Since announcing the name, we’ve been exploring ideas for a Zamzee logo and visual identity.
Zamzee. Does it take you on a journey? Is it the hero inside you? Is it the crackling energy of physical activity? Or maybe it’s a quirky companion that gets you up and moving?
Working with the fun and creative brand strategy firm Sequence, we created logos and concept art to explore each of these directions. Then we gathered feedback from tweens, their parents, and you guys (our fans and followers –thanks for taking part in our surveys!).
Here’s a short video (1:36) of the top four logos and identify concepts we explored for Zamzee.
Thanks to Twitter, we’ve gotten to know the good folks over at GreatNonprofits over last few weeks. In fact they, invited us to join their 2010 Health Campaign , launched in collaboration with Guidestar.
We’ve been so intrigued by what GreatNonprofits is up to, we’d like to invite you to learn a bit more about them via a Twitter interview this Wednesday, June 16 between 9AM and 9:30AM (PST)!
What is a Twitter Interview (Twitterview)?
I’m glad you asked! A Twitterview is a two-way, real-time tweet dialog (140 character question and answer) between two parties (in this case @hopelab and @greatnonprofits ). It’s sort of like texting, but the tweets are out there for all of Twitter to see. We’ll be talking about our missions, using social media to promote health, and more.
Want to know what else is cool?
You can join in! Simply tweet your question and mark it with the #twtrview hashtag!
More on Great Nonprofits
GreatNonprofits is like the Amazon Reviews for non-profits, using social media to help individuals find worthy causes. Create a profile (super simple), and you’re on your way to reviewing non-profits all around the US. Check out our review page here. You can share your experience, volunteer, and even donate all through the GreatNonprofits web site.
Mark your calendars!
What: Twitterview with GreatNonprofits When: Wednesday June 16 from 9 AM to 9:30 AM PST Who: @HopeLab and @GreatNonprofits Hashtag: #twtrview
Every year this time a few of us from HopeLab leave homebase here in Redwood City for an East Coast swing through two game conferences we love: Games for Health and Games for Change. I didn’t make the trip this year – instead, I’m detailed to represent HL at the Move Your App! Developer Challenge we’re cosponsoring with Snaptic; more on that in another post – but our veteran road warrior Ellen LaPointe did. (On a side note, this year the Games for Health and Games for Change event schedules actually overlapped a bit – why not combine the two into one big “Games for Good” meetup? Now there’s an idea.)
At Games for Health, Ellen took the stage with a few HL collaborators and colleagues to moderate a panel on “Designing for Impact,” a look at how game producers, researchers, healtchare businesses and designers think about creating products that have meaningful impact. Reporting from the road, Ellen tells me about 100 folks turned out for the session and the dialogue between panelists Sven Newman of Daylight Design, Andy Swanson of Bayer HealthCare, and Jason Langheier of Fitness Forward was rich and well-received. Later in the day, Ellen and Sven hosted a second session, walking attendees through the HopeLab-Daylight collaboration on Ruckus Research, our project to gather human factors insights on kids lives and their attitudes about physical activity – a key piece of work that continues to inform our development work with Zamzee (formerly gDitty). Given the growing interest in “active gaming” to get people moving (hello, Project Natal!), it was a great opportunity to share what we learned through in our Ruckus Research project.
So, another informative, inspiring trip to the Games for Good events – looking forward to next year!
If you’ve ever played World of Warcraft or heard a Lady Gaga song, then you’ve experienced the kind of popular entertainment produced by Vivendi, one of the world’s leading communications and entertainment conglomerates. But Vivendi is doing more than just creating blockbuster video games and chart-topping music. Vivendi is investing in something truly powerful: creating joy.
The Vivendi Create Joy Fund, the company’s corporate responsibility program launched in 2008, focuses on “bringing joy through communications and entertainment to young people in need.” Already, Create Joy is supporting an impressive range of projects making an impact around the world. One example I love is a program in Africa supported by Create Joy that centers on a multimedia bus in Burkina Faso. This bus, called Biblio’Brousse, “offers basic training in computer skills and multimedia tools for young people aged 15-20, in partnership with high-school educational teams.” More than 3,000 people have been trained to date.
A little closer to home, the Vivendi Create Joy Fund has been providing HopeLab with funding to support the research and development of the next version of our Re-Mission video game. With support from Create Joy, we’re working with young cancer patients across the country, giving them a chance to collaborate with us on the design of the new game.
We’re proud to be part of the exciting mix of programs supported by the Create Joy Fund and wanted to shine the HopeLab spotlight on the great work Vivendi is doing to improve young lives. So whether you are wondering around WoW’s City of Azeroth, learning on a multimedia bus in Africa, or finding yourself humming along to “Just Dance,” remember that joy was created by Vivendi.
Method, cited in an NPR story on legal efforts to protect double-bottom line companies, has built a thriving business on home-care products and social responsibility.
This morning NPR flashed a spotlight on an interesting, potentially powerful path ahead for social entrepreneurs – legal protections for double-bottom-line companies. Corporate law currently protects the interests of shareholders and holds companies accountable for maximizing shareholder value – i.e. making money. In this environment, companies that also value social good – environmentally friendly production practices, returning a portion of profits to communities, etc. – often see those values compromised as business success puts pressure on their legal obligations to shareholders. (The NPR story highlights Ben & Jerry’s and Method as case studies.)
Now a working group of California lawyers that includes attorney and blogger Todd Johnson is working to change that. Johnson and colleagues are asking, What if companies could truly mix profitability and mission? Johnson and his colleagues are rewriting laws to recognize “for-benefit corporations” that bridge the gap between the money-generating focus of for-profit entities and the social missions of non-profit organizations. It’s a space we’re watching closely at HopeLab. As Pat mentioned in an earlier blog post, we’re exploring ways to maximize the impact of gDitty as both a commercial product and a mission-driven project to fight childhood obesity.
(+3 rating, 3 votes)
1 Comment
