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Posted by Steve Portigal | 11 Jan 2006
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In my browser, the favicon for this new logo announcement at Kodak's site still shows the old logo. And now the bluster
"Today's digital cameras are dinosaurs, with the same basic architecture and functionality as the box Brownie camera that Kodak introduced more than one hundred years ago,' said [Kodak CEO] Perez. 'It's a lens, shutter and something to capture the focused light. All the imaging industry has done is to replace silver with silicon. In the next era, we will design digital cameras from the ground up to take full advantage of the creative power that digital technology provides.""Consumers want the power to use their images to connect, create, preserve, entertain and inform," said Perez. "To that end, Kodak is committed to reinventing the digital imaging experience by pretty much changing everything that defines photography today and bringing ease-of-use to the next level."
Ease-of-use is a surprising thing to hang an innovative hat on; it's still delivered terribly, but it's not very sexy. Will it work?
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Kodak New logo does'nt relate to the digital space,its a time warp.
I caught this post on a Google Alert and wanted to post a response.
I work in one of the industrial divisions of Kodak (nothing to do with cameras).
The logo was unveiled at CES in Las Vegas last week before useage guidelines were established. You probably won't see the new logo used widely until the end of Feb.
As for the ease of use, consider that there are some 60-billion photos locked-up inside cell phones alone because there isn't an easy way for the average person to print them. It's not a lot different with digital cameras. All the manufacturers know of this problem. George Eastman's original camera slogan was "You push the button, we do the rest." He wanted cameras to be no harder to use than a pencil. Digital technology has perhaps made it more convenient to take a picture, but for the average user, harder to get them printed. Men are content to store them on their computers or print them at home, however women want prints, and don't want to do it at home. They want to put them in scrapbooks, share them with their friends, mail them to relatives, and so on.
Of course there are a lot of above average users who don't need all the simplicity, probably everyone reading this blog for example. My wife has never had a problem with her film camera, but after owning a digital camera for two years she still hates the whole digital ordeal of getting pictures printed, although recently she's gotten better at using the walk-up kiosks at Target.
Very soon you will be able to take your camera phone, or your digital camera and just be near either your own home printer, or a kiosk printer, and print via Blue Tooth or Wi-Fi. It's already possible to e-mail your photos to the Kodak EasyShare gallery where they are permanently archieved in your own personal account. That way you can free up space on the phone or some of the new Wi-Fi cameras to take more pictures. It's no harder than sending the pictures to a friend with a camera phone.
Antonio Perez' comments about present digital cameras just relate to the fact that digital cameras, for the most part, follow the same form and function as film cameras, but without any particularly good reason, except that it's familiar. He's only saying that there is a lot of creative headroom that hasn't been explored or exploited. I think it's a call to action for the entire industry.
The interesting part to me is admitting that digital cameras have harnessed so little of the technology's potential and simply mimic what we expect a camera to be. Could we handle the camera being something that diviates from its historical norms?
But having just spent a couple hours reorienting my vertical images from a recent trip, I just might settle for ease of use.
I am industrial designer and I work on complex medical diagnostic systems. When I bought the Kodak Easy share camera and printer doc for my seven year old daughter it re-emphased the power of good design and ease of use. She is able to take pictures, transfer and printer with the touch of button, it?s amazing and powerful.