What if Microsoft designed the iPod box?

I do lots of branding stuff for Microsoft and I've read lots of their guidelines. This Flash movie isn't too far off

You can tell it was done by someone who does MS branding.

Whoops. You're never supposed to shorten Microsoft to MS

Hahaha, awesome and funny because it's true.

Simplicity and elegance were never (EVER) MS's strong points. This just takes it to the extreme (but not -that- extreme...).

I quite like the final product; it would be cool if they published images for each of the faces of the box so we could look at them in more detail. The Apple design is good though.

Angus Higgins

I have to agree, I quiet prefered the last box. One thing that annoy'd me whenever I got my iPod. The box had no information. My kids toys that require no assembly at all had more instructions than a $250.00 piece of electronics did.

That was hysterical.

Brilliant

well no , i understand the point. i dont like marketing committees going overboard. but look at the XP box... was that overcomplicated? no it was pretty simple and plain. microsofts advertisements are usually simple and plain also. so i dont get it as a criticism of microsoft

So true it hurts to stop laughing. Whoever created this really did a great job.....I love the music. That video is hilarious!

hilarious

brian.shapiro wrote:

well no , i understand the point. i dont like marketing committees going overboard. but look at the XP box... was that overcomplicated? no it was pretty simple and plain. microsofts advertisements are usually simple and plain also. so i dont get it as a criticism of microsoft

It's not just about a particular box...

Look at this:



Huge OEM logo ("CREATIVE").  Model logo ("Zen").  The words "PORTABLE MEDIA CENTER" screaming at you, just in case you forgot what it was you are holding in your hand.  A Windows logo button, just in case you didn't pick up on the same Windows logo on the off-center menu on the display ("Hey!  This is a MICROSOFT device!  Remember us?  MICROSOFT!")

Now look at this:


Where's the Apple logo?  Where's the word "iPod" screaming at me in BOLD, ALL CAPS, HIGH CONTRAST type in case I forget what this thing is?  Where's the text screaming the model "5G" or "VIDEO iPod?"

The Apple logo appears briefly on the display when it cold-starts.  The logo and identifying text is all on the back, where you never have to look at it.  And if you do flip it over and look at the back, it's beautifully laser-etched into a mirrored silver finish. 

They even care about looking good on the back side. 

It's a completely different design aesthetic.  That video is more than about the boxes....

Also, have you seen a Windows XP box lately?   They added a big ugly triangle for SP2.  This is the Japanese box:



The Japanese box for XP Professional is even worse, it has the "NOW WITH SP2!!!" thing screaming at you, along with a big overlay screaming at you to "STEP UP!!!!!!" TO PROFESSIONAL!!!!!!!



It's totally like the video. 

And here we have the Apple OS box:



It still looks like you're buying a box of Death LOL but -- and this is my point -- at least it's a tasteful Death. 

I watched the Digital Kitchen "Origami" video, and the main that impressed me?  The Origami wasn't screaming with logos and festooned with text.

Of course, that could be because, in the video, it's still a prototype...

 

Anyone know where that music comes from?  I'm *sure* I've heard it before, can't remember what it is.

Thanks,
ScottR

Theme - Pee Wee Herman - Pee Wee's Big Adventure

The only way I know this is because the music was used for the Blue Ball Machine page that surfaced a while back and the ID3 tag on the MP3 (which I just checked to find out what it is) says what it is.

dahat wrote:

ScottR wrote: Anyone know where that music comes from?  I'm *sure* I've heard it before, can't remember what it is. Thanks, ScottR

It seemed vaguely like what I remember from a PeeWee Herman movie of long ago. Big Top PeeWee maybe?

The movie starts with a small part of Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra".

The rest uses the song "Breakfast machine" by Danny Elfman, from the soundtrack of Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

ok. the original XP boxes weren't like that though. and even current US XP boxes are nothing like the Japanese messes. (i remember seeing the SP2 triangle it was nothing too distracting)

i have an original XP box somewhere its very plain, you open it up theres a booklet with a few illustrations and a place to rest the CD. (from what i remember)

and yes i think all of the PMC designs ive seen look bad. but if you look at the origami pictures (whether prototype or not) it looks very simple in the same way that ipods do. i wonder what all those controls are for though

btw i dont think the OSX box is a 'tasteful' box of death. its imo a little bad taste to use so much graphic effects and focus on a big X. but then again i find the OSX interface style to be a bit of bad taste when most people dont.

i hate though how on certain micrsoft webpages, even looking a the windows vista page now, they overuse photos of people smiling, which has nothing to do with the product, it comes off as insincere corporate gloss. ( a lot of corporate pages or pamphlets are like this )

simple beauty...

Cybermagellan wrote:

I have to agree, I quiet prefered the last box. One thing that annoy'd me whenever I got my iPod. The box had no information. My kids toys that require no assembly at all had more instructions than a $250.00 piece of electronics did.

I've got to agree as well.  With the Apple iPod box, you don't know what you've got until you open it up.  Most (normal) people throw the box away eventually anyway, so who cares what it looks like on the outside. 

It's only the pretentious, black-turtle-necked Apple drones who care about the style of a cardboard box.

Good god, how can I patent that phrase.