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The Great Big Brand Refresh


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What I gathered after reading both articles on Medium and looking at this forum:

  1. we have a new font
  2. The icon in my browser tab is now green instead of black
  3. Evernote for Windows is not any faster
  4. Emoji support is still in the windows client
  5. Notes still have unreasonably fat margins

Did I miss anything?

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9 minutes ago, EdH said:

Did I miss anything?

They're now "Focusing on our message and how our customers, partners, and prospects react to it."

I think that means "waiting for the other shoe to drop"

Nincompoops.

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Gosh, tough crowd here (but not unexpected).

Easy folks, it's just a Branding Exercise. The marketing folks get to have their day, and maybe the troops get fired up, too. New T-shirts and coffee cups all around!!

Meanwhile, the weary coder looks up, bleary-eyed, from their screen, raises an eyebrow and smiles wanly, maybe checks their email for the ticket that says "Plug the new graphics  into the UI", but then sighs and inevitably plunges back again, once more, into the breach..

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15 minutes ago, jefito said:

maybe checks their email for the ticket that says "Plug the new graphics  (into the UI"

Probably with a top dog priority...   ?

(sorry, couldn't help myself)

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From https://evernote.com/blog/ceo-notebook-evernote-brand/

 

Quote

We are working to improve the customer experience.

I hope so. Because it hasn't worked out that way so far in the last 2+ years. Product reliability is not near what it should be.

Quote

Our purpose is simple: we’re here to help people focus on what matters most.

I don't even know where to start with this one. My cursor continues to jump around, the the cursor at the bottom of the note is below my screen, general releases get published with sync errors that were clearly identified in the beta builds, merging notes can still cause data loss - which can be corrected if you notice and retrieve from the trash can, and the UI still freezes way too often. And that just touches the surface of the issues identified in the forums.

This is just frustrating. The wrong thing is being focused on. This feels like something that was done to garner some positive press on a snazzy new icon and font, not something that would actually improve the reliability of the product.

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Redesigns are great - when they're also functional. Could we please have the option to revert the color of tags in snippet view to blue? The new gray is subtle, to the point of barely visible... Otherwise, thank you for finally addressing and fixing the issue of "lost focus" (works for me at least).

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I am not a marketing person, but I can appreciate the importance and value of good branding.
 
I read the entire piece in Medium. It was quite well written, but struck me as over-kill. An article covering the same topics, but about 25% as long, would have sufficed.
 
But, yes, as other people in this thread indicated, this is all about changing the packaging while the product stays the same. - - - And yes, in the past year, there have been a variety of enhancements implemented in the new releases.
 
However, it seems to me that the major challenge for Evernote management is how to make a significant enhancement to the product without making the product materially more complicated.
 
I also observe that most (maybe all) of the people commenting in this thread are very experienced and very sophisticated Evernote users. Those types of customers are harder to satisfy in any business, particularly when the supplier can't charge them a higher price. - - - Suppliers of products must ensure that their product capabilities match the needs of the masses real well - - - and, if I give Evernote management the benefit of the doubt, they decided now was the time to appeal to the masses by enhancing the brand.
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I do like the new icon..but gosh you really have been overthinking it a bit..and probably overspending. How much did it cost to employ an external agency? All that stuff about the slope representing momentum and the spiral in the trunk representing progress is, in fact, utter rubbish. Take a step back and think about it..it is overindulgent nonsense, isn't it?

What you need to focus on is usability. Address the formatting inconsistencies, latency, security, implement markdown, bring spaces to individual users, implement a more robust task/reminders option..

 

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The new design is neat, but the countdown (on twitter) and the posts are a bit over the top.

I too hoped for improvements in functionality (handwriting in android is still laggy; dark mode would be great etc.).

Cheers

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I can’t even...

1 hour ago, gazumped said:

Well at least we have a new improved Windows app 6.14 - (I checked updates today).  Just look at these release notes...

92505248_Clipboard1.jpg.f558e57b09ab4bb3687e213353f7a19a.jpg

 

 

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Branding does matter. It matters to the people that work there, the investors and to potential new customers.

Whether it deserves the twitter countdown etc is debatable, but I'm pretty sure that the actual impact on development resources was very low.

 

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10 hours ago, Analyst444 said:

... very experienced and very sophisticated Evernote users. Those types of customers are harder to satisfy in any business, particularly when the supplier can't charge them a higher price.

No, actually, we aren't. We can be satisfied by a product that does what we need it to do, efficiently and in which bugs and design flaws are addressed instead of remaining in the product for years. We can be satisfied by seeing the company put its resources into addressing those problems instead of into marketing fluff that appears, from the outside, to be intended to impress investors or attract new users, when the existing users are increasingly unhappy.

11 hours ago, Analyst444 said:

However, it seems to me that the major challenge for Evernote management is how to make a significant enhancement to the product without making the product materially more complicated.

Many existing users are not looking for significant enhancements to the product, we are looking for stabilization, bug fixes, and the correction of design flaws. In fact, many of the "significant enhancements" (for example, the recent emphasis on collaboration and other business features) did make the product more complicated and were unwanted by many of the existing users.

11 hours ago, Analyst444 said:

if I give Evernote management the benefit of the doubt, they decided now was the time to appeal to the masses by enhancing the brand.

Yes, that's exactly what they did. And before that, they decided "now" was the time to appeal to the masses by adding new features that many existing users didn't want, leaving the existing bugs and design flaws in place. It's a poor decision, to always look forward at what you don't have and never look at what you already do have.

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1 hour ago, Metrodon said:

Branding does matter. It matters to the people that work there, the investors and to potential new customers.

It definitely matters to investors, because they don't care about the things that really matter.

Maybe it matters to new customers, although I've never looked at a product that rebranded itself and said "oh, hey, now that they have a new logo and colors, I'll try it, even though I never did before!"

But speaking as a software developer who has been at companies that did a rebranding, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is at least one group of people who works there to whom the rebranding matters not one bit. Well, that's not quite true. It matters a lot, in that they had to put in a hell of a lot of time and effort to change their code in ways that had zero practical effect, and if they're like every other software developer I've ever worked with, they're not happy about it. So it matters, but not in a positive way.

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2 hours ago, Metrodon said:

Branding does matter. It matters to the people that work there, the investors and to potential new customers.

That's valid, but as an Evernote User I have little interest in the "Brand".
My solution was to just ignore the hype and carry on.

Viewing the posts generated by this, it seems to have disturbed some people.  They seem quite upset.

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4 hours ago, gazumped said:

Well at least we have a new improved Windows app 6.14 - (I checked updates today).  Just look at these release notes...

