ISSUE
large software company without brand recognition and hard to use software.

SOLUTION
create a brand identity that conveys a sense of Zen via the user interface elements.

ROLE
user interface designer

Begun in the fall of 1998, the SAP effort involved countless elements and a tremendous amount of hours from a team of designers.

The first task was to give the R/3 system a friendlier appearance. This was achieved through the creation of new concepts and elements designed to fit into a complex visual metaphor system. Much of this achievement was through the high amount of attention given to many of the smallest GUI elements.

For example, when designing the dialog window, I used SAP branding elements, e.g. the blue title bar and the SAP 45 degree triangle. Other elements I worked on had to speak directly to an existing language, i.e., their icon system. This system alone numbered in the hundreds and was visually redesigned by frog.

These elements, and other smaller ones, let the user know that they are working within the SAP system and not within another Windows application.

From the detail design level, we quickly evolved the user interface program into a brand awareness effort. We were able to design screen savers, desktop patterns, and other elements that transformed the user's experience into a complete package.

An example of the brand awareness effort is the small-animated banners used for the intranet site or the SAP's IDES banner on the demo site.