Rainbow Panda

[GregorR]

A Panda's Aura?

PandAura you say?

(Not as goodstupid as the last one, but *eh* )

 

[Trip]

I love it when people start making creative (and stupid) stuff :lol:

 

[traylorpark]

So let me share with you all my dream... that the Pandora is as well branded and represented as possible. Obviously, it is the hardware and this community surrounding it that makes this platform what it is. However, probably due to myself being a visual artist, I also want to see the Pandora presented as well as it deserves.

Large companies have the ability to hire advertising agencies create an image and an aura (panda?) for their product. In turn their products appear enticing and attractive to potential buyers. Unfortunately openPandora does not have the luxury of a professionally crafted image, even though I think it is much more deserving.

So, I have been thinking a lot on this topic and decided it would be good to start bouncing the ideas for branding off the community. I really have no idea what the end result of this would be, and I'm not sure how it all would come to fruition. I'm hoping that everybody can see the benefits of a strong image. And the amazing thing about the Pandora, is that it can back up a good image with depth (which is where most other products fall short). Perhaps in the end we can put together a fairly competent identity package.

I'm glad that most of the responses like the early 80's retro technology look (Speccy and Companion cube!). I think it's strong and unique when appropriated into a more contemporary design. The hearts have been hit or miss, and I'll confess that when I used them, they were more of a stop gap solution to the need of some more detail. I think they are awesome; however I am sure other options will work as well (like Bubble bobble).

The following is another idea I had for some lines you might see on a website or in a magazine. The fun thing about the Pandora, is that it is so powerful and unique, that you can use its most mundane attributes to promote it in a dry-wit sarcastic way.

The look for these is a bit more trendy, especially with the reflections. I'm not sure how excited I am about that direction.

I have a ton more written down; not all good. Of course I am open to thoughts on this, and on my whole spiel.

 

[Chip]

Sorry, but rainbows and hearts together let my homophobic gay-sensor go nuts.

It's openPandora not open Rosetta.

Yes, you can never be too careful. You wouldn't want to catch the gay from your wallpaper :rolleyes:

I think it looks great. It's very retro-trendy. Maybe a little too retro-trendy, but that's still better than the rather bare-bones generic aesthetic we've been seeing up until now. I can't make any promises about adoption as a default, but I don't see any reason why the retail-ready distro can't include several wallpaper options. I think this could easily be one of them.

 

[Rayek]

I them (no pun intended...)

 

[PoisonedV]

Awesome designs, can't wait for the booth at the festival

 

[God Ginrai]

Awesome designs, can't wait for the booth at the festival



I don't even see how you guys see it as gay. It's an overall dark picture, and the colors in the rainbow aren't the standard fare that is recognized as gay. If anything other than retro, it should just look tacky.

-God Ginrai

 

[PoisonedV]

Awesome designs, can't wait for the booth at the festival



I don't even see how you guys see it as gay. It's an overall dark picture, and the colors in the rainbow aren't the standard fare that is recognized as gay. If anything other than retro, it should just look tacky.

-God Ginrai

actually i enjoy the picture. i just cant help but take a shot every time something like this or spectrum is posted, after all, I'm an american first and foremost and if I don't make everyone different than me feel like shit, then I'm not a patriot

 

[God Ginrai]

Awesome designs, can't wait for the booth at the festival



I don't even see how you guys see it as gay. It's an overall dark picture, and the colors in the rainbow aren't the standard fare that is recognized as gay. If anything other than retro, it should just look tacky.

-God Ginrai

actually i enjoy the picture. i just cant help but take a shot every time something like this or spectrum is posted, after all, I'm an american first and foremost and if I don't make everyone different than me feel like shit, then I'm not a patriot


Note to all people who are not from America: Not all Americans are like him.

-God Ginrai

 

[gruso]

I really hope you stay involved and stay persistent, traylorpark. I'd love to see your work officially adopted, whether it's for ads, box art or just wallpaper.

It's hands down the best Pandora art I've seen yet. Hearts and all.