92505248_Clipboard1.jpg.f558e57b09ab4bb3687e213353f7a19a.jpg

 

I am feeling a little validated just now...  ?

20 hours ago, jefito said:

Meanwhile, the weary coder looks up, bleary-eyed, from their screen, raises an eyebrow and smiles wanly, maybe checks their email for the ticket that says "Plug the new graphics  into the UI", but then sighs and inevitably plunges back again, once more, into the breach..

 

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Been down this road before. I remember when our corporation was taken over back in 2000. A very expensive and well known high-priced global management consulting firm with offices in 60 countries was retained to work on the brand and goals. People from all departments were pulled from their jobs to work on a variety of "teams". After 6 months of research and frequent off-site brainstorming, we came up with a mission statement which was launched with much fanfare and hype.
 
Results? The company was sold two more times in the next three years.
 
Evernote boiled a similar exercise down to four rather forgettable words: 
  • Optimistic, Clever, Confident, and Clear
 
Really?
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There's also branding activity in PR and on Facebook and Twitter - seems like there's a full-blown campaign now to show off the shiny new duds.  I've been involved in quite a few company burgeons myself,  and yes,  there's a time when Brand and Marketing are important;  but it shouldn't take precedence over getting the basic mechanics right - unless you're looking to impress some new potential investors with what a vibrant dynamic company you are...

Regardless.  It's done now - no point in ragging them about it.. what're they going to do,  unkink the Elephant and go greener...  Lets be positive.  When the 6.14 release post actually gets added to the forums we can start listing the bugs.  Again.  I'm with jeff - plunging.  ?

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41 minutes ago, Rob Freundlich said:

But speaking as a software developer who has been at companies that did a rebranding, I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is at least one group of people who works there to whom the rebranding matters not one bit. Well, that's not quite true. It matters a lot, in that they had to put in a hell of a lot of time and effort to change their code in ways that had zero practical effect, and if they're like every other software developer I've ever worked with, they're not happy about it. So it matters, but not in a positive way.

Well, I'm a software developer who believes that branding does matter, and in a potentially good way (potentially because not every rebranding -- or even product direction or software architecture -- change is successful). Yes, it matters less to me, personally, than to, say, the marketing folks. Sure I'd rather be making, er, fixing bugs, but the company decides what is important for me to do, and what isn't. This is a team sport; everyone needs to play their part. Fortunately, this type of exercise doesn't happen very often, and it's typically just akin to changing the wallpaper (usually changes to graphics resources, with little actual code changes), and if you're a smart developer, you might be able to make your life easier with some forethought.

Yes, sometimes we need to do things that we don't want to do. Per Spock: “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Any engineer ought to be able to get behind that.

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When I was reading the blog post, the 225,000,000 users made me think of something....

I feel like there is a lot of good feedback / complaining and bug reporting here in the forums. So I say, why are they ignoring some of these stuff? Thus, I looked at the numbers:

There are 437,856 posts according to the 1st page in the forums. Assuming, each of these posts are by individual users (which they are not, but let's assume for this argument)

437K/225Mil = 0.19%

So are they treating it 0.19% of the users are making suggestions and 99.81% is content?!?!?! Of course, there are the tickets and the twitter accounts that receives reporting too which I don't have any numbers of.

In short, I wonder if having 225 million users providing false confidence to some executives about the product. To me, if you used any of the Windows versions 6.8 thru 6.13, you would really think about the quality of what you are releasing. If my team was producing that kind of obvious mistakes (we don't deal with bugs in construction, they are mistakes...COSTLY mistakes I must add), I would really stop and reconsider a lot of things.

Nonetheless, maybe a little of the subject, but that's what made me think of. The new logo is nice, I get the marketing side of things, but what makes marketing great when the product matches the marketing quality and the efforts.

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On 8/15/2018 at 8:45 AM, TK0047 said:

So I say, why are they ignoring some of these stuff?

I'm thinking there might be different sets of priorities being applied.

For yourself, purple highlighting might be the #1 priority.  You find it inconceivable that Evernote hasn't implemented it; all work should be directed to implementing this feature.
For Evernote Marketing, the #1 priority was the Brand; and they delivered.
For Evernote Management?  Maybe ensuring there are sufficient funds for the ongoing bills?
For Mac Support/Developing? Preparing for the upcoming OS upgrade?
...


 

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1 minute ago, DTLow said:

I'm thinking there might be a different set of priorities being applied.

For yourself, purple highlighting might be the #1 priority, and you find it unbelievable that Evernote hasn't implemented it.
For Evernote Marketing, the #1 priority was the Brand.
For Evernote Management?  Maybe ensuring there are sufficient funds for the ongoing bills?
For Mac Support/Developing? Preparing for the upcoming OS upgrade?


 

I understand and get that.

But if the software is not usable, meaning losing content, cursor disappearing etc. that is opposite of the mission statement (or whatever you want to call it)....remember everything. Every department will have different priorities and they will not match mine at all but when the CORE value is not working, people should switch priorities.

So when it is about the core function of Evernote which is working as a note taking app, is not operating properly, I would expect priority shift. I am not talking about feature request, or an inconvenience, a core function.

At least, that's how I operate in my business. When there is a safety violation or an issue, my priority is already dictated by that. Core problem. 

One might argue that, those versions are still working etc. To me they are not unfortunately.

Cheers!

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9 minutes ago, TK0047 said:

I feel like there is a lot of good feedback / complaining and bug reporting here in the forums. So I say, why are they ignoring some of these stuff? Thus, I looked at the numbers:

What makes you say that they're ignoring anything? Ignoring" is not synonymous with "not implementing". The usual practice is to log everything, and evaluate based on your input, your assets (i.e humans who do the work), and your other goals, and then set priorities. It's not always perfect, but there is almost always more work than there are assets to handle it.

15 minutes ago, TK0047 said:

So are they treating it 0.19% of the users are making suggestions and 99.81% is content?!?!?! Of course, there are the tickets and the twitter accounts that receives reporting too which I don't have any numbers of.

In short, I wonder if having 225 million users providing false confidence to some executives about the product.

So how the heck are they supposed to gauge what people want if they don't give feedback? You go with the input that you have.

18 minutes ago, TK0047 said:

To me, if you used any of the Windows versions 6.8 thru 6.13, you would really think about the quality of what you are releasing. If my team was producing that kind of obvious mistakes (we don't deal with bugs in construction, they are mistakes...COSTLY mistakes I must add), I would really stop and reconsider a lot of things.

I've been using those versions all along, usually in beta. They have generally worked fine for me. Sure there are bugs, but if you think that there weren't bugs in earlier versions, then you weren't paying attention.

