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Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

brandbook.nokia.com

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Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#61

Post by tptacek »

rbanffy wrote: post #59
tptacek wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because whether or not you like the fact that they chose WP7, they still have to publish many thousands of slicks this year, and they still have to have a website, and it may be worth it to have a coherent visual identity across all of them. Your take on this baffles me. It's like you think the only functions in a multi-billion dollar company are the ones nerds care about. The Bengals have crappy-looking helmets. The…

> Because whether or not you like the fact that they chose WP7 Nice straw man. My argument is platform neutral. Nokia should focus on building phones it can sell. I would question their sanity even if they had chosen Android. > It's like you think the only functions in a multi-billion dollar company are the ones nerds care about. No. Their only function is to create value for shareholders. Your analogy is flawed. Nok…

Troll.

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#62

Post by throwaway40m »

dreww wrote: post #56
gvb wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is because you are looking at Arial or sans-serif, not at "Nokia Pure Text"... assuming you did not download and install the font on your computer. Check the .css: font-family: 'Nokia Pure Text', Arial, sans-serif; The only thing that is "Nokia Pure" on the web page is the .gif images of the sample text. This is an insurmountable problem with branded fonts; they only work if you load the branded font on every co…

did you tumble out of a time machine from 1999?

downvote.

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#63

Post by chc »

rbanffy wrote: post #60
chc wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He didn't even mention the soundness of Nokia's strategy or the competence of their management. What he said is the same thing I'm saying: I don't see what any of the stuff you're talking about here (Windows Phone 7, the company's overall strategy, the company's management) has to do with the Nokia Pure typeface. What does a font have to do with the company's focus? Are you suggesting they should have put Bruno Maag…

> He didn't even mention the soundness of Nokia's strategy or the competence of their management I assumed that was implied in the defense of the visual identity reformulation. > I don't see what (...) Windows Phone 7, the company's overall strategy, the company's management has to do with the Nokia Pure typeface. Nothing and that's the point. Why waste focus on a visual identity overhaul? Was it broken? > Are you su…

No, you're presenting a false dichotomy — I was just pointing it out. Having Bruno Maag design a typeface does not in any way prevent Nokia from hiring developers, and doesn't appear to be a major company-wide focus.

Nokia's problem is that it doesn't know how to compete with Google and Apple, not that it's resource-starved. Blindly throwing money at developers without an intelligent vision is how Nokia got into this mess to begin with.

When Apple redesigns its website or switches corporate typefaces, do you complain about Apple's abhorrent lack of focus? No. The people designing the website are not the ones who develop your software, so the iPhone didn't suffer from the redesign. The same is true of Nokia. This typeface doesn't make their hardware or software any better, but it also doesn't make it any worse — it's unrelated.

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#64

Post by Tichy »

tptacek wrote: post #8
Tichy wrote: post #4

I think one of Nokia's problems might be an ego that is too big.

Many companies have house typefaces, and, if you're going to do that, you might as well have the page that says you got Bruno Maag to do it. Really, when you get to the size of a company like Nokia, you're inevitably going to have an enormous marketing budget just for the boring stuff, like printing costs and designing the N+100th version of your N+100th product's N+5th slick. These are marketing dollars that are get…

I agree, actually, it is just that the timing seems rather bad. But of course they can not put their marketing staff on hold until they have a product worth marketing for...

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#65

Post by gnufs »

naner wrote: post #57
cromulent wrote: post #35

And the links for download: http://brandbook.nokia.com/other_files/Brand_Book_v2.2_2011/... http://brandbook.nokia.com/other_files/Brand_Book_v2.2_2011/... As posted here: http://craig.dubculture.co.nz/blog/2011/03/26/putting-nokias...

What are the license terms?

"Copyright © 2011 Nokia. All rights reserved. Reproduction, transfer, distribution or storage of part or all of the contents in this document in any form without the prior written permission of Nokia is prohibited."

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#66

Post by rbanffy »

chc wrote: post #63
rbanffy wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He didn't even mention the soundness of Nokia's strategy or the competence of their management I assumed that was implied in the defense of the visual identity reformulation. > I don't see what (...) Windows Phone 7, the company's overall strategy, the company's management has to do with the Nokia Pure typeface. Nothing and that's the point. Why waste focus on a visual identity overhaul? Was it broken? > Are you su…

No, you're presenting a false dichotomy — I was just pointing it out. Having Bruno Maag design a typeface does not in any way prevent Nokia from hiring developers, and doesn't appear to be a major company-wide focus. Nokia's problem is that it doesn't know how to compete with Google and Apple, not that it's resource-starved. Blindly throwing money at developers without an intelligent vision is how Nokia got into this…

> No, you're presenting a false dichotomy

Fair enough.

