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Baldy
May-10-2005, 12:56 PM
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....we promised to develop a smugmug logo developers could use on their products. And we mocked up concepts but I got busy and sat on them for 3 weeks.

Being the open company we are, we thought you'd like a say-so in this. So here's what other companies do:

http://cmac.smugmug.com/photos/21757084-L.jpg

Quite boring, if you ask us, but as usual Apple has great style and simplicity.

A similar concept for us would be our logo and the words, for example, "smugmug developer." (Are you nodding off?)

More edgy:

http://cmac.smugmug.com/photos/21756919-L.jpg

Or a button concept:

http://cmac.smugmug.com/photos/21756916-L.jpg

And finally, the personalized style:

http://cmac.smugmug.com/photos/21756917-L.jpg

You would provide the piccie that falls inside the white border.

What word to use?

Before anyone gets too excited about a word like master, here's the deal:

(1) The word we choose has to be clear enough to the people who are deciding whether to use the product. On that point, your interest and ours are the same. Developer is the clearest, but also the dullest. Innovator is one we're comfortable with.

(2) You'd probably like words like Master... We love the idea of a memorable word with character, like Apple uses for their Genius bar. It's brilliant.

But we don't want to mislead potential customers or get sued. What we need to show is it's an application developed by someone else, not us, but that it's smugmug compatible. We can't really imply that everyone who develops is a Jedi Mastah.

Your thoughts.

wxwax
May-10-2005, 01:55 PM
I like "Certified." Clearly distances them from you. But also provides a connection. Cold, tho.

Innovator feels kinda long and clunky.

How about something fun, like Brainiac?

winnjewett
May-10-2005, 03:02 PM
You guys are the ones who develop smugmug, and I feel that only you should hold that title; smugmug developer.

I don't like 'innovator' or 'master'. 'hack' by itself seems too unofficial. How about 'certified smugmug hack'? or what about 'smugmug certified'?

-winn

Nikolai
May-10-2005, 03:15 PM
Baldy,
thank you for taking time doing this!
Here are my thoughts:

I like the idea of having the app being "smugmug certified". Other variants could be "designed for smugmug", "smugmug recommended", "smugmug approved", etc.
As one of the options, I really like this smug: Dev thingie (and at least I now know exactly where this face came from:-)
Speaking of words..
Master is not ringing any bells.
Expert does not do it for me, too..
Hacker carries a lot of negativism for an average joe.
How about smugmug guru? (variant: smugguru:-)
Or smugmug sensei?
Or smugmug sourcerer? (it's not a typo! I mean the source code:-)
(both of these can be put in two lines on top of each other with a single large S in front of them)
or smugmug wizard?
or smugmug jedi?
or smugmug code warrior?
or smugmug geek? (variant: smuggeek);
or simply smughea: D?
OK, I'll stop here and wait for the others..:-)

onethumb
May-10-2005, 07:07 PM
I like "Certified." Clearly distances them from you. But also provides a connection. Cold, tho.

Can't do certified, because we don't actually have the time to certify most apps or developers. :)

Don

RootsLady
May-14-2005, 12:38 AM
[QUOTE=Nikolai]Baldy,
thank you for taking time doing this!
Here are my thoughts:

I like the idea of having the app being "smugmug certified". Other variants could be "designed for smugmug", "smugmug recommended", "smugmug approved", etc.
----------------

Nik,
My first thought was that Star*Explorer is :lust SMUGMUGABLE!!
I've uploaded almost 9000 pics recently and SE has made it a pleasure. So maybe a graphic of a heart with the smugmug face and the text "It's SMUGMUGABLE" would possibly work for third party apps. Just a thought.

Cheers,

luke_church
Apr-13-2006, 03:09 AM
Bump.

Did we reach a decision on this?

Luke

gblotter
Apr-14-2006, 06:37 AM
I concur with Nikolai. Of the options being considered, I like
smug: Dev

Ties in well with the logo, look-n-feel, and general attitude of smugmug. For my tastes, simpler is almost always "more better".

pat.kane
Apr-14-2006, 11:01 PM
I have no dog in this fight, so take this for what it's worth.

I think you need to stick with the whole "smugmug" name.

smugmug isn't exactly a household name, at least not yet :-)

Consistent branding is very important as you continue to get the name out there.

Given the above, smug: Dev wouldn't be as good as smugmug: Dev.

Personally, I like the smiley graphic on the left with two lines of text (smugmug over __________ (whatever you decide to call it)), w/out the other graphics. It clearly shows two parts of your brand. You might also want to consider shifting the smiley to the right of smugmug--again to be consistent with the brand.