The way I like to develop is to create specific virtual machines for my web development.
The chore is to start the machine, mount the file system and then open up your IDE. All a nuisance that takes time. So, I’ve taken to writing a simple Bash script that will do the grunt work for you. All you have to do is put in your settings, save it and run it!
Now I’ve had access to the branding materials I wanted to share my thoughts about the Toastmasters branding and what it means to clubs like Ambassadors Speakers Club.
First of all, the branding overhaul was very much needed in my opinion. I think that consistency is a key factor is showing Toastmasters as a unified organisation and this is the start of addressing those issues.
The new logo and tagline, ‘Where Leaders Are Made’, is fresher and gives the organisation a less ‘stuffy’ feel to it. I always felt that the cross-gavels logo gave the wrong impression about Toastmasters and I was loathe to use it in our club’s website design.
The Good Bits
The colours give a classic, yet contemporary feel. I’ve always felt that the maroon / ochre colour instills a sense of integrity authority for instance. It’s the style that wouldn’t be out of place in Westminister. I’m sure that the overall scheme was investigated with great detail.
The sample marketing material is great – it gets across the keys points of Toastmasters to non-members.
I won’t wax lyrical about why these things are good improvements, as I think that the guidelines book and presentations make that clear and for the most part I agree.
I don’t know if it’s around the web at the moment. But Google+ is finally available for users who have Google+ email addresses,
This means that Google Profiles has finally been enabled for the same users and domains, so we should be seeing some more interoperability between Google related sites.
I only noticed that it was available because the web mail interface had a new look available that matches a number of profiled sites.
