The Magenta Lessons were born from the current trademark battle between the tech blog Engadget Mobile and the telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom on behalf of their brand T-Mobile. Click here to read up on this truly exciting clash that may or may not have been an elaborate April fools joke - or a cooperative PR gag by the involved parties.
The Magenta Lessons consist of four installments: Design and Colors, Marketing, Trademarks and Public Relations. Today, we will use these real-life happenings to discuss the role of design - more precisely: color - in branding:
Welcome to the first part of the Magenta Lessons.
Imagine life without color. What would it be like to live in such a world? What if the sky wasn’t blue, but white? Imagine the grass not being green - picture it grey! And now, imagine T-Mobile being black. Read on…
An interesting battle is going on between a popular technology blog and a major telecommunications company as I am writing this post. In the spotlight: a questionable letter, a vast outcry in the blogosphere and the overall question if a company has the right to protect a color. This color: Magenta
Before we take a look at the relevance of these happenings for us designers, let me sum up the events so far.
Round I
Deutsche Telekom AG (with the subsidiaries T-Mobile and T-Online, among others) asks Weblogs, Inc. (an AOL Time Warner company, runs around 90 blogs, including engadget.com and engadgetmobile.com) to kindly
…replace the color magenta in the Engadget Mobile logo and discontinue using the color in a trademark-specific way…
That was earlier last week.
Round II
Engadget’s reaction to the letter is to publish it in its beautiful completeness on their blog. Here it is: Read on…
Now this is something really worth looking at. If you’re looking for a bullet-proof way to scare away your target audience, follow the lead of this advertising agency, and you’ll be fine.
I have to admit: at first, I didn’t quite know what to make of these ads for UK Trade & Investment. That’s the client - the “Government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in an increasingly global economy” (from their About page). I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s take a look at a very interesting series of 6 mesmerizing print ads with a huge learning value for us designers and advertisers.
Click on the following image to view a larger version. Just don’t get stuck in this computer generated girl’s cleavage; there is more to come… Read on…
How important is a reliable print shop for us designers? You know it: it’s essential! How terrible is it to create a top-notch design and your printing house messes it up.
As a full-service design agency, we can’t limit ourselves to delivering comps and then wander off. We rely on dependable vendors for just about anything. I’m sure you’ll agree with me. Even if you don’t do print and you’re specialized in web design, you want to recommend quality when it comes to web hosting.
The quality our suppliers deliver reflects on us as valuable designers. That’s why you should always be on the lookout for the best quality and the best price - because, in addition to providing quality material to your client, you also don’t want to ruin your margin.
So, on a quick note for design studios, let me share this with you. Read on…
When was the last time someone recommended something to you? Think about it: on an average day, how often do you hear someone say “these are good, you gotta check them out”, or even “those are the best”? The most interesting question, however, is: to what extent are you aware of the power of word of mouth?
I’ll tell you what happened to me today. Read on…
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