It’s Alive!

Well, it’s done.  I have chosen a name for my new venture, as you can see: brooXmark – Marketing Consultancy.  I took the advice from many of you including Derek who suggested not to include the word “marketing” in my brand because it would limit what realms I could venture into.  brooXmark leaves that kind of ambiguous – sure “mark” could be short for “marketing,” but it could also refer to any activity I leave my mark on.

As for a logo, my first effort was this:

I tested this with a focus group (3 people counts as a group, right?) and received good reviews.  However, when I had a professional look at it, he calmly explained to me (after the defibrillation) that one NEVER mixes serif and sans serif fonts, except in very rare situations.  (I didn’t get any example of those situations, but I got the impression that they occur roughly with the regularity of Halley’s Comet’s visits.)

So the working image is now this:

I kind of like the stylistic X, and am thinking of moving it even more towards an “X marks the spot” pirate treasure map kind of look.  Anyway, more updates as time goes on and don’t forget to check the nascent company’s main page here.

P.S.  Does anyone know enough about Wordpress to tell me how to do two things that I’ve been stymied with?

1. Have an email address (e.g. stephen@brooxmark.com) that goes to my Google mail inbox?  They (WordPress and Google) both say it’s easy to do, but I’m on day 5 with no success.  I DO own brooxmark.com, and I AM subscribed to Google Apps.

2. Make the brooXmark page I linked to above the first one people see when they come this domain, instead of my latest blog post?

Thanks.

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What the Heck is That, Part 3

If you had to guess, what would you say this logo represents?

If you use your imagination, it could be a running human figure, or maybe a star.  And it has three elements, all wavy, which I suppose denotes motion.  They could represent letters: U or V, C, and A or lower-case N.  And the colors are surely significant: blue could mean water; green could be nature or agriculture or “go”; and red might be fire or anger or love or warning or “stop.”

So maybe it’s the University of North Carolina’s steam research center’s jogging club logo.  The fire and water combine to make steam, and it’s a green form of energy!

Nope.  It’s the logo of my home town, Moncton.  It goes with the city’s tagline, “Our Tide is Rising.”  Don’t ask me.

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What the Heck is That? Part 2

Once again, I present you with an image that defies comprehension.

I’m fairly certain it’s supposed to be some sort of animal.  Beyond that, I’m going on pure speculation.  I first thought “rabbit,” but the tail is wrong.  Then “dinosaur with mouth open facing backwards,” but that doesn’t explain the pointy thing sticking out of its belly.

Let’s try seeing it in context.  It’s part of the logo for MacDonald Auto Source.  So perhaps it represents an animal that is fast like a cheetah or reliable like an elephant.  No, neither of those work.  After having given it serious thought (seriously), I think it is a kangaroo.  The tail and rear legs are right, and the two things extending to the left from its head could be very large ears.  The three protuberances on the right might be, from the top, a long, narrow face/snout; two front legs; and a pouch either gaping open or with a pointy joey’s head sticking out.  Let’s go with that theory.

Now the trouble is to try and explain why an automobile dealership would want to associate itself with a mammal that is not exactly the model of smooth, elegant transportation.  “We hop to your service.”?

I think I might make a habit of ridiculing strange or stupid logos.  It doesn’t take much effort, and it guarantees me a steady stream of W titles.

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What the Heck is That?

Everyone look at the image to the right and take a guess as to what it is.   Medical instrument?  Medieval torture device?  Map of the first few metres of the yellow brick road?

No?  Well maybe seeing it in context would help: click here.

Still not sure?  By now, some New Brunswickers may have figured it out, but for the rest of you, I’ll end the suspense: it’s a fiddlehead.

Fiddleheads are very young ferns that are just starting to unroll.  They are considered a culinary delicacy here in New Brunswick*, and people gleefully tromp out into boggy forests every spring to pick them.  They are steamed or fried or sometimes (shudder) boiled, and served with butter and lemon.   You can read more about them, and see pictures of what they ACTUALLY look like, here.

They are being used as part of a NB Tourism plan to designate certain scenic drives around the province.  To me, this makes about as much sense as writing our highway exit signs in Farsi.  I can hear the conversation now:

Texan tourist to tourism employee:  “Where would ah go to git a look at that there Bay o Fundy ah hear so much about?

Tourism employee, brightly:  “Just follow the fiddlehead signs, sir!”

TT:  “The WHAT?”

TE: “The fiddlehead signs.  The signs with the fiddleheads on them!”

TT: “What the goldarn heck is a fiddlehead?”

TE:  “It’s a young fern, sir.  We eat them.  They look like the ends of violins, (sheepishly) …kind of.”

TT:  “Now yer jist pullin mah leg.”

TE: “No, honest!”

TT: “OK, Ah’ll jist look for the sign with the plant that looks like the end of a violin, then.”

TE: “Well, actually, sir, the signs don’t really look like that.  They look like a medieval torture device.”

Hilarity ensues.

Even people who live here are confused.  I don’t know how we expect tourists to figure it out.

* Of course, we also eat seaweed, so…

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