I don't really understand what your post is all about.

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7 minutes ago, TK0047 said:

One might argue that, those versions are still working etc. To me they are not unfortunately.

Evernote is working for me, for the most part.
I'm using Mac/IOS to store/view my documents; 12k+
The editor/format is limited, but ok for basic notes.

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3 hours ago, jefito said:

I am feeling a little validated just now...  ?

On 8/14/2018 at 11:36 AM, jefito said:

Meanwhile, the weary coder looks up, bleary-eyed, from their screen, raises an eyebrow and smiles wanly, maybe checks their email for the ticket that says "Plug the new graphics  into the UI", but then sighs and inevitably plunges back again, once more, into the breach..

 

 

23 hours ago, CalS said:

Probably with a top dog priority...   ?

As am I...   ?

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3 hours ago, jbenson2 said:
Evernote boiled a similar exercise down to four rather forgettable words: 
  • Optimistic, Clever, Confident, and Clear

What's a c word for optimistic?  If you are going to brand...

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1 hour ago, TK0047 said:

When I was reading the blog post, the 225,000,000

Better number would be active users, and degree of active.  Might adjust the stats a bit. 

I probably have 2 or 3 accounts from early days that I set up and forgot about (oops), plus a basic test account and a basic archive account. Don't get me wrong, best tool I have ever worked with for all its warts.  Just don't think 225M are using it on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. 

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50 minutes ago, jefito said:

What makes you say that they're ignoring anything? Ignoring" is not synonymous with "not implementing". The usual practice is to log everything, and evaluate based on your input, your assets (i.e humans who do the work), and your other goals, and then set priorities. It's not always perfect, but there is almost always more work than there are assets to handle it.

Call it prioritizing then.  My impression of @TK0047 comments is that EN is not focusing on addressing core functional issues - not enhancements, not stuff that gets voted on, but stuff that just doesn't work in the core of the product.  Cursor position just got fixed after what, six months, and that after it was clearly stated how to replicate the issue.  You can't drag text from one note to another, dictionary got broken again in 6.14. 

I've always drawn a line and put any issue that violates core above that line.  Hopefully there's nothing above the line, but it there is it gets priority, no evaluation.  Stuff below the line gets evaluated and prioritized, bug or enhancement.  In my view, EN doesn't have a line.  These aren't implementation issues, they are management issues, and not just the tech team.   Sorry for the rant, it happened as I started typing.

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2 hours ago, AndreasM said:

Stop defending the company. How come that for the gurus here it always work, while so many customers are complaining.

Doesn't always work for me, three trouble tickets in the works.  But 99% of the time works really well.  But I don't let the 1% grind my teeth down.

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31 minutes ago, CalS said:

But 99% of the time works really well.  But I don't let the 1% grind my teeth down.

I like that view of the situation
Unknown.jpeg.a172e8792c35680bf87c20cec5845c67.jpeg

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22 hours ago, CalS said:

What's a c word for optimistic?  If you are going to brand...

Instead of Optimistic, Clever, Confident, and Clear

They should have gone with: 

Cheerful, Clever, Confident, and Clear

Thank you, thesaurus

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On 8/15/2018 at 10:23 AM, jefito said:

Well, I'm a software developer who believes that branding does matter, and in a potentially good way (potentially because not every rebranding -- or even product direction or software architecture -- change is successful).

You're a lot less cynical than I am - I've never seen the a branding change that made a difference, and was anything other than a pain in the <insert body part here> for the developers.

On 8/15/2018 at 10:23 AM, jefito said:

Sure I'd rather be making, er, fixing bugs,

ROFL!

On 8/15/2018 at 10:23 AM, jefito said:

the company decides what is important for me to do, and what isn't. This is a team sport; everyone needs to play their part.

True. But a smart company listens to its employees and its users as well as "the market", or whatever drives rebrandings. And I'll play my part - I'll do the rebranding work when it comes up. I'll do whatever work the company tells me to do.

But part of my part, as a very senior developer/programmer/engineer/whatever the heck we're calling ourselves this decade, is to tell management when I think a mistake is being made. Particularly since (a) my focus is user interface, so I'm thinking about the users all the time, and (b) my current company, the one I've been at for 10 years, has a very customer-centric view of the world. Because of that, I'm expected to speak my mind if something isn't right for the customers/end users - we all are. Maybe that skews my perspective as a user of other products, but TBH, I think it's the right thing for all employees in product-based businesses. Existing customers are what it's all about.

On 8/15/2018 at 10:23 AM, jefito said:

it's typically just akin to changing the wallpaper (usually changes to graphics resources, with little actual code changes), and if you're a smart developer, you might be able to make your life easier with some forethought.

In a well-designed system, where everyone who worked on it at all levels was smart and had the authority to make decisions, you're absolutely right. And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony.

But yeah, I agree with you. And the stuff I'm working on now is a far cry better from that perspective than the stuff I was working on when I went through rebranding h*ll in the past. If my company handed down a decree from above tomorrow that we had to rebrand things (which, in spite of what I said above about everyone being expected to speak up, could still happen), it wouldn't be nearly as painful as my past experiences. But I'd still wonder, loudly, why we were doing it.

On 8/15/2018 at 10:23 AM, jefito said:

Per Spock: “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Any engineer ought to be able to get behind that.

Well, yeah, I mean, who am I to argue with Spock? ;-b

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On 8/14/2018 at 11:35 AM, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Now, I know that some of you all here work in marketing, and can explain to me exactly how important this is for Evernote to help me "focus on what matters most" to me (that's the brand slogan motto tagline catchphrase). Kindly don't. Thank you.

If you're so convinced you're right and have no interest in actually learning some perspective other than yours, is it really necessary to post a topic on it here? Forums are for discussion. If you want to shout it to the world and not have anyone challenge your viewpoint, kindly create a blog and turn comments off. Thank you.

For everyone else who doesn't have their fingers in their ears:

Just because something doesn't have an immediately tangible effect, doesn't mean it isn't bringing good things in the near future. To think that this re-branding, of a sort, is a waste of time/money is to have a very short-sighted perspective. That, or another excuse to complain (which is what this thread reads like).

This is a focusing effort for Evernote that has me excited.

I have pretty much spent my last 6 months in these forums whining about the quality of the software. As is, I'm sitting here with Evernote syncing and useless, which it's been doing for an HOUR, because I had to duplicate 500 notes due to the inability to change notebook owners. I have more frustrations with Evernote than I can count. Just check my post history.

