“In this book we celebrate twenty-five great works of design, the people who created them and the clients who bought them.”

Here’s an excerpt, featuring on one of the 25 brands.

Penguin

Given its beloved status as a British institution to rival the BBC, it’s worth remembering what a revolutionary idea Penguin originally was. The company’s cheap but well-made, well-designed books found a new audience of working and middle-class readers that few believed existed. The future really was orange.

If the point of a brand mark is to guarantee quality, then Penguin excels. My father, a lifelong devotee, describes it as ‘my university’. Many share his trust and appreciation. Like holding a Guinness at the bar, one feels part of a select band when reading a Penguin on the Tube or beach. Generations of investment in great design has helped earn this status.

Photo source: James Muspratt (not in Champions of Design book)

The original (Tube map inspired?) system of distinctive coloured stripes met the business strategy; they would have been cheap to produce, compared with myriad cover designs and illustrations. However, we don’t want cheap brands. We want great brands cheap. Penguin used good paper, quality binding and typography that allowed the words to breathe. They were designs of hardback quality in soft covers.

This flightless bird has adapted beautifully over the years, radically changing its design approach in response to market forces and trends, from the graphical covers of the 60s, to the commercial designs of today. Penguin achieved coherent change mostly from having a strong in-house design culture. This ethos was not elitist. Edward Young was a 21-year-old office junior when he drew the logo and devised the colour-coding system. A secretary came up with the name.

Luck also plays a part in great brand design. Penguin was still young as World War II erupted, and its format just so happened to prove the perfect fit for a battledress pocket. On such quirks are great brands built.

Written by Silas Amos, a founder designer at jkr in 1990.

—

Each of the 25 case studies includes a brand timeline and “Did you know?” page.

Did you know that in 1989, following Penguin’s publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, bombs were planted in a Penguin bookshop in York and in Liberty’s in London where the company also had a concession?

Download your free copy of the PDF here on the jkr website.

Somewhat related: Penguin logo evolution.

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I’ve compiled a few visual clues from your suggestions.

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Here are all of your replies.

Apple (@chrismcobble)
Coca-Cola (@limpa)
O2 (@internalmachine)
McDonald’s (@keyondesign)
Absolut, Target (@AnnLikesRed)
Marlboro (@twotribes)
Nike (@AnkitBathija)
Macmillan, Waitrose (@stephenkelman)
Dyson (@iandevlin)
RAC (@LiamSwift87)
Cadbury (@thecardbiz)
Guinness (@MacRamsay)
Burberry (@cog_design)
Twitter, Converse, Vans (@jclin1)
Cath Kidston (@gray)
Toyota (@hanux9)
Goodyear Blimp, Geico (@duomark)
M&S, The Science Museum (@michaeldowell)
Starbucks, Red Bull (@thegighandle)
Easyjet, Paul Smith, Orange, Louis Vuitton (@leejdavies)
Adidas (@QuietBritAcc)
Ikea, ESPN (@uberryan)
Lidl (@caffeine_code)
KFC (@cristirus)
Kleenex (@josiahsprague)
Jif (@sjgreen)
BP (@BlairThomson)
Cleveland Browns (@BrandMooreArt)
Lego (@ben_gc)
Volkswagon (@markbowley)
Pepsi (@juanmagdaraog)
Dyno-Rod (@KieranHarrod)
Honda (@minxlj)
UPS (@AndrewKelsall)

Thanks very much, by the way. I linked to Twitter profiles for the first mention of each brand — many were repeated.

The list could include almost any brand name, depending on who you ask.

A little reminder that we need create more than just wordmarks and symbols.

Shapes, typefaces, colours, patterns, illustration, photography…

They can all play a part in a company’s brand identity.

