Monday, October 29, 2007

Underlying Philosophy of Logos.

McDonalds;



The McDonald's Golden Arches logo was introduced in 1962. It was created by Jim Schindler to resemble new arch shaped signs on the sides of the restaurants. He merged the two golden arches together to form the famous 'M' now recognized throughout the world. Schindler's work was a development of the stylized 'v' logo sketched by Fred Turner, which was conceived as a more stylish corporate symbol than the Speedee chef character that had previously been used. The McDonald's name was added to the logo in 1968.

Qantas;



Qantas is the the national airline of Australia. Quantas was founded in Winton, Queensland in 16 November 1920. The name was originally "QANTAS", an acronym for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". I never knew that. Good trivia question.

Qantas recently unveiled a new logo in July 2007. The change to the logo was prompted due to the changes in the structure of the tail of the aircrafts. Qantas took this opportunity to make the design of their new logo a little more contemporary. The new logo was design by Hans Hulsbosch of Hulsbosch Communications.

Some of the changes in the new logo are below.

1. The feet of the kangaroo are more visible and do not appear to touch the ground.
2. The tail of the kangaroo appears to be pointed more upwards than before.
3. The italicized font of the airline 'Qantas' is different and shows a more significant lean.

1944-1947
The logo has undergone 4 major changes since its inception in 1944. The original Kangaroo symbol appearing on Qantas aircraft was adapted from the Australian one penny coin. The kangaroo was painted beneath the cockpit of Qantas' first Liberator aircraft. Tha kangaroo is a feature of all the logos.

1947-1968
The original logo did not have any wings. The winged kangaroo symbol was created by Sydney designer Gert Sellheim, and first appeared in January 1947 to coincide with Qantas' introduction of Lockheed L749 Constellations. These aircraft began operating on the UK service in December 1947. They were the first Qantas aircraft to carry the Flying Kangaroo and the first to operate right through to London with Qantas crews. The kangaroo carried the globe with its feet.

1968-1984
In 1968, the Flying Kangaroo was later placed in a circle and the globe was dropped.

1984-2007
In June 1984 Qantas unveiled an updated logo conceived by Tony Lunn of the Lunn Design Group, Sydney. The Flying Kangaroo lost its wings once again and was refined to a more slender, stylised presentation.

AUDI;



The Audi badge the 'Four Rings' is the emblem of one of the oldest car manufacturers in Germany. It symbolises the 1932 merger of the four independent motor-vehicle manufacturers: Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. Together with the NSU brand, which joined in 1969, these companies are the roots of the present-day AUDI AG. After the war the Audi name - which is Latin for "Hear!" - disappeared, but was revived in 1965, using the four rings as a logo. Also, the name is sort of a pun on 'hoerch', German for 'hear', name of one of the founders. The company itself is more than a century old.

The four rings in the logo have nothing to do with the Olympic rings.

Apple;



The, now well-known, American company Apple was the first computer firm not to use its name as its corporate identity. The idea of selling a computer under the name and image of a fruit was conceived by Californian Steve Jobs and his colleagues (even the word "Macintosh" is the name of an apple variety). The motif of a multicolored apple with a bite taken out of it is a reference to the Bible story of Adam and Eve, in which the apple represents the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

BMW;



BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke or Bavarian Motor Company. The company was established in 1913 and based in Munich, Germany. It started out as an aero engine manufacturer, hence the company logo. The logo comprised of four quadrants of alternating white and blue color. It is a stylized representation of an airplane propeller spinning against the clear blue sky. The logo represents a white propeller blade against a blue sky. It reflects the origins of BMW as a maker of military aircraft engines during WWI. Also, white and blue are the traditional colors of Bavaria.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Commercials II.

Thai Healthcare Commercial;


"Old Ticker";

Spin: Healthcare services are so easily reached that its "right at your backyard".

United Healthcare;

Spin: United healthcare, a service you can trust.

Monday, October 22, 2007

NEWSPAPER SPINS.

