6 posts tagged “frutiger”

At Christchurch Airport today:

   Domestic terminal: turn left.
   International terminal: turn right.
   Air New Zealand terminal: jump or climb over this fence but use your right leg only.

Although my most recent flight was Air New Zealand, when flying the Virgin affiliate out this way, Pacific Blue, you get to see some cool things. You are not sheltered with those poncy air bridges that the wimps use. It’s down the stairs and out on the tarmac—where I spotted this sign:

   If you run out of aprons at the airport, you need to activate the alarm. Very important. They take cooking really seriously there, even if airline food sucks.
   Or does it? Air New Zealand has heralded the return of the vegetarian chips! These were last served domestically on Qantas flights in 2003 and when I told that to the crew today, I was given three bags! Go Air New Zealand! (Yes, I was bribed with three bags of chips.)
   The distracting thing was that the safety announcements are now done in the nude on this airline. Before you get excited, it’s a video, the crew members are wearing body paint, and there is nothing revealing. The issue is you are getting the same sort of laugh you would with those gags in, say, the Austin Powers movies, where you wonder how they are going to cover various body parts up. It ties in to a campaign they are running: And in fact, you can see this for yourself (the blonde stewardess served us today, clothed): I warned her that if they ever heard the acronym NIFOC from the cockpit, then they might not want to go in. I said it stood for Naked In Front of the Cockpit, which isn’t exactly true—I learned the expression from a nudist I knew many years ago (the C stands for computer).
   But the point is I paid no attention to what they said, which defeats the purpose of the safety video.
   Finally, here’s a curiosity which I think should go on to Font Police: No, it’s not the use of “dumb quotes” that has me concerned, but why is it in quotes anyway? It’s like Christchurch Airport doesn’t mean it, and that they are merely quoting something someone else has said. Disappointingly, it is in Frutiger, which means instant anonymity as far as airports are concerned. Of airport signage, this is actually stranger than the apron emergency.

I know it’s more populist, but it is true. (The Alliance’s site is alliance.org.nz.)

I was totally stoked when Dan Gordon took a comment I made and turned it into a fictional election billboard on his blog. (Dan, please let me know if you prefer just the link and not the image.)

Maybe I should note ‘Authorized by Tom Dowie, 18 Walton Street, Christchurch’ even though it’s not an ad from the party, just to be on the safe side. (US readers: this is our equivalent of ‘I am … and I approve this message.’)

After reading that the Progressive Party is engaging in historical revisionism—by taking credit for policies it was not even around to make—we’ve made a couple of interesting advertisements for the Alliance Party, which did come up with Kiwibank and paid parental leave. 

[Cross-posted] This has been official for a while (or so I think—not that I ever heard what the Electoral Commission thought, but I did see it on its website). However, I wanted the party to approve the news first before sharing it with you all. The following is the overseas release which was rewritten from the one sent to domestic newsmedia. One that includes a mention of the Bush–Cheney campaign of 2004 was sent to US media.

JY&A Consulting revamps logo for New Zealand’s Alliance Party

Wellington, May 9 (JY&A Media) New Zealand political party, the Alliance, is looking more modern and relevant, thanks to its new logo by JY&A Consulting (http://jya.net/consulting).
   Devised by JY&A Consulting’s Jack Yan, the new logo signifies a new beginning for the democratic socialist political party.
   Mr Yan says that he has been a keen observer of general elections in the UK, US and New Zealand since the 1980s and that played a part in his team’s design.
   He says the Conservatives in 1983, Labour in the UK in 1997 and 2002 and Labour in New Zealand in 1999 and 2003 had certain commonalties in their campaigns, centring around typography.
   He also said that in those years, the party’s name was important, not the symbol—hence the traditional Labour rose was not present on that party’s election materials in 1997 and 2002.
   By abandoning the old A symbol of the Alliance and concentrating on the word, Mr Yan says that the party looks more professional and ready.
   The Alliance has contested every General Election in New Zealand since 1993. However, due to party changes it is trying to rebuild itself for the country’s General Election later this year.
   ‘We have two major parties in New Zealand that vote pretty much the same on all issues,’ says Mr Yan, ‘and minor parties that get ignored because of a lack of visibility. I wanted to change that. Why should minor parties be laboured with second-rate brands?’
   The logo is based around the Frutiger typeface and its lettering is predominantly in red, with a red dot over the i in Alliance to signify its environmental awareness.
   He says the letter i also shows the humanizing aspect of the party.
   ‘As a piece of design I think it looks more cohesive than the committee-led logos of National and Labour,’ he says, criticizing the major two parties in New Zealand.
   ‘I was given a lot of freedom, which is a good sign of how the party leadership handles matters. It clearly believes in trusting the right people.’
   As well as heading JY&A Consulting’s parent, Jack Yan & Associates, Mr Yan co-wrote Beyond Branding in 2003 and is a director of the Medinge Group, a branding think-tank based in Sweden.
   In October 2007 he was a keynote speaker for the Alliance Party at its annual conference.