—

Related:
Colour in branding, on davidairey.com
You could remove the logo and still know the brand, on LDL

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Alfa Romeo – the company was originally known as ALFA, an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. When Nicola Romeo bought ALFA in 1915, his surname was appended. (photo credit)

Aston Martin – from the “Aston Hill” races (near Aston Clinton) where the company was founded, and the surname of Lionel Martin, the company’s founder. (photo credit)

Audi – Latin translation of the German name “Horch.” The founder August Horch left the company after five years, but still wanted to manufacture cars. Since the original “Horch” company was still there, he called his new company Audi, the Latin form of his last name. In English it is “hark.” (photo credit)

BMW – Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works). (photo credit)

Cadillac – named after the 18th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France. The company, founded in 1902, was purchased by General Motors in 1909 and survives to this day as a GM brand. (photo credit)

Chevrolet – named after company co-founder Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss-born auto racer. The company was merged into General Motors in 1917 and survives only as a brand name. (photo credit)

Chrysler – named after the company founder, Walter P. Chrysler. (photo credit)

Citroën – named after André-Gustave Citroën (1878–1935), a French entrepreneur of Dutch descent. He was the fifth and last child of the Dutch Jewish diamond merchant Levie Citroën and Mazra Kleinmann (of Warsaw, Poland). (photo credit)

Daewoo – company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means “great house” or “great universe” in Korean. (photo credit)

Datsun – first called DAT, from the initials of its financiers Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. Soon changed to DATSON to imply a smaller version of their original car, then (as SON can mean “loss” in Japanese) again to DATSUN when they were acquired by Nissan. (photo credit)

Ferrari – from the name of its founder, Enzo Ferrari. (photo credit)

Fiat – acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). (photo credit)

Ford Motor Company – named after its founder, Henry Ford, who introduced automobile mass production in 1914. (photo credit)

Honda – from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda. (photo credit)

Hyundai – connotes the sense of “the present age” or “modernity” in Korean. (photo credit)

Mercedes – from the first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who distributed cars of the early Daimler company around 1900. (photo credit)

Nissan – the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means “Japan Industries.” (photo credit)

Porsche – car company named after founder Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian automotive engineer. The family name may have originated in the Czech name “Boreš” (boresh). (photo credit)

Proton – Malaysian car manufacturer, where the name is derived from Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional. (photo credit)

Renault – named after the founder Louis Renault. (photo credit)

Rolls-Royce – name used by Rolls-Royce plc and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, among others. In 1884 Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business, making his first car, a Royce, in 1904. He was introduced to Charles Stewart Rolls on 4 May that year. The pair entered into a partnership in which Royce would manufacture cars to be sold exclusively by Rolls, and the cars would be called Rolls-Royce. (photo credit)

Saab – founded in 1937 in Sweden as Svenska Aeroplan aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Company); the last word is typically abbreviated as AB, hence Saab and Saab Automobile AB. (photo credit)

SEAT – an acronym from Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Corporation of Touring Cars). (photo credit)

Subaru – from the Japanese name for the constellation known to Westerners as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, was formed from a merger of six companies, and the constellation is featured on the company’s logo. (photo credit)

Toyota – from the name of the founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan. (photo credit)

Volkswagen – from the German for people’s car. Ferdinand Porsche wanted to produce a car that was affordable for the masses – the Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen (or “Strength-Through-Joy car,” from a Nazi social organization) later became known, in English, as the Beetle. (photo credit)

Volvo – from the Latin word volvo, which means “I roll.” It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF. (photo credit)

You can read a ton more company name etymologies on Wikipedia.

Additionally, you might find these Logo Design Love blog posts of interest:

BMW logo evolution
Mercedes logo evolution
Car manufacturer logo designs

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Air of Prague by photographer and graphic artist Kirill Rudenko

“The Air of Prague is also a great gift for your friends and family. Forget the magnets, cups and plates. Bring home something everybody will love and ask questions about, and if anybody is suspicious, just open the can and let them feel the spirit of a thousand years old city.”

In a less tasteful approach there’s this remnant of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident.