Wednesday 17 Oct 2007 to Sunday 21 Oct 2007;

Neuslim : The Only DRINK that LOSES WEIGHT and RESHAPES the figure NATURALLY;
Spin: Lose weight just by drinking!

Revlon : Face your dark side;
Spin: Reveal & express your inner darkness with this make-up.

Bintan Resort : Bonding just 55mins from Singapore;
Spin: The nearest getaway island for family bonding!

Cornetto Royale : Love in every bite;
Spin: Find love with every bite.

Goldheart : The keys to a Love Symphony;
Spin: Let music fill your romance with this jewellery.

Marigold Milk : Any more goodness, it'll moo;
Spin: There's nothing else much fresher than Magnolia.


The difference with the weekday paper & the weekend paper is that the weekend papers are mostly for leisure and social purposes. It is mostly for families as they would have more free time to spend on reading. This is evident with the papers titles "His & Her Saturday" and "Our Sunday". Also, the weekend caters to the entertainment sector of the country by providing information on events such as those at Zouk as adults would go clubbing on the weekends. Plus, in the sunday paper, there is also a section on social sundays which is a dedication corner for families to go through.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Commercials.

Nissan;

Spin: Even if there's an explosion, your life would always be safe.

In this commercial, Nissan came out with an explosive commercial which is unusually used for a car advertisement. Manufacturer does not usually want to allow their consumers to have a mindset that their car would pose a threat & fear to their lives by being able to blow up. The turning point in this advertisement is that the car stood up to the test of being blown up & can get away with anything, thus the consumers life is saved. Hence, the fear in the consumer comes to an end. Therefore, it allows the consumers to have a change in mindset with thinking that their lives would be safer when using this automobile even though it is not firmly & logically proven with actual testings.

Mazda;

Spin: Your car will always look clean & great wherever, whenever.

In this commercial, the adverisement emphasizes on the consumers fear of their automobile being & looking filthy & dirty. Therefore, they came up with the idea of making them feel the desire to always have a great & beautiful loking car. They also applied comedy in the advertisement which is also the spin in the advert. This is because the car could transform & produce a water spray from the front bump of the car to spray away the peeing dog so as to keep the car in a good looking shape which is highly unlikely in the real world.

Mercedes Benz;

Spin: Its super fast, that the hamster too wants to be SUPER!

The genre used in this commercial is a comedy with feelings of trepedation. By producing such emotions, it engages the viewers of the advert to continue watching so as to know what is going to happen next. For example in this commercial, it engages the viewers to know what has happened to the hamster in which the spin of the clip would surface when it ends up running in the wheels of the car possibly "exercising" dramatically. Hence, it is different from other commercials seen before.

Hyundai;

Spin: With this car, your marriage will stay intact.

Also a comedy genre, it also instills fear in the clip because the couple in the clip doesn't want each other to find out about their "scandals" which comes to the spin of the clip when they pulled back the seat of their "toyboy". With this, it allows consumers to think that they too could behave in such a way to hide things or people in the car from others to see although in real life, i do not think that hiding a person by reclining the car seat would be a wise & successful move to make.

Toyota;

Spin: Fight for what is more worth it!

Another comedy commercial, it shows a couple fighting with each other with traps just so they could use the car. It is an exciting commercial because it again engages viewers to continue watching to know what would happen in the end. The spin is that both the couple ends up getting to the car despite the many traps that they fall into, when you probably only expected one winner between them. This is also likely to be illogical as for example, someone who receives an electric shock could probably end up dying. But in this clip, the wife still continues on going.


From my point of view on consumerism towards the automobile in Singapore is that consumers only buy a car out of their own desire to follow the rising trend in the country. For example, the rising trend in Singapore on its automobile now is that every car is getting bigger by the year. Therefore, consumers would purchase those big cars despite not having a big family or even considering the fact that the Singapore roads are not likely suitable to use jeeps, land rovers or even SUVs! However, this desire to buy a product following the rising trends of the country does not only apply to automobiles, but to the fashion, entertainment, technological & other industries too.