Entries Tagged as 'google'

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The before and after of the Google logo change revealed today

The before and after of the Google logo change revealed today

My swell friend and fellow voice-talent Elaine Singer pinged me on Facebook tonight regarding the recently revealed Google logo change, asking “So, Peter K. O’Connell, what am I supposed to think about the new Google logo?”

It occurred to me that I really have been lax in my logo reviews. Mostly because I was of the mind that I was one of the few people I know (who aren’t graphic designers and I aren’t 🙂 ) who notice these things and have strong opinions on them. I was beginning to feel like when I was writing about logos, I was coming across as more obnoxious than usual. So I trailed off – plus this is primarily a voice-over blog with a dash of marketing and advertising thrown in.

Clearly, though, some people have been awaiting my logoed opinions. So for this post, blame Elaine.

You might have missed this announcement today, subtle as it was, with Google making the first major Google logo change in, like, 15-16 years. It’s a pretty big change for one of the world’s biggest brands (which is why it’s news).

What’s the same: The colors and the font spacing are pretty much the same (the colors might be a shade softer). The new logo is also flat, no dimension, like previous most recent Google logo. This flat logo design has been a trend in much of the tech industry’s branding coming into the past 5 years (boy, there’s a real broad brush stroke of logo analysis – don’t ask me to back it up with evidence as I have no time).

 The old and the new logo layered on each other to highlight differences

The old and the new logo layered on each other to highlight differences

The biggest difference for me: font and attitude. Going from a serif font to a sans serif font is change enough but this logo has attitude, I think. My first thought was that it was childish. Then I changed my opinion to child-like and then I settled on fun.

Fun is the attitude that this new Google logo came to mean to me. Why.

A couple of things stood out to me that made me think “fun” was the objective (in my totally subjective opinion) of the new Google logo.

Start with the second “g”. In that font, that small “g” always looks like a smile to me. In fact, for years, Goodwill took that smile to the forefront of their logo.

Then I looked at the “e”. They kept it very similar in angle to the old “e”, which really looked like a laughing “e” except in the old logo (with it’s formal Garamond-like font) the rest of the work mark’s formality didn’t make the “e” seems as fun as this new font does.

BTW, my guess is this new font, like the old one, is specially designed with it’s own name and patent- meaning it’s like a million other fonts with a millimeter of a pixel difference just so Google can, with full hubris, call the font its own. Whatevs.

Then there is the big “G” (not to be confused with General Mills‘ big “G”). To me, it seems jolly, certainly softer and more easy going (as are all the letters in this word mark) than the old logo. Note also that these are pretty straight on “o”‘s too, not angled like O’s in the most recent Google logo. Together with the rest of the letters and the colors, this all combined to make me think Google is going for the child-like wonder we enjoy when we explore the web and discover something for the first time. Child-like fun and wonder.

Now, just so you know, I’m not the only idiot that writes this kind of drivel about logos. There are hundreds of blogs tonight writing about this same topic. Many/most/all of them have much better artistic and design analysis on this logo than I can offer. And they will probably offer the insights of the company and the designers who can tell you what it’s REALLY supposed to mean (and, thereby, just how far off I am in my opinions).

But screw all them. Brand perception is all individual anyway. 100 people shown the same logo will have 100 different reactions. The designer and the marketer’s hope can only be that the majority of opinions have something positive to say about a logo (which then reflects on the brand).

I like the new logo (not love). I don’t know why in this age of high-end resolution we can have logos that has some (even a little) reproduce-able depth to them, but that’s not the trend. If they were going for fun, child-like exploration of learning new things with Google and its products, then it works.

What do YOU think of the new Google logo? And while you answer, here’s what Google thinks

here’s another reason google confuses me

VOXMARKETISING_audioconnell's voice-over blog

Sometimes I google things relevant to my business to see how I am doing.

Tonight, I googled “voice-over blog” to see where Voxmarketising – the audio’connell blog and podcast (which hasn’t really produced a podcast in years but whose counting) ranks.

I’ve got about 13 subscribers and most of them are family members or really old people who didn’t understand what they subscribed to and couldn’t find the ‘erase’ key on their computers. If the computer industry ever invents an ‘erase’ key, I’m finished. Nonetheless I wanted to see how I faired.

The #1 voice-over blog is Bob Souer’s which is as it should be. Then there’s Ben Blankenship and Terry Daniel’s Voice Over Club. These are not suprising to me.

But here comes the confusing part…you know who is NOT on the first page? Courvo and Vox Daily.

You gotta understand, these are two of the very first voice-over blogs ever. Before there was an internet, there were these two voice-over blogs.

