You’re a graphic design student with a portfolio full of fictitious projects. You want to work with clients to build your experience, but you need a more developed portfolio to attract the clients. A classic catch-22.

That’s when working pro bono proves extremely useful.

Read on to learn why, and for a chance to win one of five signed copies of Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities.

→ Continue reading Improve your portfolio with pro bono design

50 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

When it comes to client presentations, contextual imagery is key. The use of digital mock-ups allows your clients to visualize how their new brand identity will tie-in with the products they produce, the premises they occupy, the vehicles they drive, the clothes they wear.

→ Continue reading Where to find contextual image templates for your brand identity presentations

28 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

It was December 2008 when out-of-the-blue I received an email from Nikki McDonald, senior acquisitions editor at US-based publisher Peachpit. In December 2009 I received a box filled with copies of my first book Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities. Here are some of my experiences along the way.

→ Continue reading Behind the scenes: writing a design book

79 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

The turn of the year is usually a time for reflection. We see “best of the year” this, “the year’s top” that, so to add a little slice of my own, here follows what I consider the 10 most notable logos of 2009.

→ Continue reading 10 most notable logos of 2009

63 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

When asked if I wanted to give the book cover a matte or gloss finish, I chose matte, and asked if I could have the word “DESIGN” embossed.

→ Continue reading A book by its cover

81 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

Image courtesy of NYTimes.com

I’m often asked what graphic design books I recommend, so to save a little time in future I’ve launched a graphic design bookstore.

→ Continue reading Graphic design bookstore

30 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

Back in March I told you I signed a book deal with Peachpit. The copy deadline is October 23rd, which is scarily close, and the book is now available for pre-order. So no pressure, David.

→ Continue reading Logo Design Love book available for pre-order

41 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

And I thought, with iconic identities having a memorable, simple, adaptable shape, won’t there come a time when every supposedly “new” idea has been exhausted in some previous incarnation? Or indeed, has this time already come and gone?

→ Continue reading Logos: the fossil fuel of design?

34 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

This guest post has been republished and edited with the kind permission of author Steve Baird, Chair Trademark & Brand Management with Winthrop & Weinstine Attorneys, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

→ Continue reading Logo trademarking tips: A legal perspective

19 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.

Henri Ehrhart is a French wine producer in the Alsace region. Cyrille Ehrhart asked if I would redesign their brand identity, and it was a pleasure to do so. Here’s an insight of the design process.

→ Continue reading Henri Ehrhart brand identity design

108 very welcomed comments » Follow the conversation by subscribing to the RSS comments feed.