Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:37:08 GMT

If were to get a Zune...............RED.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Daveworld — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 03:57:51 GMT

Have to agree with BJ, "Suede" sounds so much better than plain old Brown. Chocolate is already taken by LG - they are playing off the whole unwrapping of chocolate thing. Great marketing/advertising for a phone which IMO is not that great.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

BJ Nemeth — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:04:33 GMT

I actually like how the brown Zune looks; it's my favorite of the three available colors.

My biggest gripe is the name -- why call it "brown"? A simple word-association test with a small group would have shown it's not a great-sounding color for a product. (It works for UPS, but it also reinforces the idea that they deal with boxes and shipping.)

Why not call it Cocoa, or Chocolate, or Coffee, or Latte? (Just a quick list off the top of my head.) Those all have positive connotations. I bet that if you chose one of those color names, the "controversy" over the brown color choice would have been cut in half, if not more.

If y'all were already calling the brown Zune "Suede" internally, why not tell the marketing guys? It's a much better name than "brown."

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

John in S.Florida — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:02:17 GMT

As for me, I have a white Zune..I love the matte look the double shot gives it.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

John in S.Florida — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:56:53 GMT

Looks like ClicZune is confirming that a pink Zune is coming May 1st. So maybe Zune marketing is starting to go after that wider audience.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

John in S.Florida — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:37:21 GMT

TomT.."iPod is about pathetic pseudocool and fashion."

I agree but design/fashion does attract a sizeable female audience...and I guess to an extent metrosexuals too. iPod has a very broad appeal. I think its okay for Zune to have a narrow target audience but it can't be that way for long. Hopefully this fall they will have some form factors that can do well with a broader audience. An audience that perhaps turned off by Zune's current edginess.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

RomeoDude — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:25:05 GMT

Wow, the chocolate 360 looks really authentic and real! Quite detailed. How bout a chocolate Zune? That would be pretty cool.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

TomT — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:22:48 GMT

IMHO, a Black-Only Zune release would have sent the message "Zune believes that function is more important than fashion".

iPod is about pathetic pseudocool and fashion. Zune should be the opposite.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Zuneless — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:18:22 GMT

Nord said:

"...but you're also parroting the million bleating sheep writing..."

Mixin' metaphors with the best of the lambs.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Nord — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:54:20 GMT

I'm firmly in the "don't give a crap" camp. My Zune is brown. So what. Brown is brown. It is not high fashion. It's just brown. If you get enough sheep to bleat along with you, then the herd decides that what was uncool last year is now the height of coolness. If your mind works like this, it's not something to be proud of. It means you're a mindless idiot. You say "Brown is the new black" - not only are you just parroting the thousand other retards who have said this for no good reason, but you're also parroting the million bleating sheep writing "X is the new X" everywhere.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Lunaclown — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:41:16 GMT

Love my brown Zune. Pimpin.

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Ricardo Dawkins — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:40:21 GMT

I hope that pink zune comes with firmware 1.3. Really !

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

WESS PALM BEECH — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:05:15 GMT

Ceaser I need you to confirm the pink Zune wil be available for retail purchase.

http://www.cliczune.com/2007/03/pink_zune_on_ma.html

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Steve — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:04:04 GMT

B R O W N Is WAY Cool... We have bought five Zunes and they are all B R O W N... It goes with the purse, the pants, the backpack, the snowboard...and the Porsche SUV in the driveway...

re: Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Daniel Kirk — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:41:17 GMT

I'm torn on this. On the one hand, yeah, it's gutsy. I have to give the design team credit for that. On the other hand...

Brown is not the new black. Black is still the black, and it holds its own in that spot just fine. Also, some colors just lend themselves better to specific kinds of merchandise than others. For example, if and when Microsoft develops a dedicated eBook reader, that would be absolutely appropriate in brown. Y'know: Book -> Leather -> Brown. Whereas: Media Player -> Leather... um, naw, it just sorta falls apart right there.

With the Zune, the visual signature should scream, "Music!" Whether we're associating with high-end devices of another type (picture the Zune in semi-reflective/semi-matte gunmetal case and print-resistant anodized D-Pad a la Kenwood home theater systems) or wild color combinations like print-resistant gloss white / vibrant color cases and black D-Pad (reminiscent of electric guitars like the Fender "American Vintage '57" Stratocaster.) You want a device whose visual signature is not only irresistably eye-catching and undeniably unique, but also identifies what the device does, and what the Zune does best is music... at least, until Zune Marketplace gets video... :D