The 11th commandment was “and there shall be voice-over blogs” and BAM, Dave and Stef started posting….THAT’S how far back they go. They each have over one million subscribers. Bob has only 750,000 (he says it’s 800,000 but he fibs).

Courvo posts every freakin’ day! When he goes on vacation, he posts how he’s not posting cause he’s on vacation!!!!!

So Google, what bur do you have up your virtual butt that puts those two blogs off the first page of that search?

In any logical world, those two blogs are page one. That they are not defies logic, science and good old common sense.

That’s all…this just occurred to me and I thought I would point this out so that Google fixes its defective voice-over algorithm and we could all return to more comfortable summer temperatures.

What? You thought the heat was caused by global warming or some other nonsense? Sheesh, what are you smoking?!

It’s all about voice-over blog rankings, my friend. Mother Nature does not like it when there is not balance in the voice-over universe.

time to vote for the young artists of google doodle

This is a contest I blog about every year because I just love how it mixes awareness, artistry and logos.

It’s time again for Doodle for Google.

Vote for whomever you like because there isn’t a loser in the bunch.

Enjoy the art, enjoy the logos, enjoy the experience. I know I do.

a creative way to get your message across

Email blasts are not new…for my Christmas card to audio’connell Voice Over Talent clients and friends I sent out over 2,500 emails in a single click (“faster than a locomotive, able to leap tall building in a single bound!“). I’m sure you do the same thing…it’s cheap it’s fast and you can capture briefly the attention of a lot of people when ever you feel you need to do that.

But where I think we end up lacking in our collective email blasts is in creativity. Should we tell one story, should we tell multiple stories? Should we microtarget the list or will buckshot do? Most of us don’t drill down very deep. Well at least I don’t.

The above example from my friend and vendor Don Papaj of Marketing Tech shows some simple yet I think effective creativity. (Editor’s note: Yes, I have used his company’s services for direct mail postcards and no this is not a paid nor expected {certainly not expected by Don} commercial). What you cannot see in this graphic is the animation that Marketing Technologies of Western New York includes in this .gif. The buffalo is sleeping on the treadmill and his belly goes up and down with the beer on it (very Buffalo).

I don’t know if there is a holiday that goes by where I don’t get a Marketing Technologies email and that bison isn’t doing something with some kind of logical tie in to a service Don and his team offer. All it takes is a little planning, maybe a bit of technical knowledge (or a vendor who can help provide that technical knowledge) and your email blast can be memorable too.

To be sure, it doesn’t have to look like Don’s….but what about what your are doing in your email marketing is memorable? Why does a recipient want to read your stuff? I mean, you may like the content but do your customers?

I do my own creative on my email blasts – mine aren’t nearly as nice as Don’s stuff but for better or worse the emails are infused with my personality. I try and add SOMETHING that’s different, helpful or funny. I want it to resonate with my audience.

My 2011 Christmas card has at present (with many folks still on vacation since I sent it last Friday) a click thru rate (those who opened it) of 32%. My regular quarterly blast gets about 28% click throughs. Now with email marketing, alot of a blast’s success depends on the list, time of year, messaging…lots of variables…but mine are getting read and I usually end up getting 2-3 calls on new business, the timing of which I can attribute to the email blast. “Aren’t I great,” he said, thumping his chest. No I’m not and that’s not why I offer those stats.

Much like government statistics, answers vary on what the median average is for an email marketing click thru rate. A very quick scan of Google showed “experts” who say 4-6% click thru is great. Others say a median percentage runs between 12-18%. So I’m scoring well but I never feel like it’s good enough.

I should play with the lists, target a bit more specifically and…and…and…oh hell, I got a business to run here and it ain’t a direct mail house. My point is kick up your creative and your blasts may be more explosive…in a good way.

podcamp philly october 2-3 2010

If you are in or around the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area and have a new or continuing interest in social media as it pertains to you life (business or personal) I highly recommend you attend Podcamp Philly 2010.

Of course if you have a Podcamp ANYWHERE near you, I recommend you attend it.

The cost is only $20 (which basically weeds out the real attenders from the pretenders and makes headcount more efficient for the volunteer organizers) You can sign up HERE.

podcamp boston september 25-26, 2010

The one that started it all, Podcamp Boston, will celebrate its fifth anniversary this Saturday and Sunday, September 25 & 26, 2010 at the Microsoft N.E.R.D. Center (yes, you read that right).

That’s the good news. The bad news is it looks to be sold out and there is a wait list for tickets. So I guess blog posts like these for their event don’t seem so necessary anymore.

Well, good luck to all involved anyway.