the cold clinical professional brand of principal market > leader. > > This group had several advantageous facets to them. > 1) They were leaders and early adopters of new technology > 2) They were rebellious to a degree > 3) They had a very positive view of themselves > 4) They felt that they deserved to be noticed and that the world should do > stuff for them. > > So Ubuntu's branding is aimed directly at that market and very > successfully. > > The problem that many projects suffer from is that they come up with a > branding that feels good to their own community, while ignoring the market. > And make no bones about it, much of the reason that Ubuntu gets lots of > developers is because of it's wide user base. That makes it sexy, the > opportunity to be famous: "I am part of that.." > > Now there is a good argument to be made for going after the same market for > all of the above reasons. > > We can learn some lessons from the way Ubuntu did things. > > They leveraged their location, used a local language and traditions to give > them a name and a story: Ubuntu = Humanity to Humans and a logo that > reflects > and enhances that story. > > For me, for this project, I think it's untapped branding strength is in > it's > Latin South American Heritage. Connectiva. > > Connection, > Computers are about connecting with others and when the world thinks about > South America and connecting they think Dance, .. Tango. If it was my > project > in these circumstances I'd be calling it Tango-Linux. The name even > immediately evokes the branding colours and the pallet, Bold Blacks, Fiery > Reds and silvers, the colours of passion. Tango evokes passion, rebellion > but at the same time precision and teamwork. > > Unfortunately there is already a Tango Linux, not to mention the Tango Icon > project, but you get the idea. > > > To conclude: my point is that there needs to be much more consideration > given > to the branding elements at this point before we start voting on logos and > the > like and I would like to see everything up for discussion, name included, > we > are brand new, the world is watching, this is our unique opportunity we > need > to stamp our mark boldly but with serious consideration of our goals. > > Of course the communities desire maybe just to stay as a small minor player > in > the desktop universe, but if that's the case this is not the Mandrake I > knew > back at 8.0 when It was on every other computer magazine cover CD, and it > was > going after the market in a big way, not worrying about the Ubuntus and > Redhats but out to take down the Redmond machine. Personally I think that > spirit is still there. > > > -- > Graham Lauder, > OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ > http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html > > OpenOffice.org Migration and training Consultant. > > INGOTs Assessor Trainer > (International Grades in Open Technologies) > www.theingots.org > _______________________________________________ > Mageia-dev mailing list > [email protected] > https://www.mageia.org/mailman/listinfo/mageia-dev >
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