The U.S. Justice Department cleared the way last month for Continental Airlines and United Airlines to merge, creating the world’s largest airline. The airline will be called “United”. This is an interesting branding case study. In the pictures above you can see proposed aircraft branding once the merger takes place. The aircraft livery uses branding cues from both legacy carriers. It literally “unites” the two brands. The design retains the white aircraft fueslage, and includes the Continental Airlines globe on the tail. Two logo typefaces have been proposed so far - firstly, the airline name using Continental’s serif typeface and secondly, the airline name using United Airline’s sans serif typeface.

USA Today has reported that customer feedback would like to see the merged airline retain the famous United Airlines tulip shaped “U”…so, I guess you can’t keep everyone happy!

Bulkhead Nigel.

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Adweek reports this week on how Wasa crispbread is promoting “snackspiration” and its cracker biscuits to the world via its Facebook page. This is a great example of an attractive microsite built within a companies facebook page. The site has a lot of underlying functionality and encourages viral engagement.

Here is a link to the Adweek article to find out more. And, here is the campaign running on Facebook 

Networked Nigel

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During a recent stop over in Los Angeles I had the opportunity to go and visit Cunard White Star Line’s RMS Queen Mary ocean liner. The Queen Mary is a remarkable piece of engineering, technology and trans-atlantic shipping history. She is safely moored in Long Beach, California. The City of Long Beach purchased the Queen Mary in 1971 for 1 million pounds and saved her from the scrap yard. She is now a floating attraction, hotel and living museum.

For 30 years, the Queen Mary provided weekly service from Southampton, England to New York, USA. She connected Great Britain and Europe with the new world both physically and politically until the jet age ended her trans atlantic service in 1968. The Queen Mary is still one of the fastest ocean liners ever built. She sails under steam at an impressive 53 km/h (29 knots) and can carry 3,240 passengers and crew.

During World War 2, the Queen Mary was requisitioned by Great Britain to carry Australian and New Zealand troops to the northern hemisphere conflicts. She is such a vast ship that she carried more than 15,000 troops at a time. Winston Churchill  is reported to have said her service in World War 2 cut the conflict’s duration by a year.

Next year it will be the Queen Mary’s 75th anniversary. She has been replaced by Cunard’s handsome Queen Mary 2. The Queen Mary 2 still provides trans-atlantic passenger service and is the only ocean liner in service today.  In 2006 the two name sakes famously met each other at the Port of Long Beach (see photo above). Although the QM2 is almost twice the size of the QM1, in my mind she is not twice the boat! I bet they both do a great cup of tea though!!!

Nigel on the lido deck.

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We are excited to support the launch of Ranfurly Apparel in the U.S. market. The Ranfurly range features machine washable, easy care merino blends. This is a uniquely New Zealand story. The merino is grown in New Zealand, the fabric is made in New Zealand, and, the garments are designed and manufactured in New Zealand. The photos were taken at the launch trade show in Chicago this month.

Nigel.  

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Working closely with our All-Things-Beverage client ‘First Beverage Group’ we at TimeZoneOne have been learning all about the USA beverage scene. I came across this very interesting fact last week and thought I would share it with all the beverage lovers out there…
Three firms control 89% of US soft drink sales. This dominance is obscured from us by the appearance of numerous choices on retailer shelves. This has created an illusion of diversity which hides a lack of real choice.
To visualize the extent of this illusion some smart boffin (for some reason boffins have loads of time on their hands) designed the below cluster diagrams to represent the number of soft drink brands and varieties found in the refrigerator cases of 94 Michigan retailers, along with their ownership connections.

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Welcome to our new look blog loyal readers and followers of the zone!

We hope you enjoy the slick new look and feel.

While you’re here why not visit our brand new website as well by clicking the timezoneone.com link above.

Enjoy!

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Apart from the occasional trade show design or tour piece we graphic designers don’t often get to delve into the realms of interior architecture or space planning. Industrial design concepting also looks like a fantastic place to play, trying to match your mad scientist schemes to real world problems, and create something that looks awesome along the way.

Loving this three wheeled camper concept from German industrial designer Cornelius Comanns. Based around an existing Piaggio model, the ‘Bufalino‘ offers some great solutions for the individual traveler. Particularly like the washing line out back and the detailing on the fold down seat/bed. Stick a board rack on it and I’ll take one!

Matt

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Back in June I posted a blog about Apple’s new iAd network which allows developers to embed highly interactive advertising within their Apps.

Now up and running the platform is receiving mixed reviews. An article in the LA Times says both Unilever and Nissan have been impressed with results with customers spending up to 10 times longer interacting with the iAd than with comparable online advertising.

On the other hand Apple’s control over the process of creating the ads seems to be causing a few issues as the industry is not used to this - and projects are taking longer to roll out than expected, according to The Wall Street Journal .

Matt

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While semantic search engines have been around for a while, Hungarian based newcomer iGlue is set to launch an interesting product this September.

Semantic search engines attempt to understand the context of what you are looking for to deliver results which are more relevant. iGlue seems to have taken this a step further by offering a search within the page you are reading. A bookmark hangs inside your browser and with a click gives you a semantic search of that page, matching people, places, etc. to it’s database and displaying the results (images, maps, videos and text) in a separate window. This adds a rich media layer to whatever you happen to be reading and means you don’t need to search again for background information.

Check out this interactive example .

Matt

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