This month I will focus on a few of the popular coffee company logos such as Starbucks, Caribou Coffee, Lavazza among others. I am hoping to see if I can find some common themes across these logos.
The first and most important thing you will have to do is determine the keywords you are tuning your website for. The trick here is to determine what your potential users are likely to search for. Also remember, do not try and tune for generic keywords because there will be a ton of other sites who have already tuned for it. Lets take an example. Lets say you have an Indian Restaurant called Banjara Palace in Bangalore. The first instinct may be to tune for "Banjara Palace" or "Indian Restaurant". Anyone who already knows your name is not your target audience, although its important to tune for your name as well. Even if you get in the top list for Indian Restaurant, whats the point, someone in Japan who searches finds you will probably never come to Malleshwaram for lunch.
Do you own a website, blog, business related to India, then you can get a free listing in the Dinesh.com Indian web directory. This directory has over 5000 listings at this point and a lot of the sections show up in the rankings on Google.
To submit your site, navigate to the proper category and add your listing. The listing will be approved or rejected in about a week. If you site is not related to India or does not meet my standards, it will be rejected. If you find that your site needs a new category, please add it in the description and I will consider it.
Do not submit any "Work At Home" or "Money Making Related Sites"
With Twitter being on fire for the last few months and with more and more Indian celebrities, business, organizations etc tweeting, I thought it was time to add an Indian Twitter Directory to my website. This directory will contain the links of all India related Twitter pages. I have started with the following categories and there are a few entries already which will be updated over the next few weeks.
In a bid to compete with the Apple Store, Microsoft had announced the launch of the Microsoft retail store in the early part of 2009. Microsoft hired a veteran WalMart executive to help start this new initiative. Details of the store are quite sketchy and the first view for buyers would be in the Fall when Microsoft plans to open two stores, one in Scottsdale, Arizona and Viejo, California.
In preparation for the launch of the store, Microsoft unveiled their MS Store logo in August, 2009. The logo is quite simple and is a square version of their Windows flag. The 4 colors, Red, Green, Yellow and Blue are in the same position as the Windows logo (See below). The individual squares have a gradient, which gives it a slightly different look. I am not sure what the point is but if you stare at the logo long enough, you are likely to get hypnotized. Maybe that the point.
I am not sure what the stores will look like but given the colorful logo, I am assuming it will be in sharp contrast to the plain white Apple stores which is so simple in their design. We will find out shortly.
Baskin-Robbins is a global chain of ice cream parlors founded by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in 1953, from the merging of their respective ice cream parlors, in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world's largest ice cream franchise, with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are located in the United States. The Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors started as separate ventures from Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, owning Burt's Ice Cream Shop and Snowbird Ice Cream respectively. Snowbird Ice Cream featured 21 flavors, a novel concept for the time. When the separate companies merged in 1953, this concept grew to 31 flavors. Baskin-Robbins is known for its "31 flavors" slogan.
Starting 2006, the company went through a campaign to change its brand including redesign of its stores, its website and even its logo. The current logo is clever in that it incorporates the 31 (in pink) that represents the 31 flavors, cleverly embedding it in the B R of the logo. The font was also changed from the a regular straight font to a more zig-zag font. The pink represents the pink spoon which is given when customers ask for samples (see below for more history)
The idea for having 31 flavors came from the Carson-Roberts advertising
agency (which later became Ogilvy & Mather) in 1953, along with the
slogan "Count the Flavors. Where flavor counts." 31 was also more than
the 28 flavors then famously offered at Howard Johnson's restaurants.
Burt and Irv also believed that people should be able to sample flavors
until they found one they wanted to buy - hence the iconic small pink
spoon. During a now famous promotion, Amy Boggioni led a group of three
who finished 31 scoops of all 31 flavors in under 31 minutes.
Baskin-Robbins
sells ice cream in over 30 countries, including Canada, Japan, Mexico,
Bahrain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Bangladesh, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Panama and Taiwan.
Michael Jackson has grabbed the world headlines after this death and I suppose this is an ode to him from a Television show in India. Kaboom is a TV show on the Star Plus network and these talented guys have done an amazing job of dancing like MJ. You can see from the set and the crowd that this is not a voice-iver type job by adding a track to the real MJ dancing. These guys are quite amazing. Hope you enjoy this video.
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the tenth Cricket World Cup, and will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries; India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup. The World Cup will use cricket's One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled to compete. The World Cup will take place during the months of February and March 2011, with the first match being played on 19 February 2011.
The event has a theme called "Celebration of Cricket" and the logo represents the theme. The logo is in the shape of a cricket ball with an upright green seam and both the sides represent a crowd that is a part of the action, with the hands up, cheering and shouting for their team.
The green seam indicates the one day ball and the green of the pitch and ground. The players and crowd surround this with motion and activity. The colours and figures on each side of the ball represent the event host nations coming together along with the world of cricket. The colour and movement creates a festival, players and fans coming together from around the world to celebrate cricket in the sub-continent.
The logo was unveiled on July 14th in Mumbai and was designed by Australian creative firm Witekite, one of 12 companies from all over the world that submitted concepts. The logo, in the shape of a cricket ball, is intended to reflect all that is best about cricket in the sub-continent - colour, movement and action.