Via Oak Ridge Associated Universities

Multi-use, from the label:

1. Remove label and tell your enemy its laughing gas
2. Energy free night light (illuminates in darkness)
3. Mix with cold cream for that radiant beauty
4. Instant male sterilization (sniff twice daily)
5. Use as a room air freshener
6. Toothpaste recipe: mix 3 to 1 ratio with baking soda, for ever glowing smile

Are you missing Los Angeles?

Found on box vox

And for the athletes out there, stock-up on some flavoured, purified oxygen.

Photo via Jeremy Hurley

“BigOx contains 89% pure oxygen in a personal bottle available in 4 different refreshing flavors. (Let’s note that the air we breathe contains 21% of pure oxygen. This is true only in places that are not highly elevated or polluted, in which case the percentage of oxygen is even less.)”

I’d go for the mountain mint if I wasn’t hooked on Perri-Air.

Mel Brooks, via Flickr

Perri-Air Spaceballs scene on YouTube.

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No-one else sets you apart.

You’re what makes you different. Tell your story.

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I was watching a presentation by Robert H. Lustig, MD, about the damage caused by sugary foods, and after listening for a while it raised a few ethical questions I’m curious to know your thoughts on.

Have a quick read of this excerpt.

[begins]

My colleague Dan Hale at the University of Texas, San Antonio, tells me that down there they’ve got a “Texas-sized Big Gulp” — 60 ounces of Coca-Cola, a Snickers bar, and a bag of Doritos, all for $0.99. If you did that every day that’d be 112 pounds of fat per year.

What’s in Coke? Caffeine. What’s caffeine? A mild stimulant, right? It’s also a diuretic — it makes you pee.

What else is in Coke? Salt — 55mg of sodium per can. It’s like drinking a pizza.

So what happens if you take-on sodium and lose water? You get thirstier. Why is there so much sugar in Coke? To hide the salt.

When was the last time you went to a Chinese restaurant and had sweet-n-sour pork? That’s half soy sauce — you wouldn’t eat that. Except the sugar plays a trick on your tongue. You can’t even tell it’s there.

Everybody remember New Coke? 1985? More salt. More caffeine.

That’s the smoking gun. They know what they’re doing.

That’s The Coca-Cola Conspiracy.

[ends]

Pounds of fat amassed per year by drinking one Coke per day

Presentation embedded below (and linked). The transcript above begins at 12 minutes and 35 seconds.

It’s worth noting that some of the nutritional claims in Robert Lustig’s 90-minute presentation have been disputed, but this is just one quick example relating to the ethical questions I was thinking about.

• What clients would make you think twice about working with them?
• Where’s the line between a focus on your career and the impact of your work on society at large?
• Does the ethical line you draw twist and turn as circumstances change?

Related:
Don’t shoot the messenger, on davidthedesigner.com
How ethical are your design practices? on davidairey.com
Coca-Cola: generous benefactor or evil brand master? on ethicsingraphicdesign.org

Coca-Cola photo by Photon-Painter on Flickr

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If you think I’m out of pocket with this old batch of business cards, imagine what it costs to rebrand a company the size of Yellow Pages.

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You help people to tell their brand stories every day. Designers give people a visual language with which to communicate to their audience.

 When a client comes to you for the design, they have, for the most part, already done the groundwork. They know who they are and who their target audience is. Your job is to pull the whole thing together with compelling visuals.


How often do you stop to think about how you are communicating to your audience? Sometimes even the most amazing designers get stuck at communicating their own message. And for good reason, there’s a lot to address.

Where do you start? What’s the story you want your own brand to communicate? Who is your audience? Are they ethical, green, large corporations, government organisations, global brands or tiny bakeries? How will you stand out? Is it better to fit in?



How do you begin framing your own brand story?

I think it’s possible to start by breaking it down into ten steps to consider.



