A Discussion on Branding

Read an interesting article at The New Yorker, Famous Names by John Colapinto. [Unfortunately The New Yorker doesn't allow nonsubscribers access to their articles. A big mistake, they're still thinking like the dead-tree media they are - but that's the topic for another post.] Colapinto interviewed Lexicon’s founder and C.E.O., David Placek and discussed the process involved in branding: from the Intel's use of "Pentium" to Apple's "PowerBook" to the development of the "BlackBerry." Non-tech examples include the rebranding of the Patagonian toothfish to Chilean Sea Bass.

Lexicon employs linguists who have found commonalities that cross multiple linguistic boundaries. They search for sounds and cadences that evoke the desired response. As with good IAs and BAs they try to determine what their clients need -- which is to seemlessly integrate their product into their customers life.

This article is a worthy read - well worth the effort to download it.

Forms, Labels and Usability

I received some interesting feedback on a website I was working on. It's a form heavy site where the employees, as they get new customers and leads, enter the information into the database. The forms were designed with the labels right-aligned. The creative team liked it because it looked better. The business owners signed off on it for the same reason.

However, we started to get complaints from the users that "the forms were hard to use." In the end it was decided that left-aligned labels were "easier to read" than were right-aligned labels.

Personally I find the right-aligned text more visually appealing and I don't find the left-aligned text "easier to read." But that doesn't really mean much, does it?