I really love the logo as it represents the energy of the crowds in the sub-continents will bring to the event. The shapes in the logo also have a very Indian touch to it.
VMware, Inc. is a US-based company specializing in virtualization software. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Palo Alto, California. The Company is majority owned by EMC Corporation. The name "VMware" comes from the acronym "VM", meaning "virtual machine", combined with "ware" from the second part of "software".
VMware's desktop software runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. VMware's enterprise software, VMware ESX Server, runs directly on server hardware without requiring an additional underlying operating system.
The three rounded squares in the logo represent the three different types of virtual machines that VMware can run simultaneously
The Volvo Group is a Swedish supplier of commercial vehicles such as trucks, buses and construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications, aerospace components and financial services. Volvo was founded on 14 April 1927 in the city of Gothenburg, as a spin-off from the roller ball bearing maker SKF.
The name Volvo means "I roll" in Latin and is derived from the Latin word "volvere" which means "to roll". The name originated from the original company that manufactured bearings for the car industry. The logo for Volvo is the ancient symbol of Iron, which is a circle with an arrow pointed diagonally upwards to the right. This symbol also represented "Mars, the God of War" and also the symbol for "Man" as well. Volvo cars are also traditionally known for the safety features. The iron symbol was used to also reflect the strong tradition of th Swedish Iron Industry along with its properties such as safety, quality and durability. The name of the car "Volvo" also runs across the logo against a blue background.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in New Delhi, India between 3 October and 14 October 2010. I happened to stumble upon the logo and wanted to find the meaning behind the various elements in the logo. You can clearly see that the logo is inspired by the Chakra.
The Chakra is the national symbol of freedom, unity and power and is also found on the Indian Flag. The Chakra spiralling upwards apparently depicts the growth of India into a proud, vibrant nation. As the Chakra emerges, you can also see the the elements in the Charkra turn into people, which I suppose represents everyone involved in the games from the athletes, organizers and the host nation. The games also are going to promote a "Green" theme which may be why the Chakra ends in green. The entire logo also appears to be in the shape of a torch and flame (it may be my imagination).
The bottom of the logo has a tagline of "Come out and play" which is an invitation to everyone to get involved and participate to the best of their abilities in the true spirit of the games. Also at the bottom of the logo, you can find a three-pointed structure which is the logo of the Commonwealth Games Foundation (CGF) also known as the Bar and the 'W'. The three points of the "W" stand for Humanity, Equality and Destiny. The CGF logo strives to express the core values of the Commonwealth itself, which seeks to unify humanity, promote equality and give all athletes a chance to realise their destiny at the Commonwealth Games.
Overall I like the logo and it has an Indian touch to it. It may be too big with the tag line and everything else but the core logo is really pretty.
Abarth is an Italian racing car maker founded by Italian-Austrian Karl (Carlo) Abarth in Turin in 1949. Abarth was sold to Fiat on July 31 1971, and the racing team sold to Enzo Osella. Abarth became the racing department of Fiat, managed by famed engine designer Aurelio Lampredi.
The Abarth logo consists of the following key elements
The shape of the logo represents a shield which symbolizes the notion of victory. You can find some of the other racing logos like Porsche also have a shield in their logo.
The red, white and green represent the colors of the Italian Flag.
The scorpion is the key part of the logo and represents the astrological sign of Karl Alberto Abarth who was born on November 15th 1908.
The red and yellow colors apparently represent the racing world.
We have launched a new site, Indian Foods Guide , dedicated to the best food on the planet, Indian Food. The site was created with the idea of promoting Indian food around the world. The site has a number of sections in it but the primary ones are
Indian Recipes - We curently haveover 250 Indian recipes on the site. The recipes are categorised and easy to search based onkey ingredients, cuisine type etc. We have over 50 of the recipes in video format.
Indian Restaurants - We have over 15,000 restaurants from around the world. We are in the process of adding additional restaurants everyday. We have also added photographs of the restaurants, their menus and other information on our site. The site is growing rapidly as we add new restaurants, reviews, photographs on a regular basis.
Indian Grocery Stores - We have over 3000 Indian Grocery Stores from over 20 countries over the world and we are also constantly adding new stores on a regular basis.
We think this is one of the best restaurant and grocery guide for Indians. Please help us by telling us about new stores and also reviewing the existing stores and restaurants that you frequent.
ArcelorMittal is the largest steel company in the world, with 326,000 employees in more than 60 countries. The company was formed in 2006 by the merger of Arcelor and Mittal Steel. Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output. Mittal Steel Company N.V. was the world's largest steel producer by volume and also the largest in turnover. It ranks 39th on the 2008 Fortune Global 500 list. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg City, the former seat of Arcelor.
ArcelorMittal is one of the customers my company works with and I was intrigued by the logo when I stumpled upon it. It did not seem to make much sense to me. Upon some further research and thinking, you can notice both the 'A' and the 'M' in the logo. The 'A' should be relative obvious and is actually in the form of a reverse A. If you see the logo in the mirror, you should be able to spot the 'A' quite easily. The 'M' on the other hand is rather difficult to find. If you look closely and look at the 2 arches, you can spot the 'M'. Much like a modern version of the McDonald's arches. At the bottom, you will find the name of company "Arcelor Mittal" as one word.
The logo was designed by a British company called Future Brand.