> Nokia's problem is that it doesn't know how to compete with Google and Apple

I would point out that visual identity has very little to do with it.

> not that it's resource-starved

That pressure will increase in the future.

> Blindly throwing money at developers without an intelligent vision is how Nokia got into this mess to begin with

I agree with that - just throwing money on the problem won't make it go away. They hired an outsider (Microsoft) to give them a coherent vision. They should act on it.

And yes, redesigning every printed material and web presence is a small fraction of their overall budget, but is a loss of focus nevertheless and hardly an irrelevant expenditure.

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#67

Post by danilocampos »

tptacek wrote: post #28
rbanffy wrote: post #15

This is awesome. With this new beautiful, strong font acting as a multiplier of the huge competitive advantage they got by opting for Windows Phone 7, both iPhone and Android are doomed.

Nokia is a global company that does many tens of billions of dollars a year in revenue. Believe it or not, they did not commission a new typeface to impress Reddit and HN. This is not part of their plan to take on iOS and Android. So, I don't understand the point you're making with your comment. Are you suggesting that everything at Nokia come to a complete standstill until they can placate smartphone pundits? It's j…

FWIW, Apple redefined mobile computing while using an off-the-shelf font. Helvetica, no less.

The actual story is goofy no matter how you slice it. If someone wants to take a little potshot at WP7, where's the harm? We're really losing out to the vast and deep discussion that would otherwise be happening about Nokia's profoundly important piece of R&D here?

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#68

Post by moondowner »

tptacek wrote: post #54
moondowner wrote: post #31

Why? I really liked (and still like) the one they used up until now [1]. It looked fancy, it was _really_ distinctive, and it had a great readable font for devices (e.g. screenshot [2]). What more do you need from a typeface? P.S. Doesn't this new typeface somehow remind you of Windows Phone 7's one? [1] http://spiekermann.com/en/nokia-sans-character/ [2] http://www.flickr.com/photos/21709201@N00/4263893860/

I'm no expert, but: * Spiekermann's face is distinctive, but also dated; Spiekermann himself draws a comparison to Rotis in the PDF spec for the face. * The face is complicated. Look towards the back of spec book for whole pages set in it. It draws a bit of attention to itself. * In the same vein: it's complicated enough to require a serif and "wide" variation to make it work in all the settings Nokia needs type. Don…

All arguments valid, but I still kinda like the old typeface more.

It's true that it has too many variations, but probably the new one will have as well. I doubt that only 3-4 variations will exist, there'll be more - for devices, for logos, etc...

A refresh of the identity is a must every once in a while, it's the only explanation I see why the old one should be changed ;), but I doubt that their old docs will be redone in the new corporate branding, only the currently used will be redone and the new docs will use it.

Re: Nokia Pure: Nokia's New Official Font

#70

Post by tptacek »

moondowner wrote: post #68
tptacek wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert, but: * Spiekermann's face is distinctive, but also dated; Spiekermann himself draws a comparison to Rotis in the PDF spec for the face. * The face is complicated. Look towards the back of spec book for whole pages set in it. It draws a bit of attention to itself. * In the same vein: it's complicated enough to require a serif and "wide" variation to make it work in all the settings Nokia needs type. Don…

All arguments valid, but I still kinda like the old typeface more. It's true that it has too many variations, but probably the new one will have as well. I doubt that only 3-4 variations will exist, there'll be more - for devices, for logos, etc... A refresh of the identity is a must every once in a while, it's the only explanation I see why the old one should be changed ;), but I doubt that their old docs will be re…

Just to be clear: the original face appeared to have multiple variations required within a single system; you were expected to know when to use the serif (!) face, and when you needed to use the wide sans (because the normal sans face has lots of fine detail that doesn't work in adverse environments).

It wasn't just that they had "display type" and "copy"; users of the Spiekermann face might have needed to know a fair bit of typography to make things look good in it. It was intrinsically complicated, beyond the complexity of Nokia's needs.

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