Logo Talks

Women Of Design (By Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio)

- About the book :

More than half of the graphic designers in the U.S. are women, yet they are less likely to be invited to speak at conferences or to offer expert opinions to the media. Their award-winning work is seen everywhere, but with few exceptions, they are not celebrated in the same way as their male counterparts. Women of Design explores this contradiction while at the same time shining a light on the work of women designers, both industry veterans and influential newcomers. By asking the handful of female design stars to identify other talented women, then asking those women to suggest more still, Women of Design creates a web of influence and excellence that proves these women are worthy of attention.

- About the author :

Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit founded UnderConsideration in 2002 and have tended to its growth since then. Eerily, they do many things together and have many things in common.
Born and raised in Mexico City, Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit are graphic designers and co-founders of UnderConsideration, a growing network and enterprise dedicated to the progress of the graphic design profession and its practitioners, students and enthusiasts. Since 2002 UnderConsideration has launched four web sites—Speak Up, Brand New, Quipsologies, and The Design Encyclopedia—that have been part of the growing dialog in design, and in 2007, they formed its Department of Design to serve clients, as well as to develop their own design requirements. Bryony and Armin each have a decade of experience in various disciplines including corporate and brand identity, annual reports, business collateral, web design and programming, packaging, as well as magazine and book design.

- Links :

Women of Design – page preview

Women of Design on Amazon

Under Consideration

Brand New

Alan Siegel: On Branding and Clear Communications (By Louis J. Slovinsky )

- About the book :

Over the past three decades, Alan Siegel has become one of the best-known figures in the branding business. He has achieved the stature of both pillar of the establishment and provocative iconoclast, while building a leading brand consultancy, Siegel & Gale, devoted to positioning global companies for competitive success. As consultant, author, and commentator, Alan’s influence extends from advising organizations such as Xerox, American Express, the National Basketball Association, Caterpillar, The Girl Scouts, and Carnegie Mellon University, to creating guides for the Wall Street Journal on understanding financial markets, to board-level service at American Institute of Graphic Arts, Design Management Institute, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Girls, Inc., and the Authors Guild Foundation and the American Theater Wing, where he is a TONY voter. During the 1970′s, Alan pioneered simplification to such daunting documents as insurance policies, bank loan notes, mutual fund prospectuses, and all types of government communications. He criticized corporate executives, lawyers, doctors, technologists, and politicians for their murky jargon, self-important claims, and frustrating communications. During the 1980′s, he popularized the idea of “brand voice.” And during the 1990′s, his firm championed the Internet as a powerful expression of brand strategy.

- About Alan Siegel :

In the 1970s, Alan pioneered the practice of simplification, bringing clarity to such daunting documents as insurance policies, bank loan notes, mutual fund prospectuses, and all types of government communications. During the 1980s he popularized the concept of “brand voice.” And, in the 1990s, his firm championed the Internet as a powerful expression of brand strategy. In all he does, Alan is known for the plain speaking he demands of clientsand for the excellence in individual and organizational communications that his firm has come to embody.

Currently, Alan serves on the boards of the Museum of Arts and Design, the American Theater Wing, where he is a Tony voter, The Authors Guild Foundation, Inc., the Nathaniel Wharton Foundation at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, Business for Diplomatic Action, and Aperture Foundation. Alan previously served on the boards of the European Chamber of Commerce in the United States, the Museum of Modern Art Photography Committee, the International Center of Photography, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the Design Management Institute, and Girls Inc. (formerly the Girls Clubs of America).

Alan is the author of an extensive series of personal guides for The Wall Street Journal, including the bestseller, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Markets (Lightbulb Press), as well as Writing Contracts in Plain English (West Publishing) and Simplified Consumer Credit Forms (Warren Gorham & Lamont). He is also the author of One Man’s Eye: Photographs from the Alan Siegel Collection, which was published by Harry N. Abrams in October 2000, and Step Right This Way: The Photographs of Edward J. Kelty, published by Barnes & Noble in October 2002.

In December 2006, Jorge Pinto Books published Alan Siegel on Branding and Clear Communications by Louis J. Slovinsky as part of its Working Biographies series.

- Links :

Alan Siegel: On Branding and Clear Communications on Amazon

siegel + gale

Thinking with Type (By Ellen Lupton )

- About the book :

This is not a Book about fonts. It is a book about how to use them. Typefaces are an essential resource employed by graphic designer. Just as glass, stone, steel, and countless other materials are employed by architects.
Graphic designers sometime create their own fonts and custom lettering. More commonly. however, they in response to a particular audience or situation. To do this with wit and wisdom requires knowledge of how and why letterforms have evolved.

Graphic Design: The New Basics ( By Ellen Lupton and  Phillips Jennifer Cole)

- About the book :

How do designers get ideas? Many spend their time searching for clever combinations of forms, fonts, and colors inside the design annuals and monographs of other designers’ work. For those looking to challenge the cut-and-paste mentality there are few resources that are both informative and inspirational. In Graphic Design: The New Basics, Ellen Lupton, best-selling author of such books as Thinking with Type and Design It Yourself, and design educator Jennifer Cole Phillips refocus design instruction on the study of the fundamentals of form and ideas in a critical, rigorous way, informed by contemporary media, theory, and software systems.

