Web site style, history and a metaphor

Two intriguing things found while wandering:
The University of Arizona posts a public "web style" page so all people creating pages under the university's umbrella will show consistent style. In addition, the school posts a history of their website, showing versions of the home page through the years. Intriguing stuff, at the history page and the style guide.

Barbaro the horse got lots of love on Legacy.com, which uses the funeral "guest book" metaphor, and then sells hard copies of the books. Check it out here.

Sidetracks

Interesting things found while looking up other things:
An effective use of a line and two circles, in Guatemala City, from Skyscraper City.
A McDonald's french fry in the shape of a Nike Swoosh, for sale at Very Strange Auctions.

A public free forum on design and branding for part of Charlotte:
Civic By Design Forum: Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 5:30pm – 6:30pm, Levine Museum of the New South, 200 East Seventh Street.

"AIA Charlotte proposes a project to enhance the image, international character, urban design and architecture of the section of Central Avenue informally known as the 'International Corridor.' AIA Charlotte will work with the property owners, the business owners, nearby residents and the larger community to address the urban fabric and architectural issues that hinder the area’s development. Priorities will include ... how to build an identifiable image ... ."

Details and RSVP: Tom Low, Chair, Civic By Design Forum at tom@dpz.com.

Last but not least, "The Design Disease," similar to the "Math Curse," at Noisy Decent Graphics.

The other "W"

Changing a symbol dramatically can eviscerate its power.
For many people, the far right "W" holds a large space in their brains. They see it every day and subconsciously associate it with certain necessary functions. It "reads" when it's small, and could read better larger with a little work, perhaps through a vector? program like Illustrator.
It holds more power than that other "W" associated with politics and bumper stickers. It has no political affiliation, and it has become cross-cultural through the marketing efforts of its powerful parent company. Through many years of marketing, development and alliances with other software companies, the symbol came to represent software that was a standard for business use, something that everyone knew how to use or needed to know how to use.
Times change.
The symbol on the left is Word 2004 for Mac, version 11.2. I still can't remember viscerally what it's for as it sits on my desktop, after two years of exposure. It's prettier than its previous version, but much more symbolic, losing its connection with the letter "W." It looks like a "3" turned 90 degrees to the right. Or an "E," turned 90 degrees to the left. I've clicked on it numerous times mistakenly, thinking it was an "E" for Excel. Its color is different, at least on my Mac screen, from the "W" I see on the PC every day. The visual difference between a Mac and a PC creates a divide that should not exist.
So I get frustrated and mad at it, and end up using Outlook email to keep notes as I read.
Perhaps the symbol's loss of power for me reflects the threat the software faces in the new era of computers. Users need browsers, communication software and sometimes spreadsheets. But why even go to the odd new "W" if other software can handle the small, quick easy note-taking and writing tasks? Are Blogger and Typepad the new Word?

Pretty things work better

This beautiful symbol is readable in small and large formats, and the designer paid incredible attention to detail and color while using an almost universal symbol of music. The round shape of the CD background harkens back for older users to vinyl discs while reflecting modern media, beautiful in simplicity and useability generally across hardware and software platforms. While small cool Flash drives are wearable, past experiences for many in our culture make the CD cheaper, easier to get and easier to use. The addition of the music symbol alerts users that the program is about more than just CDs. As the software's function spreads to academic podcasts, TV shows and movies, the symbol's focus on music may become a visual artifact. But I bet developers will stick with the symbol, to build on emotional connotations burned into users' heads. It connects the visual with the auditory for strength in memory.

Quick, cheap, reliable last resort

It's 9 p.m. on a cold, rainy Sunday night.
You have a whiny hungry kid -- or kids -- in the back seat of the car. You have no time before you're supposed to be somewhere. Your stomach rumbles.
You're in sprawl-land in the Southeast or Southwest U.S.
You see these white lighted lines on a slightly angled roof. They show up in the darkness, from at least half a mile away. They succeed because they're designed to be seen amid the visual clutter of sprawl-land, even in darkness. Because they're part of a roof, they signal shelter.
Those lines are successful because they're simple, clean, visceral. Images associated with food are primal and visceral, remembered easily without words after just a few exposures.
And when zoning codes prevent a big yellow "M," these architectural details suffice.
You're home free.
At the least, you can get a package of about eight grapes and some sweetened yogurt.
The image also carries extreme negative connotations for some people, because of previous overexposure and negative portrayal of the brand in health-focused cultural subgroups. In a recent experiment, 50 percent of style-conscious, health-focused branded young consumers refused the grapes. And sulked.

Emotional image No. 3

Visceral: Simple and appealing, though not technically beautiful. It involves muted water color, with movement, juxtaposed with a human-made, trashlike element, recycled with a clear colorful purpose filled with hope and a pencil.
Behavioral: I sought out the image after I had the word concept in my head, so my behavior changed before even seeing the image. I tentatively resolve to help or explore further the project of my daughter's photo teacher. She's taking some Photo II students to New Orleans at spring break, to document post-Katrina life, with the themes of "Message in a Bottle" and "House of Cards." Maybe the photo will affect the behavior of others, who will remember the intriguing idea of a message in a bottle from their childhoods, or they'll think about how to reuse this expensive oil-based throwaway of our modern life. Someone said Nalgene, right?
Reflective: So how much of our visual and auditory memory affects the way we approach this image? How many people are humming the Police song "Message in a Bottle" now? How is such a concept connected to Katrina and New Orleans? Surely plastic bottles filled with water could have saved some lives. How cross-cultural is the image? I know the idea is floated in Europe, but does it hold water in Africa? In China?
Credit: A class project far away.
How to do a class project: Apparently, there's some grant money around for such things. Ideas here.

Emotional image No. 2

Visceral: Lack of color immediately makes me feel this is real, documentary, serious stuff. Flowing folds of fabric convey warmth, and sparkles convey luxury and a special occasion. The exotic differences in clothing and facial coloring intrigue, while the familiarity of an elder helping a younger one makes me connect to the people.
Behavioral: The photo makes me want to go see more from the same exhibit, "Families of Abraham," and also make sure I follow up in conversations with my daughter about the exhibit. Her first reaction on seeing an ad for the exhibit on TV was to say, "That's wrong! Indians aren't families of Abraham!" because all the Indians she knows are Hindu. So the exhibit has the ability to quash some stereotypes, with just an ad.
Reflective: (One paragraph, or at least a short posting, I resolved.) I ponder this exhibit's presence on the web and in other media. At the Levine Museum's official site, I don't get enough. I can't click on the images and get big or more photos, and I don't get a slideshow. All on purpose, I realize, to make me go see the exhibit and perhaps look for a forthcoming book. And to protect the work of the photographers, who I know and respect. At the local newspaper's website, I fume about how disjointed and unfindable is coverage of the exhibit, despite beautiful displays in the printed newspaper. I have to go here and then here to get full coverage, and just one day ago, there was a link from the verbal coverage to the multimedia slideshow. Now it's gone. It's not even secondary, which irked me earlier because I'm convinced the visual coverage of the exhibit should come before the verbal coverage.
And I'm willing to bet the verbal coverage may die out and be accessible only through a fee before the exhibit runs its course.
I ponder and fume and resolve to try to find a way to influence such coverage in the future.