But this rebrand is a sign of possibly positive change. It's an effort from Evernote to have a mission, a focus, and priorities. The company, and its product, have bloated and swelled over the years. We all know this - we complain about it constantly. Rebrands like this often serve 2 purposes:

  1. Get the company, and its employees, back on the same train, driving towards the same goals and working on the same priorities.
  2. Get the company back in the consumer eye, and to drum up interest so people start using Evernote again (in the hopes of change to come)

#1 serves our interests, because it looks like the company's going to tackle its bloat problem. I am hoping, myself, that this means better feature parity between clients, for one thing. There is no reason for the Windows and Mac apps to be so wildly different. Reading between the lines, I think issues like this will be fixed. There will be greater consistency and reliability. A greater focus on core features and getting them right, versus just throwing things in and seeing what sticks. I also think it's to help morale and productivity in-house. I'm curious just how many behind-the-scenes "refreshes" will take place that we don't see.

#2 serves the investors and company in that it keeps the doors open. Pretty straightforward benefit, honestly.

This is a long game on Evernote's part. I imagine the staff will feel it a lot more than us, at first. But it will give the company a direction - a road to follow. When making decisions based on features, they have a framework for deciding its priority, or whether or not it should happen. Down the road, I imagine Evernote will be streamlined, refined, and a better tool for everyone.

If y'all can just stop whining for a sec or to and see ;) 

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21 minutes ago, chirmer said:

If you're so convinced you're right and have no interest in actually learning some perspective other than yours, is it really necessary to post a topic on it here?

I agree the post was....someone used the word snarky.
I also don't see any direct user value in marketing announcements; I simply ignore them.
I also recognize marketing is an important part of running a business.

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@Rob Freundlich

Trust me, I certainly have a cynical side, but tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the marketing folks in their realm, and I don't have the necessary expertise or data to evaluate results. For areas I where I have more knowledge, sure, I'll speak up. I do believe that the occasional branding exercise for us is actually a good thing: it's something to send out some press releases to raise attention, maybe a blog post, etc. Mostly harmless. Fortunately we don't do it all that often, we don't make a huge deal about it, because our audience is mainly technical users who need us to do certain types of geographic analysis and data manipulation. A rebrand tends to be more cosmetic in nature, nothing too deep. We're not a lifestyle brand; our users just want to solve problems in their field; more function over form. The buzzwords "Functional", "Fast", and "Cheap" are where we live. Good UI in our software is important, good iconography helps, but the branding stuff doesn't feature much in the software itself. 

But it's not quite the same for Evernote, not in the wider world. I think that branding matters more for them. For myself, I'm not interested in quibbling over Evernote's marketing decisions. It's been what, three years since  Chris O'Neill took over, after having spent the first part of his tenure  getting Evernote into a better financial place (no more venture capital) and this is the first real marketing effort. Yes, the technical side is still a work in progress -- of course I want more stability and functionality -- and there have certainly been some stumbles, but let's not get too rosy-colored about the history of the software; stumbles have littered Libin's tenure as well. Ultimately, thogh, for my money (yes, I'm a paying customer), the features that attracted me to Evernote 10 years ago still hold: a fairly simple way to collect and organize information relevant to my life and work, and have it be available wherever I am.

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1 hour ago, chirmer said:

Rebrands like this often serve 2 purposes:

  1. Get the company, and its employees, back on the same train, driving towards the same goals and working on the same priorities.
  2. Get the company back in the consumer eye, and to drum up interest so people start using Evernote again (in the hopes of change to come)

Let it be so, particularly if 1. involves quality.

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4 hours ago, jbenson2 said:

Instead of Optimistic, Clever, Confident, and Clear

They should have gone with: 

Cheerful, Clever, Confident, and Clear

Thank you, thesaurus

How about Certain, Clever, Confident and Clear.  Since confident and optimistic are already synonyms is the first place.  :lol: 

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On 8/15/2018 at 10:42 AM, gazumped said:

Well at least we have a new improved Windows app 6.14 - (I checked updates today).  Just look at these release notes...

92505248_Clipboard1.jpg.f558e57b09ab4bb3687e213353f7a19a.jpg

Came here to post this. Windows users are drowning in year-old bugs, and instead of fixing them, new ones get introduced with every new version. But hey, we got a new elephant, everything is fine, right?

On 8/15/2018 at 6:00 PM, DTLow said:

I'm thinking there might be different sets of priorities being applied.

For yourself, purple highlighting might be the #1 priority.  You find it inconceivable that Evernote hasn't implemented it; all work should be directed to implementing this feature.
 

This is not about purple highlighting, it's about showstopping bugs, such as syncing problems, invisible note content, software reaction times slower than I remember from the 90ies.

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3 hours ago, chronistin said:

This is not about purple highlighting, it's about showstopping bugs, such as syncing problems, invisible note content, software reaction times slower than I remember from the 90ies.

Yes but anyway, even on this subject: A dark theme is claimed for 5 years, 5 years! Not five days, five weeks or five months, five years! Not a single word on this subject to say whether or not we can hope to see it one day: nothing. It is so complicated to answer "we can't or we don't want to, or it's not a priority at all or we think about it?"


Another thing, I wrote to support yesterday, I still have, 27 hours later, no answer. So the marketing changes, okay, but there are also other things to see or review that are just as important.  

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29 minutes ago, David_C. said:

even on this subject

The subject is the "Brand" stuff the marketing department has been working.

There is no connection to the issues with dark theme, syncing problems, invisible note content, software reaction times .... whine, whine, whine

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1 minute ago, DTLow said:

The subject is the marketing department has been working on this 'Brand' suff.

There is no relationship to the issues with dark theme, syncing problems, invisible note content, software reaction times .... whine, whine, whine

Is it a joke ?

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9 minutes ago, David_C. said:

Is it a joke ?

No, the Brand stuff is very real.  
Personally, I ignore the hype since there's no direct connection to the user experience.  
I did see a new icon, palette and fonts on my Mac but it's all cosmetic

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9 minutes ago, DTLow said:

No, the Brand stuff is very real.  Personally, I ignore the hype since there's no direct connection to the user experience.  I did see a new icon, palette and fonts on my Mac.

Then I'll answer you simply:


Already Mac, this is far from being the majority of Evernote users and most people who complain about Bugs are users other than Mac. 
Secondly, there are priorities in life, and in the life of a company, it is the satisfaction of its customers that must come before cosmetics. When many users complain about recurring problems and you prefer to allocate a budget to your brand image rather than correct the problems, there is something wrong.
Whether Evernote works perfectly for you, whether it's the company or the software, I'm delighted for you, but reading about it, it's far from being the case for everyone. And these people, like me, say there are other priorities than this one. 
I repeat, I wrote a ticket to support (directly), more than 24 hours later, I have no answer, not even via Twitter, so I think the money should already be used to run a business instead of frills.
No bug fixes, no listening to requests, no support, and besides that, we do design?