 

[cappuchok]

I like the designs, but maybe the abundance of hearts is a bit too much. The colours of the rainbow look a bit washed out (or too... pastel, for lack of a better word), but easy on the eye (possibly a bit too bright compared to the background). Speccy meets the Weighted Companion Cube, that seems about right. But with the rainbow and all the talk about the Pandora being a spiritual successor to the Amiga, I can't believe noone's mentioned the classic rainbow check mark or watermark yet.
The box render looks awesome (again, lose the hearts, or most of them). It's a simple and clean design, very professional, yet conveys a sense of fun.
Dry-wit marketing - how very British. I like it. But maybe the colour inside the logo is a bit too much - I think it detracts from the clean-ness of the "ads". But then, that's just my £0.02.

 

[Tobs]

Wow! You continue to amaze me; I would buy the Pandora based on the box alone ^^
I might have to play around with this...

Tobs

 

[Monk]

Reminds me of the speccy, I like it, but I think they should lose the hearts.

Agreed - looks great but I'm not a 17 year old girl so I'd appreciate being heartless.

 

[ttcircus]

Brilliant: the rainbow + the hearts, that's good for the pandora development in san francisco...

More seriously, I really like the colours.

 

[EdCa22]

See, this is all part of the Pandora's evil façade. It's trying to present itself in the most endearing and enticing way possible – just to get you to open it.

Concept box art for a later batch.

Luckily, many of you are macho enough to withstand its charm.

I like everything about your designs, I think you've got some serious talent. The retro-chic look works perfectly for the Pandora and embodies what the Pandora really _is_. The rainbow doesn't look gay because it is not in the gay colours, those complaining about the colours must be mental! And I completely agree with your sentiments about the Pandora needing good branding; if I was Craig, I'd be offereing you a position or asking for your help right now. With branding like this you're making the Pandora look so trendy you'll give apple a run for their money. This would be a great logo for the pandora case. (the only suggestion I have is that I'd move the logo to one side, not in the middle, but hey). Love the not-quite-black browny colour too.

Your designs remind me of the zx spectrum, lip watches, even moving towards the holden efijy concept car. i.e. some of my favourite design icons.

Loving it, can't wait to see more.

 

[andyB911]

I like the hearts too ... for this particular design, they provide a nice balance and some texture. Plus... what else do you want coming out of your Pandora? Death?

How about some small characters (like a bubble bobble dragon, a pac-man, a mario..a spaceship from a shoot them up, a sword, a joystick, some console shapes, a monkey from Monkey Island... anything that reminds retro-games).
If you want to show that the pandora can do more, you could also put a music note, an antenna (for wifi), a computer screen...etc...

Chock


That would be ideal, but I suspect the copyright holders wouldn't be over-joyed about that. And its sailing close enough to the wind on the emulation front without including in the logo.

However, what makes the pandora most obviously different to any number of netbooks - the gaming controls! So how about an outline of an old school joystick? Atari or Competition Pro etc??

Edit - something like this... link to simple joystick outline image

Not sure if its 'simple enough' image though, but you get the idea.

 

[adamorjames]

From the looks of it the box is matte brownish black. That's a nice choice and it reminds me of the Cowon D2's inner box a little. I think I may do something... anyways looks interesting.

 

[WoD]

The rainbow doesn't look gay because it is not in the gay colours, those complaining about the colours must be mental!

I think it looks lovely, but it's a rainbow with hearts floating around it, and I'm not willing to raise my literacy level enough on a forum to describe that in any other way than "gay."

I don't necessarily mean it in a bad way.

 

[EdCa22]

The rainbow doesn't look gay because it is not in the gay colours, those complaining about the colours must be mental!

I think it looks lovely, but it's a rainbow with hearts floating around it, and I'm not willing to raise my literacy level enough on a forum to describe that in any other way than "gay."

I don't necessarily mean it in a bad way.



Well yeah, I do see your point. Maybe the hearts could be exchanged for something else. Or there could be a few less of them. But the rainbow is very cool afaik

 

[Oscaruzzo]

I really like the concept, the box especially. I would just add a bit of saturation (and some blue, if you can put it in the rainbow). That "featuring colour" seemed a bit sarcastic, given the soft colors you chose...

But the rainbow is a real MUST. C64 had a rainbow, Amiga had it, the Spectrum too, and the old Apple logo, the 80s were full of rainbowy logos