From Jordan Yerman in the Vancouver Observer:
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… our transit system remains faceless –– and therefore soulless.
Now TransLink is introducing the Compass Card. … you’d think TransLink would take selling the system to the public pretty seriously. But that is clearly not the case. …
Seriously, this is what they’re bringing:
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Several months ago I had suggested “BearFare” as a product name. A card depicting a cuddly-yet-professional bear, maybe carrying a card with her own image on it.
I approached Graham Dobson, co-founder of Codename Design, to come up with a notional version of BearFare. …
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The point isn’t to embarrass TransLink over its advertising efforts: the agency is doing a fine job of that all on its own. Rather, the point is to show how much easier it is to acquaint the public with a faceless system if you just give it a face. …
One of the most successful aspects of the 2010 Olympic experience were Vancouver’s sporting mascots, Sumi, Quatchi, Miga, and MukMuk; created by Meomi Design.
Why isn’t Quatchi the year-round mascot for Vancouver? If we want to boost civic pride, we could start with something as basic as giving our transit system a face. TransLink missed the boat on BearFare, but it can still win over a still-bemused public. …
We can figure it out. We can turn something faceless into a friend.
[This article is adapted from ‘My Penguin Friend: The Faces of Cities and Systems‘, a presentation by Jordan Yerman for ProductYVR; an ongoing series of lectures around the products that make our lives better or worse.]
What a load of tosh! My full response on my blog
I’m with Stephen, too, despite the most disturbing success of Telus’ postmodern marketing ploy of exploiting live animals in its ads, for which Telus was sued unsuccessfully.
If a face is to be given to Transit, let it be mine — twisted, red, and smoking with furore — when 2 full buses, one after the other, drove right by me, leaving me in their dust and late for my work on the first and last day I finally decided to go green and take Transit.
I’m with Stephen.
I have to agree Quatchi makes for an interesting Vancouver mascot, the trouble of course is that it’s a registered trademark of VANOC.