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@jefito

You make good points all around.

18 hours ago, jefito said:

A rebrand tends to be more cosmetic in nature, nothing too deep. We're not a lifestyle brand; our users just want to solve problems in their field; more function over form. The buzzwords "Functional", "Fast", and "Cheap" are where we live. Good UI in our software is important, good iconography helps, but the branding stuff doesn't feature much in the software itself. 

Sounds like we're in similar places - our customers have very hard problems to solve, and they want something that gets the job done. For years, our software was incredibly utilitarian, and was used by only the most technical users at the customer sites.

More recently, our customers have had more of a need for the less techie people to be able to use our stuff. Functional, Fast, and Cheap are still hyper-critical for the runtime software, but we've had to bring in Friendly and Usable on the UI side. That's been a huge bonus for me, because even though I do have a background in comp sci, the really hairy computational stuff doesn't really float my boat - UI is where it's at!

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3 hours ago, David_C. said:

And these people, like me, say there are other priorities than this one. 

I don't understand your point.  I agree this is only one of the priorities at Evernote.

 

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53 minutes ago, AndreasM said:

Fully agree with you here, branding is more important than anything else.

Brand may be important but basic infrastructure support is the highest priority; keeping the ship afloat
This is just my opinion, I don't have access to Evernote's priority list.

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I cannot tell you how infuriating it is to have yet another UI focussed release when there are significant outstanding functional bugs (e.g. inability to delete random empty tags that were at one time shared via a shared notebook) and ongoing stability issues with each release because Evernote are utterly clueless on how to test.

If anyone can offer some alternatives to Evernote that preserve the considerable investment I have made in configuring my 34,000+ notes (e.g. note linking) I'd be very grateful. OneNote looks promising but note links get destroyed on import from Evernote (the last time I checked). Synology Notes also looks promising but the same issue of links breaking on import.

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On 8/17/2018 at 9:01 PM, Stuart G said:

I cannot tell you how infuriating it is to have yet another UI focussed release

It's not clear which platform/release is infuriating you.
This discussion relates to the Marketing Brand thing and I'm mostly indifferent (instead of ?)

edit: Mac 7.4 was a special release for the Brand update, no bug fixes
edit: IOS 8.15.1 was a special release for the Brand update, no bug fixes

mad-emoji-gif-9554441.webloc

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47 minutes ago, Stuart G said:

 

I cannot tell you how infuriating it is to have yet another UI focussed release when there are significant outstanding functional bugs...

 

Preach!

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11 hours ago, Stuart G said:

I cannot tell you how infuriating it is to have yet another UI focussed release when there are significant outstanding functional bugs (e.g. inability to delete random empty tags that were at one time shared via a shared notebook) and ongoing stability issues with each release because Evernote are utterly clueless on how to test.

Looks like bugfixes to me...

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The Android app got its brand refresh update a few days ago,  and actually I rather like it.  And the Windows version has some shade changes that make it a lot easier on the eye...  darn it I may be going artistic!!  ?

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On 8/18/2018 at 12:01 AM, Stuart G said:

(e.g. inability to delete random empty tags that were at one time shared via a shared notebook)

Don't even get me STARTED on this bug. I have spent 6+ months searching for an alternative to Evernote because this is rage-inducing. Don't allow us to share notebooks at all if the implementation is going to be this craptastic IMHO. It's terrible.

On 8/18/2018 at 12:01 AM, Stuart G said:

If anyone can offer some alternatives to Evernote that preserve the considerable investment I have made in configuring my 34,000+ notes (e.g. note linking) I'd be very grateful.

As I said, I've spent 6+ months looking for alternatives, and all I can say is that there isn't one. I have tried everything - even just exporting as PDFs and using my Mac's spotlight search to find stuff, and nothing works quite like Evernote. I have given up the hunt and accepted that I'm trapped in the system.

 

15 hours ago, AndreasM said:

You are the biggest troll here. It is because of people like you, who always defend the company and accept everything the company is throwing on us, the company completely ignores the customers and theirs complains.

You have no way of proving this -- because it's simply not true. It's kind of a ridiculous claim, actually. Does anything in the entire world work this way? That if 100 people complain and 1 person says it's fine, they go with the 1 instead of 100? No. Because it's kind of ridiculous to even suggest. 

You just need to accept that not everyone will agree with you. Not everyone has your priorities. Not everyone uses Evernote in such a way that they run into the bugs you do. Sorry, that's life. It doesn't mean no one is listening to your complaints -- it just means that we're all different people and have different needs and wants from Evernote.

And stop it with the insinuation that Gurus work for Evernote. We don't. I'd love to work for Evernote -- those employees are guaranteed to be better paid than I am. But I don't. I'm a Super Guru because I commented enough in these forums. That's literally the criteria. Keep commenting and eventually you'll be one, too. Trying to insinuate we work for Evernote doesn't help validate your points -- it just makes it harder to have a productive conversation with you. 

And anyway, if you took 5 seconds to go through any of the Super Gurus comment history here, you'd see plenty of complaints. Just scroll up in this very comment to see one from me.

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If anyone is wondering about missing posts in this forum, it seems Evernote admin is active with cleaning up violations in the Code of Conduct.
This includes my posts calling out trolls.  I've been advised I could be banned from the forums if I continue.
I've acknowledged and accepted the reprimand

 

 

 


 

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1 hour ago, DTLow said:

If anyone is wondering about missing posts in this forum, it seems Evernote admin is active with cleaning up violations in the Code of Conduct.
This includes my posts calling out trolls.  I've been advised I could be banned from the forums if I continue.

Any mention of the trolls fate?  Or at least the haters?

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1 hour ago, DTLow said:

I've been advised I could be banned from the forums

That would be unfair since you're 98% plus helpful,  even if your patience wears thin very occasionally!  (As does mine...) ;)

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On 8/19/2018 at 11:09 PM, gazumped said:

The Android app got its brand refresh update a few days ago,  and actually I rather like it.  And the Windows version has some shade changes that make it a lot easier on the eye...  darn it I may be going artistic!!  ?

I agree that all of the apps look good (I liked the old ones as well). I like the new logo (I liked the old one as well). I am not sure yet if I like the new catchphrase (the last one I liked was the original one from 2008). Overall, good job for the design team!

