Opinion BY Armin

The Smoother O Boticário

In May of 2010 we reported on the introduction of a new corporate identity for Grupo Boticário, the parent company behind consumer brand O Boticário, which covers more than 600 products in body care, female fragrances, home spa, make up, male fragrances, man care, and skin care. I’m recycling some of the introduction from that post: Originally a small prescription pharmacy that started in 1977 in the city of Curitiba, Paraná in Brazil, O Boticário has 2,500 stores in Brazil alone, 70 across 15 other world cities, and presence in multiple sales points like department stores. Earlier this month, O Boticário introduced a revised identity designed by the São Paulo office of Futurebrand, who were also responsible for the parent company logo.

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Opinion BY Clinton Duncan

Nokia’s New Brand Typeface

Nokia is the company many of us used to buy our phone from, before you-know-who started making the you-know-what. Since then Nokia has been in gradual, steady decline. To the point where the CEO felt the need to write a rather alarming memo to all his staff, using the metaphor of a “burning platform” to describe the situation Nokia finds itself. In this metaphor, the rather unappealing solution is to jump, and plunge into the ice cold North Sea below. Or commission London-based Dalton Maag to create a new typeface, call it Pure and organise a grand launch party featuring commissioned artworks from a hand picked bunch of leading designers — either way works, apparently. Introduced in late March, Nokia Pure is as important as Nokia’s own logo, as it will be the face (literally) of the mobile devices and stand front and center in all communications for the company.

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