Voodoo

I just ran across this line of computers from HP from the blog on Core. They are called Voodoo. They seem beautifully detailed. The packaging is nice too.

I’m diggin’ the laptop, but something about the tower is … uninspiring. Its not as refined as Apple’s similar tower design. The laptop, while crisply minimalist and refined, resembles a slimmed down, glossy version of my old skool IBM Thinkpad…

I priced one of the laptops, and for an “HP” product, its expensive. $500/600 upcharge for one of their “custom” colors? Why anyone would want to cover up all of that carbon fiber they are paying for is beyond me…

You’re going to have to keep the laptop in that bag lest human fingerprints soil it. Piano black belongs on concert grand pianos, not personal electronics.

like “touch screens”…

Nice Monkey:laughing:

i like the rationalism design, but do find the logo kinda spoils it. and whatever that thing is on the front of the tower is just ugly. that element alone (aside from being a pc) would be a certain reason “not to buy”. the voodoo wordmark isn;t great but is passble but that face thing is too 90’s tribal tattoo to work with the design. just another example perhaps how design form and brand should be consistent.

R

HP bought Voodoo, soon after Dell acquired Alienware. I was wondering what they would start producing. Its an interesting direction Hp’s is taking but I agree about the piano black, wait until you get some scratches and ware on this bad boy.

Richard: As Terracota points out, this line is for gamers and is competing with Alienware more than Apple.

I agree, the laptop is a better execution. I don’t even mind the logo on the laptop. The tower is good, except for that weird logo thing on it. Perhaps it looks better in person?

We, as designers, are definitely not the target market for these machines. Your average Call of Duty/World of Warcraft gamer is probably drooling all over these right now. These are the same people who list the speed of their RAM in their signature on gaming forums.

Kind of like this guy…

That graphic on the tower really hurts my eyes! I understand it’s for gamers, but still, that’s no excuse.

I like the packaging, but like someone said, without the logos there’s nothing connecting these 3 products together at all.

I realize we are not the target market, but that’s no excuse for a mixed bag of messages and lack of consistency. It seems pretty obvious that they (someone in marketing perhaps?) looked at the success of apple design with clean lines, and honest materials, nice packaging, etc. and said “let’s do that”. They did, the designers did a great job, and then they slapped their existing logo/graphics on it.

As I said before, this is indeed a good design job, just a branding failure in lacking the consistency of message from product to logo to packaging to consumer.

R

PS. and I dont but that the target market would like clean minimal design, but then also love 90’s psychedelic graphics…that just doesn’t add up.

I agree with Richard, that logo mark is crap, designer or gamer will see the contrast there. Lose it and stick with the typographic logo only. The boldness of the logos on the laptop is telling also- that level of sophistication in form and material is calling for something much more subtle and better implemented than highly contrasting pad printing. The smell of marketing…

Now HP is launching another desktop in the Voodoo line. I have to say, I think this is pretty nice for a gaming computer. It seems like the designers are already missing Battlestar Gallactica though.

that bad logo on the front of the tower that everyone seems concerned about looks like a bad Photoshopped LCD screen to me…

old thread but I think the logo on the front is a touchscreen… for controlling what, I don’t know.

I’ve seen a whole bunch of terrible gaming cases (and ho-hum mini-PC cases) and that Firebird looks nice.

The logo is less than ideal, but I think that may have existed for quite awhile, unfortunate, but probably outside of the scope of what the designers could affect unfortunately.

The product design is awesome on these. Really nice stuff.

I don’t think the logo fits either, and except for the Firebird I’m not too moved by the designs - kind of boxy

That package looks like the same one from this article → Greener By Design 2009: HP and a Computer Box Meant to Last Forever

It’s a great idea to give packaging a second life instead of just being something to just toss