But... I'm not a huge fan of trumpeting (yep, that's a sweet pun) their re-branding. A lot of us could have told you that this would fall on deaf ears (continuing the aural theme here) or irritated users -- Dave's initial post in this thread was pretty kindly written. Personally, I was just going to hold my tongue, but when I saw my notes had been ruined with the update (see below), I thought I'd weigh in here. A blog post from Evernote would have been more than sufficient, and I certainly didn't need to have my focus taken away from my work to learn that the Evernote logo now has a softened eye and a spirally trunk that is somehow connected with progress. Don't get me wrong, it's interesting, but it doesn't need to be pushed out to everyone as a big thing. 

Unless it had come with some really amazing changes under the hood. But, it didn't, did it? It came with more bugs. Really, really bad ones as well. Windows and Mac?! How do you manage to ruin both platforms at once? I am not exaggerating when I say that I cannot use the new app on my Mac. It deletes line breaks. Why? I don't know. My notes are now a big clump of text. Where do you think my focus is now? It's on working with other apps at the moment. I'm not kidding. I'm a premium member with only a dozen notes in the app today, because I can't use it. All the branding in the world isn't going to help get my time back. From my perspective, this is data corruption or lost data, one of the most serious bugs out there, but when I come to the forums, I see we have a new logo. A lot of people have different bugs, friction points, and requests they'd like to see, so they're probably reacting in a similar manner. This was a mistake--another unforced error (this "focus" thing has been keyword in blog posts for a year or more, so I'm not sure what the big change actually is, or why it had to be done this month, but I guess I have to wait and see how that pans out going forward). So far, I'd say the branding isn't going so well.

It's a shame, really, because the designers did a good job. 

 

* Edit: For frustrated users, it appears to be (surprise, surprise) a list problem, and since I have a bunch of lists, I am seeing it a lot. Meh. It's just one more bug to deal with, and if not for the branding hoopla, I probably wouldn't have even bothered reporting it.

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On 8/14/2018 at 11:35 AM, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Hopefully many of us have seen the Great Big Brand Refresh Announcement, with its link to the Greater Bigger Details on Medium. First I had to stop yawning, then I had to get my eyes to stop rolling so hard. Evidently the big news is: minor redesign to the elephant; some typography; some other typography. And evidently this is considered vital to Evernote's mission.

4

It was possibly the most solipsistic marketing exercise to which I've ever been subjected. I find graphic design discussions interesting, but WHAT ABOUT THE CORE PRODUCT?

Read the comments if you have time. My favorite, by Colin, was:

"Wow. It’s pretty sad when 99% of the comments here are asking for the product to be better and dont give a rip about the branding. As a long-time (and paying) user, I agree. Been using Apple Notes for almost everything I used to use EN for (except web clipping)…"

https://medium.com/@futurepixelfm/wow-its-pretty-sad-when-99-of-the-comments-here-are-asking-for-the-product-to-be-better-and-dont-d907e0a9a455

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On 8/21/2018 at 12:51 PM, gazumped said:

That would be unfair since you're 98% plus helpful,  even if your patience wears thin very occasionally!  (As does mine...) ;)

He (I'm assuming it's a man) has a tendency to contradict other members. It is tiresome. 

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3 hours ago, Etonreve said:

It was possibly the most solipsistic marketing exercise to which I've ever been subjected. I find graphic design discussions interesting, but WHAT ABOUT THE CORE PRODUCT?

Read comments if you have time. My favorite, by Colin, was:

"Wow. It’s pretty sad when 99% of the comments here are asking for the product to be better and dont give a rip about the branding. As a long-time (and paying) user, I agree. Been using Apple Notes for almost everything I used to use EN for (except web clipping)…"

https://medium.com/@futurepixelfm/wow-its-pretty-sad-when-99-of-the-comments-here-are-asking-for-the-product-to-be-better-and-dont-d907e0a9a455

I liked Shawn Chittle's:

Quote

Congrats on *not* picking: Dumbo, the Pac-Man ghost, the elephant humping another one, the Barnum & Bailey elephant, the aliens from “Arrival”, the U.S. Postal truck, the anteater, the spirograph on acid, the “butt”, the bass clef, the Civil Defense logo, or the Macromedia logo… ?

 

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On 8/14/2018 at 10:35 AM, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Hopefully many of us have seen the Great Big Brand Refresh Announcement, with its link to the Greater Bigger Details on Medium. First I had to stop yawning, then I had to get my eyes to stop rolling so hard. Evidently the big news is: minor redesign to the elephant; some typography; some other typography. And evidently this is considered vital to Evernote's mission. The Greater Bigger Details go on and on about a "system," but evidently that refers to the "system" involved in the branding itself. What if any changes are planned for Evernote's actual working system--i.e., what they're planning to break without telling us--doesn't seem to be said, although between the yawning and eye-rolling I may have missed it.

Now, I know that some of you all here work in marketing, and can explain to me exactly how important this is for Evernote to help me "focus on what matters most" to me (that's the brand slogan motto tagline catchphrase). Kindly don't. Thank you.

Got the email notification today, "Notice anything different about us?"  YAY!  They're fixing stuff!  Um, no.  A lot of words.  A lot of words about stuff I couldn't care less about.  Stopped in here to see what the conversation might be about the Big Reveal -- and really no surprises here.  I'll continue my migration to Zotero.  Sorry, Evernote, but your new paint job doesn't do a thing for my "focus" and, frankly, it just pisses me off that you're bragging about the extensive resources put into a pretty package.  Give me an ugly package that WORKS!  

 

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16 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

I liked Shawn Chittle's:

 

Google's post explaining why it changed its logo was a  lot shorter than Evernote's.

And of course, the black guy had to do a high five because we all know that's what all black people do when they're happy. (I'm not saying it was offensive, but really.)

 

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Incidentally, now that I've established that I do actually read Evernote's marketing materials, it is ridiculous for anyone to claim, as has been done in this forum, that it is not intended as a full-on productivity tool. So many of the blog posts discuss how the use of Evernote will streamline one's work process. It is not meant to be merely a storage device. Which is why if some people like notebooks because that's their preferred work method it should be heeded.

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On 8/27/2018 at 7:30 PM, GrumpyMonkey said:

I agree that all of the apps look good (I liked the old ones as well). I like the new logo (I liked the old one as well). I am not sure yet if I like the new catchphrase (the last one I liked was the original one from 2008). Overall, good job for the design team!

But... I'm not a huge fan of trumpeting (yep, that's a sweet pun) their re-branding. A lot of us could have told you that this would fall on deaf ears (continuing the aural theme here) or irritated users -- Dave's initial post in this thread was pretty kindly written. Personally, I was just going to hold my tongue, but when I saw my notes had been ruined with the update (see below), I thought I'd weigh in here. A blog post from Evernote would have been more than sufficient, and I certainly didn't need to have my focus taken away from my work to learn that the Evernote logo now has a softened eye and a spirally trunk that is somehow connected with progress. Don't get me wrong, it's interesting, but it doesn't need to be pushed out to everyone as a big thing. 

