Inner child

When you look at the various entities labeled Web 2.0 there is a resounding message that the web has gone back to school (possibly even pre-school) and got the crayons out for Web 2.0 branding. Web 2.0 branding is paint by numbers and hand to your toddler offspring to add that authentic childish scrawl. It seems like a lot of designers are becoming web baby boomers and maybe this is to blame for the onslaught of the silly putty inspired logos.

Time travel is for grown ups

For a long time, the web was all grown up and this remove to the pre-school seems to be a result of too much being grown up. The web has got a sense of humor and it’s not using comic sans to prove it. So, is this the web’s second childhood? Or is it just a rebound effect of the corporate infestation that took over during and after the bubble burst all over the various faces.

Design by numbers

There are 2 distinctive playground elements: the branding in the sense of the name and the design. Which of these is more childish is a bit like the chicken and the egg. Let’s look at the design of the logos first and to do this here is a collection of various logos taken from LOGO2.0 by Stabilo Boss:

The theme here seems to be primary colours and festival of the crayons. From child drawings to bubble-gum induced glossiness, the design of web 2.0 wouldn’t look out of place in a toy store. You’d be mistaken for thinking that designers have got in touch with their inner toddler or even given this branding exercise to their offspring. Web 2.0 from a design and branding view can seem like it is all about channeling the inner Lego. You do get the impression that a lot of the web 2.0 designers are just plain making it up as they go along whilst playing with their train sets. Sites designed using grids you could drive a die cast model around in and headers made out of stickle bricks. It’s a play dough world of Web 2.0.

Baby Talk

The names of these web 2.0 toddlers potato print drawings seem to have more cuteness than a basket of puppies. It’s all enough to make you think that this is indeed the web’s second childhood. Web 2.0 seems to be branded by baby talk. Let’s take a quick look at a selection of Web 2.0 names:

• pando : what does a panda do?
• zoho : with baby blocks to prove the point
• megite : mega with a dollop on top
• zaadz : the kid has been using the fridge magent letters again
• squeet : squeak
• magnoto : X-men villain
• gumshoo : gets rid of chewing gum
• shutterfly : kids never get words right - par cark is car park and butterfly is shutterfly

And they all lived happily ever after…

This is not about arguing it’s a lesser design technique. I believe that a lot of the design and branding is a good thing and that this was when first done a refreshing trend. The issue really is the band wagon jumpers. As with so many trends, what starts out as ‘cute’ ‘different’ and ‘innovative’ soon becomes tired as another company adds a ‘r’ to their name or gets their kid to draw the logo. There does seem to slowly be developing a more ‘grown up’ or matured design trend to a few Web 2.0 companies. This may be as they are developing and ‘growing up’ as companies their branding is reflecting this. It may also be that now to stand out from the crowd you actually have to not channel your inner child. If it is another reaction and the cycle will start again, this is another point you could debate. Whatever your view, you can’t deny the trend and it’s impact on the web currently and in the past year.

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