Brand Keyboard Is A Champion, Or Possibly Critic, Of Capitalism
This concept keyboard plays on our love of, or at least interest in, marketing by replacing all the letters with logos of corporations whose name begins with said letter. I seriously just spent five minutes picking them all out.
The idea is that brands are so recognisable that we can exchange them with letters, probably the most recognisable symbols we know. It works, too, if you give it a second, although some of them are tricky (The Rolling Stones is only a corporation in the most cynical of senses). It doesn’t actually exist, but it’s a fun little experiment. [Ignacio Pilotto via Crunchgear]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I seriously just spend five minutes picking them all out.
As a result, I only had 5 seconds left to spend proofreading my post.
Drunken_Donuts
it isn't "The Rolling Stones", the band... but "Rolling Stone", the magazine.
@Sean Scrooby Grube: You don't have to be old to know them, but you would have to be young to not know them.
@MassimoCalvinus: I think you're missing the point.
Joshua Pacada
@Geisrud: True.. Ok I take back the braille since it's all bumpy and I offer numbers.. yes.. 1 through 26 instead of letters just their numerical equal.. like K would be 11. That'd be neato!
Skeetz
@HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.: Well, they were (and are again) actually two different companies, but for many years Izod licensed the Lacoste name and logo in the U.S. to brand their shirts. So Izod made the famous shirts, but the brand belonged to Lacoste.
Izod just uses IZOD as its brand in the U.S. now. And Lacoste still uses the little crocodile.
@92BuickLeSabre: Why would that make us old for knowing that? They both still exist... Sure i dont see anyone buying lacoste crap anymore, but justerini & brooks is still yummy :p
Sean Scrooby Grube
@92BuickLeSabre: I wasn't aware Lacoste was Izod...
There's my thing for today I learned. Time to go home.
@Skeetz: I would venture that a large part of the population looks at their keyboard, at least occasionally, whilst they type.
Oh, and braille is cheating.
@92BuickLeSabre: I recognized J&B, but for L, I kept thinking Izod and immediately thinking, "Wait, that doesn't fit!" I didn't know the company was actually called Lacoste.
HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.
I've always wanted an X Windows button.
dingus
Corporate Identity Design. A good designer = a good logo. A great designer = a memorable logo. (hey, if it doesn't look good in B&W, its not a good logo)
SigmundTheSeaMonster
@DouglasAloeus: Dude...you seriously need to take your medication...
Calm down. It's just for fun.
@MassimoCalvinus: i concur.
@JustinSane07: It's Lacoste. J is J&B Scotch Whisky.
Oh my tortoise-like ways have gotten me beaten.
@Purple Monkey Dishwasher: http://www.sporcle.com/games/corplogos.php - Sporcle is great to waste a bit of time while still having to think.
xanderbeedle
@MisterWho Cares: Man, there are so many ways that can be taken... all of them spectacular.
@JustinSane07: I'm guessing you are young?
L is for Lacoste - a/k/a Izod, which you would know if you were old because once upon a time you would have worn it.
J is for J&B, a blended scotch whiskey, which you would know if you were old because once upon a time you would have drunk it.
To me these are not symbols of Capitalism. We do not currently have a capitalist economy, and we haven't for at least 130 years. Capitalism only exists when there is an absolute and total separation of economy and state, and we do not have that, and arguably have never had that. So these are symbols of a mixed economy, mostly fascist (government control of property) and only partly capitalist.
MassimoCalvinus
@jdale: Haha nice, I'm trying it right now
Purple Monkey Dishwasher
Who even looks at their keyboard while they type? You could swap out the letters with brail or Klingon and I wouldn't notice. Brand power is one thing but pandering to it while I type is insane. The letter M is NOT brought to me by mcdonalds!
Skeetz
@Purple Monkey Dishwasher: I'm partial to the Human Virus Scanner, http://totl.net/VirusScanner/
jdale
That's a pretty neat concept, but it would have been better if they didn't use any logos that had the letter they represented really large or the name of the company.
In a blind touch test, more people prefer the feel of P to C.
I have no idea what logos are on J and L. I recognize the croc/gator thing on L but I can't think of the brand.
It'll never happen. To do it properly you'd need trademark releases or licensing for each trademark. That would be quite a task.
SpencerBabanya
Reminds me of this excel spreadsheet that once went around by email that had 100's of logos of which you had to guess the name of the company. It's surprising how many you instantly recognize.
Trying to find it but the best I could find was
http://www.guessthelogo.com/
Purple Monkey Dishwasher
@Skeetz: I got bored once and took apart an old keyboard of mine, and rearranged the keys from A-Z. it looks strange, and as long as you realize that the F and J keys are in the wrong spots, so you don't have those special home row markers, it's pretty gcool, until someone who doesn't touch type goes to use it...
psychiccheese
i want the keyboard!
@MassimoCalvinus:
It is impossible to reach a fully Capitalist country as it is also impossible to achieve complete communism/ socialist economy.
Those type of economies are destined to FAIL
@92BuickLeSabre: I'm 25, actually. I had clothes as a kid with the croc on it. I just never knew the brand name.
And I don't drink whiskey, or any alcohol, so yeah, I wouldn't recognize a whiskey brand.
@MisterWho Cares: I honestly get a blind touch test everynight when I P in my T...
Windows and apple keys are pretty sweet. I'd like to see that on more keyboards as I am always setting up my comps to dual boot.