Unless it had come with some really amazing changes under the hood. But, it didn't, did it? It came with more bugs. Really, really bad ones as well. Windows and Mac?! How do you manage to ruin both platforms at once? I am not exaggerating when I say that I cannot use the new app on my Mac. It deletes line breaks. Why? I don't know. My notes are now a big clump of text. Where do you think my focus is now? It's on working with other apps at the moment. I'm not kidding. I'm a premium member with only a dozen notes in the app today, because I can't use it. All the branding in the world isn't going to help get my time back. From my perspective, this is data corruption or lost data, one of the most serious bugs out there, but when I come to the forums, I see we have a new logo. A lot of people have different bugs, friction points, and requests they'd like to see, so they're probably reacting in a similar manner. This was a mistake--another unforced error (this "focus" thing has been keyword in blog posts for a year or more, so I'm not sure what the big change actually is, or why it had to be done this month, but I guess I have to wait and see how that pans out going forward). So far, I'd say the branding isn't going so well.

It's a shame, really, because the designers did a good job. 

 

* Edit: For frustrated users, it appears to be (surprise, surprise) a list problem, and since I have a bunch of lists, I am seeing it a lot. Meh. It's just one more bug to deal with, and if not for the branding hoopla, I probably wouldn't have even bothered reporting it.

Hi there, I just reached out via DM to look into the line break issue you've been encountering. You can also get in touch with support via https://www.evernote.com/SupportLogin.action. Thanks!

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48 minutes ago, Etonreve said:

I like Zotero, but my use has been limited to research and writing that required detailed citations.

I'm pretty much using Zotero for everything now.  I spent a weekend figuring things out and digging around for specific solutions.  But I spent many more hours trying to adjust my workflow to Evernote's "upgrades," so I'm ahead of the game since now I'm getting stuff done.  

There's no "import" for notes from Evernote, but that always created a mess when I tried it anyway.  Now, Evernote is a container for my last many years of work -- as I migrate it to Zotero.  And I don't need a premium account for that.  Once my Evernote note count is down to zero, it's gone.  

Interestingly, I hardly use Zotero for its intended purpose as a citation manager, since it's not really set up for genealogy cites.  But at some point I will probably tweak the CSL to handle that, too.  ?

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On 8/15/2018 at 2:12 AM, apb123 said:

I do like the new icon..but gosh you really have been overthinking it a bit..and probably overspending. How much did it cost to employ an external agency? All that stuff about the slope representing momentum and the spiral in the trunk representing progress is, in fact, utter rubbish. Take a step back and think about it..it is overindulgent nonsense, isn't it?

What you need to focus on is usability. Address the formatting inconsistencies, latency, security, implement markdown, bring spaces to individual users, implement a more robust task/reminders option..

 

2

I enjoyed reading about the decision-making process in regard to revising the icon. I know that there's always more going on in the design of logos and digital environments than I grasp as a layperson. But like you, it would be nice if the nuts-and-bolts were taken care of first. Evernote's marketing can be quite polished but it's often tone deaf. I didn't think the interface was screaming for an update. I've always rather liked it.

Actually, Evernote helped me a great deal last week. I needed to locate an old record that fortunately, I'd scanned in. But I'm still having problems using it with my Windows laptop. I always thought the problem was because my computer was old but this one is brand new and about a month after installing Evernote, it still has not synced all my notes.

I like the "Control + Q" function to quickly search notes and tags.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Ellsinore said:

I'm pretty much using Zotero for everything now.  I spent a weekend figuring things out and digging around for specific solutions.  But I spent many more hours trying to adjust my workflow to Evernote's "upgrades," so I'm ahead of the game since now I'm getting stuff done.  

There's no "import" for notes from Evernote, but that always created a mess when I tried it anyway.  Now, Evernote is a container for my last many years of work -- as I migrate it to Zotero.  And I don't need a premium account for that.  Once my Evernote note count is down to zero, it's gone.  

Interestingly, I hardly use Zotero for its intended purpose as a citation manager, since it's not really set up for genealogy cites.  But at some point I will probably tweak the CSL to handle that, too.  ?

I learned about Zotero while taking an Art History class. There were two major assignments for which I had to collect numerous images and Evernote was very good for that. I had a notebook for the main class and one for each assignment. I used tags when convenient, but mainly I assigned the materials to the relevant notebook.

Another reason that I'm not crazy about tags is that they target my compulsiveness. If I'm tagging, one or two tags often won't do, I'll use four or five. With a notebook, I just put it there and I can move on. It isn't very hard to find things in a notebook with a word search.

 

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On 8/14/2018 at 9:26 PM, Analyst444 said:
 
 
I also observe that most (maybe all) of the people commenting in this thread are very experienced and very sophisticated Evernote users. Those types of customers are harder to satisfy in any business, particularly when the supplier can't charge them a higher price. - - - Suppliers of products must ensure that their product capabilities match the needs of the masses real well - - - and, if I give Evernote management the benefit of the doubt, they decided now was the time to appeal to the masses by enhancing the brand.
 

I hope Evernote isn't contemplating another hike. I don't know how many paying masses Evernote will attract now it has eliminated the Plus tier. At least in the U.S., the remaining Premium level is $70 a year, that's not chump change for many people who otherwise might be interested in it.

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7 hours ago, Jay-Bob said:

Hi there, I just reached out via DM to look into the line break issue you've been encountering. You can also get in touch with support via https://www.evernote.com/SupportLogin.action. Thanks!

Thanks so much for reaching out to me. I appreciate it. 

For anyone interested in this issue, I've found the beta doesn't delete blank lines right in front of my eyes anymore, so that's a huge improvement, but I think the notes are still rendering a little differently. At any rate, it solved (more or less) that problem. 

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On 8/16/2018 at 12:20 PM, chirmer said:

If y'all can just stop whining for a sec or to and see ;) 

See what? I see what the majority of people seem to see: much ado about nothing. A new elephant and font, really... what about some actual BUG FIXES and IMPROVEMENTS?

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On 8/16/2018 at 2:20 PM, chirmer said:

I have pretty much spent my last 6 months in these forums whining about the quality of the software. As is, I'm sitting here with Evernote syncing and useless, which it's been doing for an HOUR, because I had to duplicate 500 notes due to the inability to change notebook owners. I have more frustrations with Evernote than I can count. Just check my post history.

