logoloop® is a joint project carried out by the Dutch inventor/engineer Coen van den Bos and the German haptics expert Olaf Hartmann.
Olaf Hartmann already delighted audiences with his hands in his early years while entertaining passers-by as a street juggler in Brussels. And his deft touch in keeping the balls aloft earned him not only applause, but money.
Later, when working in the advertising department of a pharmaceuticals company, Hartmann quickly realised that the fun factor had gone out of advertising for many people. In fact, advertising is often simply rejected out of hand – ad avoidance has been added to the cultural skillset. Of the countless messages with which people are bombarded, only the fewest actually “stick”.
At the same time, the world is becoming increasingly frenetic, virtual and complex – something in which advertising is also playing a part. Visual and acoustic overload has made people tired and sceptical of and generally uninterested in advertising. Fun is now a rare commodity in marketing departments.
What’s the remedy? Is there a way to put the fun back into advertising, to ensure it captivates and implicitly conveys brand values?
Coen van den Bos and Olaf Hartmann asked themselves the same questions. In seeking a solution, they discovered playful communications media and hit upon the original endlessly folding Magic Cube®. It was love at first touch and the haptic ingenuity of the endless folding action had them hooked. It was this that sparked van den Bos and Hartmann to find a way of reproducing this little piece of magic in two-dimensional and easily variable paper form.