This guide for students and professionals refocuses design instruction on the study of the fundamentals of form, informed by contemporary media, theory, and software systems. Through visual demonstrations and concise commentary, the book shows how to build interest and complexity around simple relationships between formal elements of two-dimensional design, and explains key concepts of visual language that inform any work of design, from a logo to a web site.

- About the author :

Ellen Lupton is a writer, curator, and graphic designer. She is director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, where she also serves as director of the Center for Design Thinking. As curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum since 1992, she has produced numerous exhibitions and books, including Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office (1993), Mixing Messages: Graphic Design and Contemporary Culture (1996), Letters from the Avant-Garde (1996), and Skin: Surface, Substance + Design (2002).

She recently has focused on bringing design awareness to broader audiences. Her book Thinking with Type (2004) is a basic guide to typography directed at everyone who works with words. D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself (2006), co-authored with her graduate students at MICA, explains design processes to a general audience. D.I.Y. Kids (October 2007), co-authored with Julia Lupton, is a design book for children illustrated with kids’ art. “It’s never too early,” they explain, “to talk to your child about design.”

- Links :

Thinking with Type on Amazon

Graphic Design: The New Basics

Ellen Lupton website

Ellen Lupton on wikipedia

Worldwide Identity (By Robert L. Peters )

- About the book :

Identity lies at the very core of culture, and is the key to our understanding of self. Understanding culture is imperative in avoiding identity crisis and rootlessness, and is a prerequisite for the effective shaping of identities and communication. Designers worldwide have given shape to the identities of corporations, organizations, locations, events, products, and services that surround us. This inspirational book showcases over 300 identities from around the globe and explicates the process of identity design by defining both the Brief and the Solution. This book’s clear and concise manner assists readers in seeing how innovative, distinctive, and appropriate identities arise from designers’ thorough understanding of mandate and cultural context.

- About the author :

Robert is a graphic designer and the founding principal of the award-winning design consultancy Circle, based in Winnipeg, Canada. He is a former president of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda, 2001-2003), a foreign feature correspondent for Communication Arts magazine, author of the book Worldwide Identity (published by Rockport), a Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC), and an Honorary Member of the Brno Biennale Association. In 2006 he was the recipient of the Koopman Distinguished Chair in the Visual Arts from the Hartford School of Art, University of Hartford, and also served as Designer in Residence in the Faculty of Art & Design, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Robert is active internationally as a consultant and design strategist, policy advisor, writer, juror, and guest lecturer. He was raised and schooled in Germany, Switzerland, and England, and has traveled extensively (nearly 60 countries).

For the past 25 years Robert has lived in a low-energy passive solar house that he designed and built in the woods of eastern Manitoba. When not immersed in design, he enjoys nature, rock climbing, mountaineering, and human-powered outdoor activities.

- Links :

The website of Robert L. Peters

Worldwide Identity on Amazon

Company of Robert L.  Peters (Circle)

Robert L. Peters on Wikipedia

Identity Crisis (By Jeff Fisher )

- About the book :

Identity design (logos, letterhead, web sites, etc.) is one of the most popular topics in design books, and Identity Crisis takes a fresh look at this common subject by exploring the process of redesigning existing identities to help businesses refine their images, communicate with customers, and find success.

Readers will get an inside look at the challenges of redesigning identities. They’ll see the creative and strategic thinking behind fresh design work as well as have a powerful tool to show clients what a difference a professional can make to their image.

The Savvy Designer’s Guide To Success (By Jeff Fisher)

- About the book :

From marketing and promotion to client communication, this essential guide covers everything graphic designers need to know to achieve ultimate success. The author finds answers all the tough questions with: Practical advice for establishing – and maintaining – a high profile within the design community; Personality-driven text that makes readers feel like they’re getting advice from a trusted friend or peer; Timeless information that designers of all levels can use to navigate the inevitable tough spots in the industry; Straightforward strategies for tackling such tricky business issues as contracts, pricing, lawyers and accountants; In addition, there are invaluable sections on recovering from big career mistakes and giving back to the community. This is the book graphic designers have been asking for: a business guide that isn’t too stuffy for creatives.

- About the author :

Jeff Fisher, author of Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands, is the Engineer of Creative Identity for Jeff Fisher LogoMotives. He has received nearly 600 regional, national and international design awards for his logo design efforts. His work is featured in over 100 books about logos, the design business, and small business marketing. Fisher serves on the HOW Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, UCDA Designer Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, and HOW Design Conference Advisory Council

Newly

Jeff Fisher Selected as One of Graphic Design USA’s People to Watch in 2009
Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland-based design firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives, has been named one the “People to Watch in 2009″ by the publication Graphic Design USA (GD USA).

- Links :

Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

identity crisis book

blog-omotives

Identity Crisis on Amazon

The Savvy Designer’s Guide To Success on Amazon

The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success – A searchable PDF on CD

The whole parts

- Most 20 Books You should read them – Part 1

- Most 20 Books You should read them – Part 2

- Most 20 Books You should read them – Part 3