Great article! This touches on a bigger branding-issue that I’m having; if you are running a business online and having a lot of client interactions online the styling/branding of the apps you are using will hurt your business.
What you describe in the article is great for “personal use” but as a business owner I rely on, and pay for, services that I can’t customize visually to fit with the rest of my brand. So when my clients log in to, lets say Basecamp or Freshbooks, to work with me they never see my brand.
What I think is needed in the future is some kind of “OpenBrand”-standard that works the same way as OpenID works. OpenBrand would be a unique place/url/identifier that contained information on colors, typography, grids, logos and other styling related elements.
So whenever I sign-up for a web app I submit my OpenBrand, and the web app takes care of the rest for me – “branding” itself according to my preferences.
Andreas Carlsson
Great article! This touches on a bigger branding-issue that I’m having; if you are running a business online and having a lot of client interactions online the styling/branding of the apps you are using will hurt your business.
What you describe in the article is great for “personal use” but as a business owner I rely on, and pay for, services that I can’t customize visually to fit with the rest of my brand. So when my clients log in to, lets say Basecamp or Freshbooks, to work with me they never see my brand.
What I think is needed in the future is some kind of “OpenBrand”-standard that works the same way as OpenID works. OpenBrand would be a unique place/url/identifier that contained information on colors, typography, grids, logos and other styling related elements.
So whenever I sign-up for a web app I submit my OpenBrand, and the web app takes care of the rest for me – “branding” itself according to my preferences.