New GRAPHISOFT web site and Corporate Identity

[Laszlo Nagy]

GRAPHISOFT has a new web site look and a new Corporate Identity.
Here is the press release announcing it:
https://graphisoft.com/contact-us/press-relations#/pressreleases/announcing-a-new-look-for-graphisof...

Branding of GRAPHISOFT has been refreshed. The purpose was a “modern” brand look that on one hand, is based on historical concepts (like the Archicad Arch), on the other hand, reflects architectural creativity in an elegant way.

The company and its products also have new colors, which are all based on famous French architect Le Corbusier’s Architectural Polychromy – The architectural colors. Here is a look at the new company logo and product logos (each comprised of an icon and text):


Each product has its own new icon and its own colors. Each icon is composed of a stroke, inspired by the original GRAPHISOFT quill, and the “Dot”. Here is a bit of introduction to the “Dot”:
Building on the legacy of one of the original design assets to embody the GRAPHISOFT brand, the “Dot” continues our tradition of empowering architects to create without restraints by giving them the tools to do so. Born from the quill, GRAPHISOFT’s very first brand icon, the “Dot” suggests an inherent continuation – the act of applying pen to paper to create freely.

Shortly about the concepts of the logos:
GRAPHISOFT: a stylized uppercase G
Archicad: the Arch – suggestive of architecture and a leap
BIMcloud: a cloud – suggesting ease and lightness
BIMx: An infinity symbol – suggesting a walk-through and the simplification of complexity
Community: A user symbol – suggestive of the individual and member of a group
Learn: A learning curve – suggesting progress and personal growth

Here is how company and product names are now written:

GRAPHISOFT
Archicad (or GRAPHISOFT Archicad)
BIMcloud (or GRAPHISOFT BIMcloud)
BIMx (or GRAPHISOFT BIMx)
GRAPHISOFT Learn
GRAPHISOFT Community

GRAPHISOFT’S new corporate slogan is BUILDING TOGETHER.
GRAPHISOFT’s mission statement is EMPOWERING TEAMS TO CREATE GREAT ARCHITECTURE

GRAPHISOFT believes the world would be a better place if technology would not only automate things but would empower people.

[schagemann]

Any change this radical is asking for criticism - let's hope the fresh approach is an indication of some fresh thinking around core functionality...

[Bricklyne Clarence]

schagemann wrote:
Any change this radical is asking for criticism - let's hope the fresh approach is an indication of some fresh thinking around core functionality...

.....or it could just be your standard boilerplate "re-packaging" and "re-branding" efforts of a product you know is going stale and a brand that's losing its sheen.

Business tactics 101.

Slap on a new label and package and call it "new and improved" and expect the customer to be none the wiser.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[schagemann]

Let's hope not.

But if you are longing for the old logo, you can be helped... https://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=231204#231204

[Steve Jepson]

runxel wrote:

LaszloNagy wrote:
Here is how company and product names are now written:
Archicad

Ha! At least they finally got rid of the mandatory (and ridiculous) screaming ALLCAPS for Archicad.

I will continue to write it as ArchiCAD for the sake of a rational and self-evident connotation - as opposed to emphasizing a rather superfluous reference to an arch. That, and in many places where I work Archicad or ArchiCAD is still completely unheard of. For example right here in Salem, OR. The last Engineers I worked with here ( perhaps the largest and most influential engineering firm in town) had never heard of it. The same is true of almost all of my clients. Archicad means nothing to them, but written as ArchiCAD at least it communicates the idea to them about what type of software it is; misnomer or not. CAD files are something they ALL have at least some clue about, and they know what an Architect is.
Another reason I will continue writing it as ArchiCAD is because over the past couple of decades it has become a reflex for me; a role of the fingers on the key board. And it demonstrates to my piers (I think) that I have been using ArchiCAD since before many of you were out of diapers, or even born. I have developed a visual affinity for it written as ArchiCAD, not so much for Archicad.
What is it you want to communicate by writing Archicad ? Something about an arch? I hear people saying arch-ee-cad all the time. They see the Arch and the word Archicad and they go straight to that instead of
Archi - as in Architect and CAD as in Computer Aided Drafting. (which is not actually a very good acronym for what we are doing, but they don't know what we do anyway )

The purpose of the name is to make a correlation between Architects and a CAD program - a CAD program for Architects. That is pretty obvious to all I think when written as ArchiCAD. They do have some idea about that AutoCAD means. Automated Computer Aided Drafting or something like that. So ArchiCAD also has some connotation related to that.

What is the benefit of obscuring such an important and obvious correlations? Because capital letters are intimidating to Millennial's ? Probably true!