As passionate food freaks, it’s all too common to get caught up in the tastes and exoticism of what we are experiencing, rather than in what makes the most sense and is good. In fact, if you look at what makes something ‘gourmet’ these days, more often than not it’s the item that has taken great effort and care to produce and spent the least amount of time traveling from the farm to your table.

A good example of this in Vancouver is asparagus. Ask around and you’d be hard pressed to find someone who can tell you specifically that they’ve even tasted fresh, local asparagus. Seriously. Most of what people buy comes from Mexico or California with little thought to the seasonality, or what was done to it to get it to grow, or survive the long trip here. In contrast, the local season for asparagus is very short—a few weeks at best. If you’re not quick, and early, at the farmer’s market, you might not even realize we have an asparagus supply here!

Enter Foodtree.

Although manifest as a website and mobile app to share fresh, mouth-watering photos of food in your community in a fun and simple way, Foodtree is a philosophical and fundamental shift in our approach to understanding the where, why and how of the food we consume. If information is power, then this is one of the key ways we as consumers can control our food supply future. Until we empower ourselves in this way, organic and healthy food will remain a novelty and just slightly out of reach of the mainstream.

Yet, mainstreaming this concern about where our food comes from and what’s in it, is precisely what’s required.

Inspired by the symbols, styles and ideology of the Homesteading movement, the new identity hearkens to a simpler time of getting back to the land and a self-sufficient lifestyle. The hand-crafting and do-it-yourself ethic also produced a unique aesthetic evocative of an era past, but also in resurgence.

Our future may very well lie in the successful merger of a new integration of technology with the sustainable methods from our past. This is what Foodtree represents and the logo and its application is meant to evoke.

WHERE

Start over. That’s the mantra of this fitness and nutrition company, and what we did for KINETIX Living (click here to view old website). Starting with their ubiquitous old brand based on “living”, something long ago usurped by the likes of Martha Stewart, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and others, we needed to create considerable distance from them.

The new brand needed to bury the old, soft, lighthearted and inauthentic and rise up with a bold, gritty and genuine voice that implies sports and athletics, and better represent the idea that this is a credible program for people who are serious about making real physical and life changes.

Speaking of people making real physical changes, for those of you who know us, you also know we are really into our food (foodists.ca). Over the years, our bodies haven’t exactly been exempt from the effects of our epicurean passions, so we found ourselves smack in the middle of the target audience and prime candidates for a complete immersion into the brand. Fortuitous really, since immersion into the brand is a key part of our process.

With a complete revamp of the business model coming in a short six months, the brand was just the beginning. We were also needed to translate the company’s new vision to an enterprise class web application and iPhone app.

IDEAS

Our goals were lofty, but not unobtainable:

1. Position KINETIX as the most cutting edge / current health & fitness company out there
2. Tighten the brand and related elements and create a great platform
3. Develop and convey our story in an emotionally connecting way, driving love and inspiration of the brand
4. Connect with our current and future community
5. Be ahead of the ‘wellness’ industry to enable us to grow into THE health & fitness brand

How’d we do it? Well, we started with research, then more research. In fact, the entire studio enrolled in the KINETIX program to get first hand insights into the company and the program. We literally lived, ate and breathed KINETIX. The other key was assembling a team for the software and mobile application development with Thirdi Software and Atimi Software. A finely developed process and tools for source control, issue tracking software, and project management were critical.

A new brand essence emerged from our Discovery process: Rebel. Ignite. Commit. The idea behind this was simply that this company was going to rise up from their status quo, burn down any paradigms in their way, and commit to a new way of doing things—this is exactly what they wanted of their clients. This gave way to the development of the new logo and brand filter, through which we would weigh all new work to ensure it was on brand. Additionally the Kx icon served as the inspiration for a new system of symbols used throughout the KINETIX program.

In tandem with the brand development, work was well underway on content and information strategy for the website and iPhone app. Working with this was no ordinary website either: Once a user was signed in, data was seamlessly synced to their iPhone or other device (and back), allowing them to track their fitness and nutrition, communicate with a coach and reference handy meal and restaurant information. The iPhone app is essentially a ‘coach in your pocket’, taking you through each day’s exercise routine step-by-step.

