Good morning.

Today my Sunday AM will be different from the past weeks, and it may change. I haven't decided yet, so let me know what you like.

I hope you will enjoy the read!

/Morten

ROSETTA

A few weeks ago, I told how the Danish King Harald Bluetooth gathered the scattered Danish Kingdoms into one Denmark and how his name was later used by the Swedish company Ericsson. Bluetooth became the name Ericsson chose to use for the near-field communication standard. Today it's impossible to imagine a world without Bluetooth. Used to connect a wealth of devices has made life easier for all of us.

Today's story takes us back to 1799 and el-Rashid in Egypt. Napoleon was the French emperor with global ambitions; however, it didn't go exactly as planned. He wanted to strengthen the defense in Alexandria and ordered the gathering of material from the neighboring cities, of which one was el-Rashid. One of the stones was engraved with text and miraculously escaped being used as a building block and ended up at the British Museum in London.

The English name for el-Rashid is Rosetta, and the stone I refer to is the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta stone (see a 3D model here) is impressive and has deepened the understanding of ancient Egyptian documents. If you are interested in history, you should search for more information and learn. The story of how the stone was found is fascinating. Still, that one stone changed history, and our understanding of Egypt, Babylon, and the ancient empires is an almost impossible thing to comprehend!

Rosetta became a game-changer because the exact text was written in three different languages: hieroglyphic, demotic (script), and ancient Greek. Greek was known, so with three identical texts, it was now possible to understand and de-crypt the two other languages, opening up more than half a million clay pads found in Babylon, Egypt, and many other places!

One more thing.

For Apple fans, you know the best is saved for last. When Apple long time ago shifted their processor platform from Motorola 68XXX to Intel and now to Apple's processor technology, the enabler of using software across these architectures was called Rosetta. And as fascinating as the story about Bluetooth was, so was the Rosetta. I love when tech companies use names with historical backgrounds, as Rosetta and Bluetooth perfectly resemble today's use.

COLORS, QUALITY, DESIGN & ESTHETICS

We talk about colors constantly in our industry. We measure colors and Delta E like crazy. We even compare quality in microscopes but maybe sometimes the most important - taste? What looks great, what doesn't? Nobody can, of course, objectively judge colors, and the funny thing is how colors and perception of colors changes with fashion, with culture, with context, with pretty much everything. Last year I got a new iPhone, Apple's new light blue edition. I hated the color. I didn't like it, so I bought a bumper case to protect it and cover the color. A few days ago, I removed the bumper case, and suddenly I like it now; and when I see the color in context with other Apple products, and even with the color trends in designs, in color grades on films, etc., it makes perfect sense for me. I am just an old conservative color dude that doesn't like change. I must admit it, as little as I like it!

Let's talk quality. We all want quality, but the quality isn't an objective and measurable size. When we love standardizing and using, i.e., ISO standards, we sometimes forget how many standards are defined. Standards are primarily describing a repetitive process to achieve the same result. So you can have an ISO certification for quality, but it will not certify whether the product you buy is of good quality, but certify that the product is produced the same way all the time. Strange world, or is it just me?

Design is also a funny thing. Since services like Fiver, Cava, Place-It, and many other similar services have become increasingly popular, you can ask yourself - how on earth can you use design templates for your business? In my mind, a good design represents the value of your company. It often involves a thought process about everything from fonts, colors, photos, photo gradings, wording, language - pretty much everything. To me, using a template will most likely not represent anything but a certain level of something that looks generic and good enough!

Some companies will say it's because the design is expensive, and yes, it can be costly, but it can sometimes be MORE expensive not to invest in an identity that enables more sales.

That leads me to another thing that I often think of. Do brand owners not care about in what context their brand is positioned? When they film - do they not care about the quality of the filming? Do they not care about the story? Smartphones are great; we use them constantly at INKISH to produce content, but point-and-shoot doesn't make a good film. It needs to say something. A story if you like!

Esthetics is what bridges everything. There are a lot of things that are rooted locally. How things look in the US, Europe, and Asia may differ, but isn't it strange that the big global brands can make universal designs? Think Apple, BMW, Dolce Gabbana, and Coca-Cola, to mention a few. Still, we see big brands being "destroyed" by amateurs. I was in an airport in India once, and the Starbucks shop had a logo (as they normally have) - and I am pretty sure the colors were quite right, but the logo was stretched. Almost EVERY IT company I've worked with in India has at some point programmed a placeholder for a logo or other graphics where they simply stretched the content to fit. I don't even think they noticed, as when you come to India, you often see stretched logos in many contexts!

I still don't understand that we use media, films, websites, brochures, etc., that aren't designed and produced to the standards possible in the graphics arts industry. Our business is to convince customers to buy visual products, but if we can't film, design, or print something that looks cool, I believe we miss opportunities.

I am so happy that the people I work with have a fantastic eye for detail, the quality I like, the aesthetic I believe has a universal liking, and something that stretches our objectives daily.