A new brand of enterprise A.I.

Infor Coleman key visual

Infor wanted its A.I. to stand out in a good way. By being different, yes, but also by making a bold statement.

Let’s call it…

It started with Infor CEO Charles Phillips. He pushed everyone at Infor to open their minds a bit when he said he wanted to name Infor’s A.I. and suite of science services “Coleman”. The word already had several brand associations, but it didn’t matter to him. What was important is that Katherine Coleman Johnson, whose innovative work helped NASA land successfully on the moon, was an inspiring physicist and mathematician whose spirit was a perfect fit with what Infor was attempting with its data science and A.I. efforts.

Co-developing product and brand

There were two teams at Hook & Loop (Infor’s internal brand agency and UX shop) working on Coleman. One team was working on the UX—figuring out how to make the interface conversational, and instinctively simple. The other team, my team, was working on the branding. Something that made this project so fulfilling is that these two teams were working to co-develop a new product and brand simultaneously in two adjoining rooms at Infor’s HQ.

So as the interface was maturing and going through its revision cycles, we were able to figure out how the visual identity of Coleman would play, not just in marketing collateral, but also within the apps that would receive this technology.

Not scary

Infor President Duncan Angove insisted that because Infor’s A.I. was so powerful and had the potential to become nearly omnicient with respect to the enterprise, it was essential that Coleman not seem like a threatening machine overlord. So right away we worked to convey Coleman as an organic pure spirit with approachable moods and a fluid personality.

Infor Coleman’s moods reflect the intent of the user and the action of the technology

We showed how as Coleman’s behavior changed, it would naturally have a considerable visual impact on the interface, including changing colors, movements and tempos.

And with the product design team we showed how this would come to life inside an app:

We helped to shape the story of Coleman’s unveiling at Infor’s big annual customer conference, Inforum. It included an explanation of how the science and technology work, case studies that demonstrated how it will apply to real-world scenarios and how it’s the ultimate expression of the company’s strategy for transforming work experiences.

Infor President Duncan Angove on stage revealing Coleman, photo by John McGall

You can learn more about Infor Coleman on Infor’s website or by watching the video from Inforum.

Thanks to Josh, Joel, Adam and Nunz.