WORK

When the client applauded after we revealed the brand work, we knew we were on the right path. If success of the project was measured by Starbucks and YUM! Brands joining the program rollout, or when the iPhone app was approved and posted to Apple’s App Store in days instead of the weeks that is the norm, then we achieved our goals. However, nothing is quite as salient as when we hear things like:

“Industrial Brand and their partners are a tsunami of talent, passion and creativity. Beauty is skin deep however and IB goes beyond just the look of a brand to unearth the core values and key strategic positioning that will help a company differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace. IB is flexible and creative in their problem solving and didn’t flinch at helping us launch a new brand, new website and new digital app in a crushingly brief time line. Speaking from both the strategic goals and visual brand consistency that we required, IB delivered on all fronts.”—Lou Maxon, VP Brand Experience and Design, KINETIX

Launch website: kxme.com

During the iDesign conference in London I heard Bill Thompson talk about design’s role in the world of technology and he mentioned the locking down of Apple’s newest portable products. I did some reading and found quite a lot under the surface. I was very close to buying an iPod Touch but now I’m reconsidering.

Apple has spent a lot of time trying to ensure that anyone who buys an iPod is completely locked in to an Apple-centred world in which they use iTunes, buy from the iTunes Music Store, and purchase only Apple-certified iPod accessories.

The recent launch of the new range of iPods, including the video Nano and the iPod Touch, has shown just how far Apple is willing to go to make life difficult for its users in order to shore up its dominant position in the market for music players and downloads.

Three Strikes, You’re out:
One: If you had gone to the trouble of making your own ringtones for your iPhone using clips of songs from your library then you will find they are all gone the next time you sync with the latest iTunes. Apple now sells ringtones to its US customers for $0.99 and it would rather you paid up than made them yourself.

Two: It seems that the new generation of iPods will not output video through cables or docks that aren’t Apple authorised and have a specific “authentication” chip. Apple charges a hefty cut for joining its approved suppliers programme, and this is a way to ensure that vendors sign up.

Three: iTunes keeps your songs organised using a database, and over the years a number of free and open source music players have been developed that can read and write this database format. Any Linux user who wants to use an iPod needs a non-Apple library manager. Programmes like gtkpod, Rhythmbox and Banshee are easy to use and don’t try to sell you songs all the time, but now Apple has added a new feature to the iTunes database, a special number which is calculated from your list of files using a process only Apple knows. If the number is wrong, your library looks empty. And because the free players don’t know the algorithm used, they can no longer be used with iTunes/iPod.

These three examples point to a larger strategy that Apple has adopted. It may be a strategy that Apple has had for a while as the iPod was never really that open a device. But now it’s getting to the point where users will really start to feel the squeeze.

This got me thinking about the iPhone. I have to admit it, Apple has done a great job of making the iPhone one alluring gadget, here at our own studio most of us are lusting over the iPhone even if it’s unusable as a phone in Canada. It’s touch-screen interface is a pleasure to use and so intuitive.

I am an early adopter, the iPhone is made for people like me. Back in 2000 when Apple first launched its iPod, I was right there, then it was miles ahead of the pack.

Apple has been extremely slow to improve upon that first generation iPod. With nothing more than cosmetic changes to the original apart from the fundamental video capability. The iPhone has been a long time coming and it’s a bit of a closed box when you look at it closely. With a price tag of $640 you’d expect it to have at least the same amount of features as some other smart phones.

Here are some of its deficits:
1. Can’t exchange contact information via bluetooth with other PDAs,
2. Can’t listen to music with bluetooth headphones,
3. Bluetooth can only be used to answer phonecalls (limited)
4. Web browser is not flash compatible
5. No zooming for the camera
6. No flash for the camera
7. No video camera
8. NOT compatible internationally like most other smart phones

Sure, there are hacks, Hacktheiphone.com is full of tutorials and software but that’s besides the point. It’s clear that the iPhone is a first generation product. It didn’t really dissuade me back in 2000 when I bought the iPod but I’m going to wait and see what direction Apple will take it.

What I love most about Photoshop on the iPhone is the functionality. Adobe has really thought of everything. Designers, prepare to throw your laptops and towers away. The iPhone is really all you need.