Jaguar Leaps Forward this Leap Year
Established in 1922, Jaguar is a British luxury car manufacturer that makes real pretty and expensive cars. Jaguar is part of Jaguar Land Rover, which in turn is owned by Tata Motors. This week, Jaguar introduced a new marketing campaign created by Spark44 — a communications agency owned in part by Jaguar Land Rover — that “is driven by the belief that Jaguar makes the world’s most instinctively rewarding performance cars,” and aims “to increase awareness of the brand amongst a new audience in line with the brand’s ambitious future plans.” With it came a revised logo and corporate typeface.
The campaign, created with Spark 44, the international communications agency that’s part-owned by Jaguar Land Rover, will feature print, TV, digital advertising and a new look that contemporizes the aesthetics of the brand at every customer touch point. The Jaguar brand will have new corporate identification and a new font, created exclusively for the brand. The dramatic alteration, including significant changes to the brand symbols of the “leaper” and “growler,” is the most extensive change Jaguar has made to its visual identification in 40 years.
— Press Release
New “Machines” TV spot.
New print ad. Such a dumb, trite concept.
I have always liked the Jaguar logo, for no particular reason other than it’s well executed, seems well managed, and it’s never tried too hard. With this last version it is trying so hard to be cool and relevant it’s become annoying and, worse, noticeable. Not so much in the jaguar itself, or “Leaper”, which has always featured some kind of metal finishing, but in the typography. Whereas the previous wordmark looked like a luxury, fashion-line brand, the new one has lost all sophistication in exchange for an overly extended, industrial look that cheapens its appearance. It reminds me of the Dodge logo, which I don’t associate with hundred-thousand-dollar cars. The sample of print advertising I found does not help their cause either: I mean, seriously, a sonogram? They seem to have lost track of their audience or what a luxury brand should look and talk like. The TV spot is more successful in establishing Jaguar as an integral part of innovation and industrial evolution as well as defining a slightly edgier personality. Overall, there is a lot of confused messaging and execution. I won’t be buying a Jaguar anytime soon … not out of principle of their poor branding but because I can’t afford it.
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Deeply Embedded In The Green Landscape : OUTrial House
Located in a green landscape flanked by trees on all sides, the OUTrial House has some defining features that make the 1,937 square foot residential structure seem part of the landscape. In order to keep the surroundings as natural as possible, Polish architects from KWK Promes “raised” a carved part of the grassy property up to act as the roof, creating a continuation of nature around and on top of the house. Some new tasks were given to the architects after starting the project and they changed the arrangement quite a bit: “When the whole was ready, the client came up with another request, to create some space for a small recording studio and a conservatory. The latter was obtained by linking the ground floor with the grassy roof through an “incision” in the green plane and “bending” the incised fragment down, inside the building. This procedure turned the roof into an atrium, as the only way to reach it was through the interior of the house.
As opposed, however, to a typical atrium, the newly-created space has all the advantages of an outer garden while remaining a safe, internal zone within the building. This way, a new type of house was created, and its designation – outrial – is to convey the idea of an atypical atrium which is part of both the interior and the exterior of the building. The studio was created in a similar way as the conservatory, but in order to ensure work comfort for a rock musician, it was isolated from the rest of the house by shifting it upwards.” The interiors were flooded with natural light bouncing off the green landscape and the interiors were designed to contrast with the grass-covered outdoor staircase and front entrance. A luxurious mixture of natural and man-made create a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere.
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PixelQi has heavy night, wakes up married to French ‘PadPro’ tablet
What has Mary Lou Jepsen been up to since 3M’s cash injection? It’s hard to say, but her sunlight-readable PixelQi panels are still popping up on the odd device — like this Windows 7 slate from little-known Evigroup. The 10-inch PadPro is aimed at graphics types who are willing to bid adieu to €599 ($800) in return for a pressure-sensitive display, a 1.6GHz Atom processor (no mention of Cedar Trail), 1GB RAM and 160GB hard-drive. They also need to really hate Android.
PixelQi has heavy night, wakes up married to French ‘PadPro’ tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jarson Residence by Will Bruder + Partners
Will Bruder + Partners designed the Jarson Residence in Paradise Valley, Arizona.
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Description from Will Bruder + Partners:
This house is designed as a vessel of personal discovery for two real estate professionals, with an educated passion for modern architecture, and their two sons. Adjacent to a city mountain preserve to the south, the house gracefully embraces the topographic fold of a desert wash, while focusing on a northeasterly view of the McDowell Mountains in the distance. A mysterious refined dark object in its rugged natural landscape, the house responds to the owners’ desire for a place of quiet reflection.