1. Mission

   What are you doing right now, today? What happens because you exist?
2. Vision

   What are or will be the results and effects of what you do in the future?
3. Core values

   What are the attitudes and beliefs that shape your business culture?
4. Unique selling point

   What’s your edge, the thing that makes you stand out?
5. Emotional selling point

   What’s the intangible or aspiration that you sell? Think feelings not facts. Connection, freedom, ego, belonging.…
6. Brand essence

   The core of what you do, the image it portrays and the signals it sends.
7. Tagline

   One line that communicates everything.
8. Identity

   How the consumer perceives your brand.
9. Name

   The verbal hook on which all of the above hangs and is communicated, the icing on your cake. Comes in all the way down here at number nine!
10. Logo
    
Last but not least the visual hook that represents your brand, the cherry on the top.




Design brand framing that works



Let’s look at some examples of well-framed design brands.



One of my personal favourites because of their fabulous, flexible and evocative name is Believe in. In another life they were called biz-R! Believe in’s positioning is really interesting, they;



“Work in partnership with brave clients to deliver engaging, provocative and effective brand experiences driven by ideas and solid research.”



Before stepping through their door you know you are going to get imaginative ideas that challenge the status quo.




There can be no mistaking the niche that Designed by Good People works in. Everything from their name to their clearly stated values tells clients with a specific worldview a story.



“We found that we did better work when we worked for clients who believed in the same things we did.


“We believe in sustainability.

We believe in ethics.

We believe in doing what’s right whenever possible.

We believe in strong ideas that are solutions to defined design problems.

You do better work when you believe in what you do.

“That’s why we set up ‘Designed by Good People’. 


“We have expertise in design, branding, print, packaging and web. We work in English and Spanish.”

One way to communicate your brand essence is via your portfolio. Miles Newlyn does that extremely well with his. Miles is a typography specialist and is famous for creating iconic brand identities such as the re-designed Honda logo and the Unilever U.



Here’s how he tells us about who he works with, and how;

“Newlyn is a world-renowned typographer and designer, specialising in the positioning and iconography of large organizations.


“The process is simple, and divided into logical steps. It is done quickly, practically, and economically. The results innovate, communicate and add value.

“Large branding agencies make money by selling lengthy process;
 evaluation, analysis, consensus, strategy, management… Your business probably has enough ‘process’ already — you don’t need more, that’s why the flexible way in which I work will quickly help you reach the world class status necessary for your brand.

“So, when it comes to the idea and what it looks like, come to me.”


The last line is a brilliantly framed and placed unique selling point, which Miles can back up with his results.




Eric Karjaluoto pulls off a deceptively simple piece of personal branding with his website. Check out the over-sized typographic menu. It tells us everything we need to know about him in just six words! And the slightly irreverent header on the website gives us a clue to his personality.



“This is my website. It is awesome.”




These are a few of my personal picks. I have many more but I’d like to turn this discussion over to you.



Which designers and design brands do you believe are framed uniquely and why? Who are your personal favourites? Which ones do you admire and respect? David and I would love to hear more in the comments.





—

Your own brand storming session

Bernadette has kindly offered to give one commentator a brand storming session completely free (valued at $497). She’ll pick the winner from any answers to the above question(s).

—

Update: 29 March 2011
Mark Stuckert is the commentator who will be receiving Bernadette’s help through the branding session. I’m sure it’ll prove beneficial.

—

Bernadette Jiwa is a verbal designer and brand architect based in Perth, Australia. She works with creative thinkers, entrepreneurs, designers, and bloggers to help them build ideas that spread.

Visit Bernadette’s newest website, The Story of Telling, and follow her on Twitter.

Blank notepad photo courtesy of Thinkstock.

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Today I got a delivery from Landor that shows new packaging design for Kraft’s Macaroni & Cheese.

Not to every designer’s taste, I’m sure, but a relevant example of how where food packaging is concerned, there are more factors at play than style alone.

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Do you side with the left, the right, or somewhere in between?

More examples on the Antrepo blog, via the ever-helpful Blairo.

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