The NFC forum unveiled its logo last week. I’m a big fan of NFC and I really don’t want to knock the N mark. I am sure it will grow on me. The sticking point for me is that the logo – cleverly incorporating the letters NFC – promotes a technology
I thought it was generally agreed that this is not the way to go – and I do think there’s good reason for this. Would we all have been clamouring for frequency-hopping spread spectrum headsets if we’d been trying to remember to ask for F-HSS rather than Bluetooth? Tenth century King Harald Blátönn (trans: Bluetooth) of Denmark was a well chosen namesake – he united warring Scandinavian tribes (i.e communication protocols) into a single kingdom. The logo itself sticks with this theme and is a combination of two “letters” from the runic alphabet, chosen for their visual appeal rather than inherent meaning. Bluetooth sounds cool and it has a neat back story. Again on the mobile side, one of the reasons often cited for WAP’s failure was that the mobile industry tried to market a technology, rather than focussing on how it could deliver value-added services to the phone. The story goes that the developers working on the wireless Application Protocol standards were horrified when they saw WAP appear in marketing literature.
On a more positive note, it’s not a million miles away from the Bluetooth logo…
… and on the face of it, this could be a good thing, promoting awareness of mobile interaction more generally. As the two technologies work quite differently, this could cause some confusion however. How do I know whether to touch my phone to the poster or hit the Bluetooth switch on my phone? The current NFC guidelines do not include instructions for adding directive words like “Tap here” but you can see why it might be a good idea.
I asked our design specialist in the office, Ross Harvey, to help me out – to think purely about the design elements and he said that it ticks all the boxes. “As a logo, it’s great – a contrast of smooth curves and hard angles that suggests movement and connectivity.” He agreed that there’s nothing that invites you to interact with it though – which is the whole point of NFC – isn’t it?
So I can’t help feeling that NFC hasn’t been given the best start in life. I’d like to think that someone in the NFC forum considered promoting “Forkbeard” before discarding it as ridiculous, despite offering the great back story that Forkbeard – son of Bluetooth (aka Sweyn I of Denmark) – forcibly deposed his father and having founded Swansea finally became the King of England.
My feelings aside – this is what it looks like on a smart poster…
… and here’s where you can down load the N mark with a simple click through license. Usage guidelines are here.