This two story structure, with its simple shed roof and deep overhangs, is a sculptural form of weathered steel and cooper. A large weathered steel vessel for swimming emerges from the natural desert adjacent to a shaded raised gravel terrace.
Entry, office and bedrooms are on the upper level with the primary living and dining experience, a media/music chamber and potter’s studio tucked beneath. Cork and concrete floors, wall planes of translucent glass, and cabinets of cherry and stainless steel articulate the interiors.
The upper level entry and passage are conceived as galleries for the owners’ art collection. The stair down to the collective living spaces plays against the subtle drama of the angled south facade, to draw you to the desert beyond as the double height living room takes you to the sky.
Visit the Will Bruder + Partners website – here.
Photography by Bill Timmerman
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Before & After: Beanies Coffee
Yorkshire branding specialist, Robot-food was appointed by Beanies flavour coffee in November 2011, to redesign its identity and packaging. The agency was chosen following a two way pitch, due to its credentials in food and drink branding. The brief was to clarify communication and create fun, but confident branding and packaging that would stand out on shelf.
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Use of Details In Interestingly-Shaped Swedish Apartment
Welcoming inhabitants with an irregularly shaped hallway, this 54 square meters condo in Gothenburg is suited for someone who loves cozy, interestingly shaped residential spaces. The versatile apartment offers social and resting spaces in the same bright room, while the kitchen was designed to display a welcoming design. The living room is used as both the bedroom and the entertainment room, and the small walk-in closet with mirrored doors and the pantry occupying a corner of the kitchen offer plenty of storage space.
Windows facing both east and west flood the spaces with natural light bouncing off white walls and wallpapered kitchen wall. Three meter high ceilings offer the possibility of building a loft to shelter the bed and offer an interesting twist to the versatile space. The hallway opens to a small, unusually shaped bathroom with natural stone floors, with walls partly covered in white tiles. Spotted on Alvhem, the charming condominium features the original hardwood floors, a detail that offers elegance enhanced by the use of a playful, vividly colored wallpaper in the kitchen. If this would be your next home, how would you transform the space to suit your own needs?
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Jessica Perez by Bjorn Iooss Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 2012
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Jessica Perez stars in the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Photographed by Bjorn Iooss.
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USA Hoops’ New Looks
Established in 1974 as the Amateur Basketball Association of the United States of America, USA Basketball — renamed as such in 1989 when FIBA modified its rules to allow professional basketball players to participate in international competitions — is a non-profit organization that acts as the governing body for men’s and women’s basketball in the U.S., responsible for selecting and training the teams that participate in events like the Olympics and FIBA World Championships. This week USA Basketball introduced a new logo that replaces the current version, in use since 1989 and made world famous by the original Dream Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
1992 Dream Team. They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Look at that roster (just ignore Laettner).
USA Basketball’s new logo incorporates the existing USA type into a badge-shaped mark which reflects the honor of playing for the United States of America’s national team. Also featured is a basketball, a nod to the original Amateur Basketball Association of the United States of America (ABAUSA), and a single star, symbolizing players from all over the country coming together as one team with a common goal.
— Press Release
With so many NBA teams sporting vintage uniforms and logos this season, the old USA Basketball logo doesn’t seem that much out of place right now, even if it looks as if it could have come straight out of the Julius Erving-1970s-ABA days. But today’s USA teams look nothing like they used to so a more contemporary logo is a welcome change — and lo and behold, it doesn’t entirely suck. It’s a restrained effort with few elements executed as minimally as possible without gradients and ten different strokes. The “USA” block lettering could have used some additional finesse but I really like how the white line that strikes its middle aligns with the top of the shield creating a curve that extends all across. The “Basketball” type is simple and decently tracked, considering all the area it has to cover and I mostly appreciate that it doesn’t have spikey serifs to signify speed and movement. Even the change of the star’s size, from a main to a supporting element, is remarkably (and relatively) sophisticated. Overall, a definite improvement.
In Related USA Basketball News
Last week Nike also unveiled its Team USA uniforms, to be used at this year’s Summer Olympic Games, that showcase their very own “USA” logo. The story first broke on Yahoo! Sports with a post titled “Nike’s Team USA basketball logo is hideous“. It’s not the next IBM logo, for sure, but it’s far from hideous. It’s actually a highly energetic and aggressive rendition of “USA”. I love how it “points” up; a nice allusion to the fact that these people can literally jump over you. The writer mentions that the logo “has earned derision for looking too angular, too Superman-like and way too ugly.” I actually like the Superman reference as, again, the athletic abilities of these folks are not quite ordinary. The logo isn’t perfect and I’m not sure why I am defending it that much but given the propensity of sports branding to go awry, Nike’s logo, along with the USA Basketball, show that there is still potential for decent executions.
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