Blyk - an “open code” brand
Blyk is an invite-only free mobile network. Once you’re on the network you can invite your friends to join. To seed the network we have street teams working at colleges, universities and gigs, talking with people about Blyk and signing them up. We have also put keywords at the end of several videos that are making the rounds on the Internet, like this one by Elin Svensson (you can text WHISPER to 82595 to get your code to join Blyk):
Many people have asked me about these videos and about the design of the Blyk brand identity. Here’s some background on what we’re doing and why.
When we started designing the Blyk brand we took a deliberately “open code” approach. By “open code” I mean, much like in open source software, that there is an initial hard core - the kernel of the operating system if you like - and that we allow and even encourage variation, iteration and interpretation of the brand identity. Our goal is to create the Blyk brand together with our members, to invite them to take part. I believe this is the best way for us to compete with the traditional “pay-for” mobile networks and to build a real emotional tie with our audience. This idea is carried into the illustrative style used in our launch visuals.
The first step was the logo. This consists of an abstract mobile screen containing a typographical symbol called a caret. You’ll see this above the 6 on your keyboard, it means “insert here”, symbolising the fact that Blyk relies on its members’ willingness to participate. Because on Blyk, in terms of relevance, you get out what you put in. The name “Blyk” itself is deliberately recessive; you’ll usually see it somewhere near the logo in a web address, or as part of an illustration, but we won’t be too uptight about it.
With the logo in place we had to generate a visual identity for the brand. Blyk is an “open code” brand, not a “control brand.” I believe that most important brands these days are built on conversation rather than control. Rather than trying to create a brand that was representative of the youth market, the idea was to allow members to represent themselves. It was time for us to hand the brand over to the audience. Our dozen launch brand visuals were created by young artists, chosen through a competition from the London College of Communications, interpreting the logo in their own way.
Since, at this stage, the business model was still a secret, entrants in the competition were given a brief consisting of the logo, the words “play”, “mobile” and “free”. The response was excellent, with enough work to fill a gallery space in Soho. The Blyk team then judged the work democratically and a dozen winners were chosen. This is not a brand identity that will be ever be finished, but one that was designed to evolve and develop over time. So, as well as a cash prize, all the winners began what was to be an ongoing relationship with the brand.
The animations are just the most recent fruits of these relationships, which Blyk sees as integral to its youth credentials. They were produced by the illustrators, with our extended team providing whatever level of assistance was needed to take their concepts to finished animations.
To summarize, the Blyk brand has a few necessarily fixed parts, the logo and the tone of voice for instance. Beyond that, it has a loose recognisable aesthetic. You could describe it as optimistic. You don’t get this by holding three-day long marketing team meetings and having a hundred people policing the brand. What you do have to do is get young creatives together, share with them the hard core and the brand values, give them proper resources and pay them properly, and let them go.
In addition to the lovely video by Elin Svensson - WHISPER, we’ve also put three other animations online: Beatrice Richardson - TREE, Thomas Knowler - FRIENDS and Noboru Oikawa - CELL.
We’ll be posting more videos in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
35 comments November 14th, 2007