Orchardcore: Update branding

[Piedone]

We don't really have concise branding guidelines or even proper branding assets, just what's left over from a long time ago: https://docs.orchardcore.net/projects/O1/en/latest/Documentation/Walkthroughs/#orchard-branding

What I'd imagine:

• Possibly retouch the existing design a bit: E.g. the current logo's outer circle is strangely uneven.
• Maybe use a different branding color than the green there or just use those but then we should settle with the same main brand colors everywhere. Currently, there are these old greens and greys, then there's the other green on the website, a blue on the docs site and another blue for the social preview:
  
• Create new, high-resolution bitmaps.
• Possibly some branding guidelines on how to use the new assets.

We can potentially sponsor designers for this (the bottleneck is their capacity).

Here're the old branding assets in the docs.

[hishamco]

@Piedone is this the official logo, or we can design or suggest a new one?

[Piedone]

I'd keep the central "leaves in circle" motive, but probably update it somewhat. I'd prefer not to have a completely new one though.

[parisnoble]

Hi everyone,

My name is Paris Noble, brand strategist and co-founder of Elevate Strategy & Design. For the past 2 years we've been working closely together with Lombiq Technologies on many Orchard related projects that either needed something to do with strategy and/or design.

A few weeks ago me and @Piedone started chatting about the possibility of rebranding Orchard, which Lombiq would sponsor.
However, to do this we would want to involve other stakeholders into the rebranding process. This is mainly because the more deeply we involve the most important Orchard stakeholders the merrier, but also because this open-source project cannot be authentically rebranded without the OS mindset.

So what is branding and why rebranding?
A brand is a product, company, or service with a soul that is attractive and smart. A soul like this will bring in customers, and creates customer loyalty, and helps the longterm vision of product design.
In other words a brand is the customer's gut feeling of any given product, company, or service — and the better the customers perceive a brand, the more successful its company will become.

The reason why companies use branding is to radically differentiate themselves from the competition and create customer loyalty. Also, it may become the most valuable asset of a company — since as humans we make decisions based on emotions than on logic (yes, even developers :)), and good branding will help make stronger emotional ties between the company and its customers, followers.
Competition may steal your staff, your know-how, copy your product, beat you on price, but can never steal one's brand.

In the past two years working closely with Lombiq Technologies, we've learned how strong the Orchard community is, how much potential Orchard has, and how vital it is to sharpen its competitive edge.

What are the steps of branding?
Branding is much more than a logo or brand identity. Therefore first we need to establish a strategy. Brand strategy basically bridges the gap between business strategy and visual design. Therefore it's good to have good knowledge about the project we wish to brand.

1. The first step is usually setting a brand platform, which is usually done by the founders and key stakeholders via one or more workshops. The brand platform sets the most foundational parts of the new brand, including its personality, voice and tone, key messages it want to convey, and the overall most important strategy based on longterm goals and business strategy.
2. Creating the visual identity. This is the part where we write a brief based on the project goal and established brand strategy. If the project goal is a new visual identity or in this case a rebranding, then this is the step when we start developing the new logo etc.
3. Brand atmosphere & digital design: This is the part when we start writing copy, put out key messaging, create content, develop products etc for the new brand. Also this is the part when we can start creating new websites, digital products for our product, company or service.

So why do we want to start rebranding Orchard?
Branding is super important to make Orchard a widely known, competitive product, to truly make it an industry sensation. And with its amazing community and technology behind it, I am sure it can once become something disruptive.

What do you guys think? Would you be open to rebrand Orchard from the ground up and create a brighter, bolder, more competitive future we can all be a part of?

[agriffard]

My first remark would be that I don't see Orchard as a Product.

Here are some other thoughts:
Orchard might be underserved by the fact that you can do a lot of different kind of apps from a simplest to a more complex one so people can be confused by all those possibilities and the actual power of the framework.
Orchard is often perceived as a project with a steep learning curve. Even when some bloggers write articles, it is hard to go beyond the level 101.

In order to spread on a larger scale, I would say that Orchard might need:

• Direction: What is the current status, the next steps, ...
• Explanations: It must be clear after an hour of searching/testing if Orchard fits your needs.
• Recognition: State that every contribution counts.
• Transparency: Do not presume that, because this is an open source project, people understand exactly how everything works.
• Visibility: Spread the word, share about the true potential.

I am always impressed by the dedication of the contributors, the amount of time they can spend to improve the project.

We should also ask ourselves 'What makes a Framework/CMS popular?'

I hope that a new branding will be able help but it would be just one step on the path to the success we are all expecting.

[agriffard]

In a funny way, this reminds me a story about how the potaoes have been widespread in France:
https://commoninfirmities.com/2017/02/03/who-tricked-whom-into-eating-potatoes/

TLDR: If you want to make something successful, don't give it for free, people will not want it.
Instead, claim that it is strictly forbidden to use it but leave it available by some way, people will be intrigued and will want to try it.
This is some kind of reverse psychology, like the forbidden fruit.

[Skrypt]

I don't mind to be honest. This remembers me a story in 01 where guys wanted to rebrand the https://www.orchardcore.net/ website but it never concluded. Here, we have to be prudent into deciding what kind of rebranding it would be.

Changing the CMS name? That would be a bold move to be honest. The issue being that there is a lot of content already published on social medias and youtube using the Orchard name.

If the goal is to promote Orchard better then I'd say that it starts by making the current https://www.orchardcore.net/ more appealing and to make it usefull in a way where people will actually use it to promote their websites or services. Currently, I barely use the https://www.orchardcore.net/ website apart from clicking on the Podcast meeting link on the frontpage. Also, if we look at other platforms. Let's take https://ghost.org/ for example, they also offer SaaS services related with their CMS. Here with Orchard, there is no product offering of that kind, and no real budget for promoting the framework since it's just a common tool used by everyone. Also, Lombiq, promotes itself as a company that offers SaaS services around Orchard Core since version 01 so maybe this is where the rebranding money should be spent since it's a "company product". Just some thoughts ... to continue 😄

[Piedone]

Here're the old branding assets in the docs.

So as we discussed in today's meeting the first step would be to produce a variety of logos that we can properly use in a variety of places and make Orchard logo usage consistent across everywhere. This is more of a technical step which is really necessary because currently there's no easy way to get proper Orchard logos (like if you want to use them in a presentation).

And in the meantime, we can do the long discussion about what needs to be adjusted in Orchard's communication (like the contents of the website), if any. Quite a while ago @stevetayloruk did some work on revamping the Orchard (1) website but I don't think those materials are available anymore as Steve's blog disappeared. Steve, if you're out there, please respond.

[stevetayloruk]

@Piedone what do you need from me? The blog is still up, albeit not updated for a while!

https://www.stevetaylor.me.uk/

[Skrypt]

I think showing at least a video of the OC admin dashboard unique features would be a good start. Something that would summarize what is Orchard Core and that shows it.

[Piedone]

Ah thanks @stevetayloruk, needed www :D. This is what I was looking for: https://www.stevetaylor.me.uk/the-new-orchard-cms-website/ (cc @parisnoble).

@Skrypt we've started working on an interactive walkthrough a while ago (but then put it on hold due to other priorities), similar to the one you can see on the demo sites here: https://tryorchard.net/ An alternative?