Adam Kazwell is...somewhat concerned

Here's why it doesn't matter if Google's logo sucks

Saw this link about the Google logo on Kottke.org and it was interesting to see what others had to say about it. Here's my comment:

Logos (and branding/design in general) do matter, but it's not everything.

But I believe Shmuel said it best:

Maybe branding is what we do everyday. Maybe it's what we say, how we act - the process of accumulating social equity (read: whuffie). Maybe by claiming that everyone should have the best logos, names, and graphics standards manuals we are putting the cart before the horse.

Logos are powerful - they are the visual equivalent of words and as such they invoke meaning. The question then is where does the meaning come from - who we say we are or who we show we are? I think that Google captured our imaginations by doing what they said they would and doing it better than anyone else. I think they have continued to hold our loyalty by being attentive to their users and evolving to meet our needs.

We could look back in hindsight and say, "Wow was I wrong about that logo - look at how they've succeeded" but I think that would miss the point. Google didn't succeed because they have the best logo (in fact personally, I have to agree with Jason, it could use some TLC) - Google has succeeded because they did what they said they would: stay out of the way and provide good search results.

In 2000 we were still formulating an opinion about Google. Today, three years later, we have seen the company grow and stay true to their promises so far. In the future Google may change the way they act and if they do, that logo that looks quaint and charming today will loose it's luster. A logo has equity only because a company gives it meaning and because of this logos, like words, are alive. They change with time and culture.

I agree 100%.

ps. I think Kottke was ripping Google's UI/logo because he wanted to get hired for some redesign work :)

update: Here's another story on the (unintentional?) branding of Google

Creativity vs. Innovation

Two similar sites recently caught my attention as a great way to do a little "outside of the box" thinking.
Mr. Picassohead and
Snowman creator

Much like the analog Mr. Potatohead, both sites give you a list of different items that you can drag and drop to form a slightly customized version of a face or a snowman. But with just a dash of inspiration, the results can be truly suprising...

Thinking of U(I)

Reading through Russell Beattie's notebook today I got to thinking about User Interfaces, and how there's still a lot to be desired. The main comments from Russell included:

Is there a reason for the icons and the buttons and the menus and the tabs and the list boxes and all the other GUI crap that we have to deal with both on a computer and increasingly on our mobile devices as well?

Those different paths to the same piece of data is what - in my opinion - causes so many problems in computers.

It doesn't make sense anymore. Now that we're all comfortable with the idea of computers and the mouse, we don't need "buttons" and "gauges" and "files" and "tabs" and all that crap that are analogies to real things. They're not real things - it's just data.

Testing trackbacks

Gosh, I really like this site, but you know this site is pretty cool too. Thanks for your help Carson.

Sending out an RSS

I was reading this article today, talking about how RSS will deliver a long-promised Internet dream - getting you the information you want from the people you want without hassle or bother...Hmm, how do you spell push? (R.S.S.?) Never mind this quote from Gary Wolf:

"The worst story Wired ever published is Push! In my view nothing in Wired before or afterward managed to combine both concrete error and speculative absurdity in such high concentrations; moreover, its influence was real and its effect was malign."

Instead, believe with me for a moment that there's some potential here, and that RSS will deliver on some of the hype. Until today, I've never used RSS or any other news-realted agregators. So I'm going to document my initial reactions/thoughts/comments about my first encounters with RSS.

Apologies to Ftrain

So I transferred another one of my blogs over to Typepad tonight. Still lots of work to be done but I figured I'd let everyone know about it anyway.

The blog is about "one man's journey to financial freedom" and I haven't touched it in a long time (which you'll see is a common theme) but I hope to change that soon. I have a lot of stuff I'd like to write about for it and writing about what I'm doing financially will only help me to understand if what I'm doing is right.

Without further ado - here's the link: All This Blogging is Making Me Rich