The WordPress BrandBen Dunkle, WordCamp Buffalo, September 13, 2014

@empireoflight, bendunkle@gmail.com, bendunkle.com

–from the project’s readme.html file

“WordPress has no multi-million dollar marketing campaign or celebrity sponsors…”

–Matt Mullenweg, from the project’s readme.html file

“WordPress is…something beautiful that I’m proud to be a part of.”

What is a “brand”?

• a set of differentiating characteristics of an organization

• an enormous amount of effort goes into establishing and maintaining a brand

• brand assets are extremely valuable

lets start by trying to define a brand. t

Commercial technology brands

Apple

• simple

• easy

• exclusive

• cutting edge

• different

Google• everywhere

• everything

• international

• fun

• smart

• powerful

Microsoft• productivity

• work

• Bill Gates

• inexpensive

• practical

• bing

Adobe• creative

• artistic

• bleeding-edge

• “photoshopped”

• inventive

• designer

The eye and the lens have long been important visual assets in Adobe’s flagship Photoshop product.

What do they all have in common?

• Closed-source, non commercial

• Lots of money to spend on brand assets

• Advertising, PR, customer relations are top priority

Non-profit technology brands

Mozilla Firefox

• Rebellious

• Open

• Innovative

• Fast

• Free

GIMP(The GNU Image Manipulation Program)

• really cool mascot

• free

Drupal Joomla!• A cool logo

• Powerful

• Free

• Hard to define; “evolution is part of the Drupal brand"https://www.drupal.org/node/1164620

• Exclamation point

• Freedom, Equality, Trust, Community, Collaboration, Usability(http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/the-project/mission-vision-and-values.html)

is it a droplet or an alien or a surf or… what’s up with that joomla logo light source?

Challenges

• No advertising

• Relies on volunteers and contributors

• No money

I may be biased, because I really don’t use any of those products much. But there doesn’t seem to be much consistency in the message or much of an awareness.

Why does WP have such a strong brand?

Whether because they are unburdened by branding concerns, or lacking the resources required for a strong brand, open-source projects tend to lag behind their closed-source counterparts. Not WP. Why?

Tone

• words

• “old-fashioned”

• jazz

• Americana (hello dolly)

WordPress has a friendly, down to earth language. “Howdy”, “All right, Sparky”, “Were you expecting more steps? Sorry to disappoint.”. There’s an old-fashioned, nostalgic, southern American vibe that comes through in everything from the original “Hello Dolly” plugin to the naming of major releases after famous Jazz musicians to the epic BBQ lunches served at WCSF, the biggest of all WordCamps.

Logo

Designed by Jason Santa Maria, famous designer. Calls to mind typography, the printing press, a stamp. Very memorable.

Typography

• Georgia

• Mrs. Eaves

• Helvetica

• Open Sans

There’s always been a consciousness about typography in the WP universe. Even in the earliest versions, an insistence on Georgia over Times New Roman speaks to the eminence of Matthew Carter’s influence on digital typography. WP is particular about font faces and all other things typographic. Using Mrs. Eaves, a distinctive yet exemplary sans-serif, as the typeface for the logo is a bold statement. Even organizations as ubiquitous and powerful as MS hide behind the safety of sans-serifs. WordPress embraces serif fonts everywhere.

Colors

• Blue. It’s definitely blue, but orange and grey balance it out.

• There was at one point a “name” for the orange, but I can’t find them or remember.

Lots of tech companies use blue, so this isn’t as strong. But it is clearly defined, and is pervasive in the admin and on wp.com and wp.org.

Interface

Happy Cog, Matt Miklic, Me :) The word “Dashboard”. Clean, open, whitespacey.

People• bloggers/website owners

• designers

• developers

• core team

• sponsors

How do we describe the brand of the people who interact with WP? We all have our own perceptions of WP; what are they? Le

What it all means

• WP is a powerful commodity. People recognize and trust the brand.

• We have to be careful to stay within brand guidelines.

• We have to be conscious of its influence upon us.

–Matt Puchlerz

“WordPress is a tool, not the toolbox.”

Questions