But this rebrand is a sign of possibly positive change. It's an effort from Evernote to have a mission, a focus, and priorities. The company, and its product, have bloated and swelled over the years. We all know this - we complain about it constantly. Rebrands like this often serve 2 purposes:

  1. Get the company, and its employees, back on the same train, driving towards the same goals and working on the same priorities.
  2. Get the company back in the consumer eye, and to drum up interest so people start using Evernote again (in the hopes of change to come)

#1 serves our interests, because it looks like the company's going to tackle its bloat problem. I am hoping, myself, that this means better feature parity between clients, for one thing. There is no reason for the Windows and Mac apps to be so wildly different. Reading between the lines, I think issues like this will be fixed. There will be greater consistency and reliability. A greater focus on core features and getting them right, versus just throwing things in and seeing what sticks. I also think it's to help morale and productivity in-house. I'm curious just how many behind-the-scenes "refreshes" will take place that we don't see.

#2 serves the investors and company in that it keeps the doors open. Pretty straightforward benefit, honestly.

I apologize for missing this post weeks ago! I'll admit that I started this thread basically to call out what looked like an absurd waste of resources. I still feel that way. I suppose a rebrand can be an indication of possibly positive change--which still seems to me a very weak justification! I would say that having a pep rally for employees can be useful--or can be a ginormous time-suck (according to my wife, who used to be a manager and had to go to them). If the positive change is speeded up fixing of bugs and adding features that users request, that'll be great. But that needs to appear sooner rather than later, and needs to be promoted at least as much as the new coat of paint.

Frankly, given that the release notes for the most recent Windows and Android app updates consisted of nothing but "Hey, look at our new design"--with no actual indication of what was in the release--I'm still going with ludicrously misplaced priorities rather than getting it back in gear. Or maybe just wildly misjudged communication strategies, which would definitely be in the Evernote corporate tradition.

Chirmer, like you I love this product and want to see it do better, and I generally try to contribute positively in these forums. I'm sorry if this one hit a sour note for you, and I do appreciate your taking the time for a thoughtful reply.

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30 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I've been trying to ignore the Branding stuff but if anyone's interested Dottotech has a rant at 

I think he very clearly and accurately described how many of us feel about Evernote lately and why the rebranding effort hit a nerve for many.

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35 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

I think he very clearly and accurately described how many of us feel about Evernote lately and why the rebranding effort hit a nerve for many.

He does make really good points for sure. 

I think the "legacy app" statement was powerful, if it goes towards people having to use it because it is time consuming to export 10,000 notes into a new system, that will be a big shame for Evernote. I hope the development of the app follows the marketing efforts and the new logo for sure. We shall see.

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3 hours ago, TK0047 said:

because it is time consuming to export 10,000 notes into a new system

I can't speak for the "new system", but it's  a 25  minute process to export my notes (Mac).  This export is run weekly in my backups processing.  

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On 8/14/2018 at 9:47 AM, gazumped said:

OK - for a soberer look at things,  check out https://www.fastcompany.com/90216018/inside-evernotes-brain - courtesy of Ms Wilde's snazzy newspaper... https://paper.li/heathriel/1334414259#/

 

Oh my gosh, I am so late to this thread and catching up on all the hooha! I've been so busy just using my current version of EN on the daily that I've been ignoring the updates (WHY am I still on a version that has the forgetful focus issue?!) and completely missed the re-brand announcement. I share the opinions of most of the folks on this thread and in the comments on the Medium article so see no need to reiterate what's already been said. But I read the Fast Company article and this sentence really stuck out to me: 

[The visual elements provided by DesignStudio] were all designed to look good on anything from a dinky smartphone screen to an oversized outdoor advertising poster—and yes, Evernote plans to reintroduce itself through an upcoming brand advertising campaign.

It's unfortunate this is needed but also not surprising. The company has lost goodwill with a large number of its most faithful users and along with that has come the loss of the most precious type of advertising: word of mouth. I no longer evangelize EN to my friends and co-workers. I no longer gush about how much I love it. When asked if I still use EN, I kinda frown and start off with "Yeah, but..." I'm not willing to pay $69.99 a year for Premium because I don't think the product is worth it in its current incarnation. I grudgingly pay $34.99 for Plus and will probably continue to do so as long as they let me have it, or until *I've* had it and finally jump ship. That day is getting closer and closer. 

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On 8/28/2018 at 1:37 PM, Etonreve said:

He (I'm assuming it's a man) has a tendency to contradict other members. It is tiresome. 

 Confirmed, I am male.  The picture is a female owl though.
I contradict users who post incorrect information and whining boohoo posts; which seems to be @Etonreve's focus in these forums
My focus is to assist users with issues, share information, and learn how to better use the Evernote products.  I also 
participate in beta testing; identifying issues with releases.

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5 hours ago, rgschmidt said:

"I contradict users who post incorrect information and whining boohoo posts"

Hmm, that makes me think: if Evernote would really listen to it's customers then there would not be so many peoply "Whining" ?

Yeah, I would think so as well, hope so even.  Though I find in today’s world if you gave veryone a free lunch, someone would opine on the Internet it wasn’t dinner.  ?

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10 hours ago, rgschmidt said:

if Evernote would really listen to it's customers

This discussion is about the Branding project.
Another discussion would be Evernote's "really listen" function.  They do provide this forum which provides user feedback on the product.

I suspect you're more concerned with Evernote's response to the user feedback.
My analogy is a Henry Ford story.  If he listened to customers he could have built a great product.
The story is his customers wanted faster horses.
Evernote's customer priorities are?  ....free service ...... editor: more features  .... editor: fix bugs....

 

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10 hours ago, rgschmidt said:

Hmm, that makes me think: if Evernote would really listen to it's customers then there would not be so many peoply "Whining" ?

Could be. In that regard, the notice about updates and reorganization of these forums is interesting:

Among other things, it indicates that the purpose of the reorganization is to "hone in on the user sentiment more accurately and expediently, and help to provide a better overall Evernote experience."

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3 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Among other things, it indicates that the purpose of the reorganization is to "hone in on the user sentiment more accurately and expediently, and help to provide a better overall Evernote experience."

And immediately locked down to prevent user sentiment on the post.

 

Evernote forum locked.png

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20 hours ago, jbenson2 said:

And immediately locked down to prevent user sentiment on the post.

 

Evernote forum locked.png

the thread is locked because its in the community announcements section and is an announcement, not the beginning of a discussion. as your post here shows, there is nothing preventing you from voicing your concerns elsewhere in the forums :)

 

(unless you were making a joke, in which case i apologize for being so literal - its my job!)

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