“…before we worked together, he was a legend in my eyes. His designs, for film titles and company logos and record albums and posters, defined an era.”
— MARTIN SCORSESE

Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design is the first book to be dedicated to one of the greatest American designers of the twentieth century. Produced by Jennifer Bass (Saul’s daughter) and Pat Kirkham, and published by Laurence King, it made me happy to have the postman deliver this one.

The following paragraph is quoted from the press release. It’s followed by a few snapshots of the content and a short film showing the print process.

—

Saul Bass (1920-1996) created some of the most compelling images of American postwar visual culture. Having extended the remit of graphic design to include film titles, he went on to transform the genre. His best-known works include a series of unforgettable posters and title sequences for films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. He also created some of the most memorable logos and corporate identity campaigns of the century, including those for major companies such as AT&T, Quaker Oats, United Airlines, and Minolta.

—

Studio portrait, the Bronx. c. 1931

Tone Poems of Color (album cover, 1956)

Manufacturers National Bank (selection of ads, 1960-61)

San Francisco International Film Festival (seventh festival poster, 1963)

Frank Holmes Laboratories, Inc. (trademark, 1954)

Ceramic tiles (sculptured tile designs, 1957-58)

Playhouse 90, CBS (opening sequence, 1956)

The Man with the Golden Arm (poster, 1955)

North by Northwest (title sequence frames, 1959)

Psycho (title sequence frames, 1960)

Celanese (trademark and style manual, 1966)

Saul with staff members (Bell System identity, 1969)

Here’s a brief insight of the Saul Bass printing process.

1,484 illustrations
290 x 258mm
440 pages
Hardback

If you’re a designer of any kind, this is one book you don’t want to miss. Very happy to have the postman deliver it, looking forward to reading the corporate identity section in particular.

Purchase Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design from Laurence King or:

on Amazon.com
on Amazon.co.uk
on Amazon.ca

Related:
Saul Bass logos: then and now, on Logo Design Love

More recommended reads: A few good books.

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

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• Identify (8)
• Champions of Design (6)
• Soirée Graphique (12)
• Design by Nature (13)
• International Year of Chemistry (72)

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

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

Related posts on David Airey dot com

• Where to find contextual image templates for your brand identity presentations (29)
• Champions of Design (6)
• Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design (6)
• Identify (8)
• The stories behind car brand names (11)

“Identity design is not about what one likes or dislikes. It’s about what works.”

In Identify, designers Tom Geismar and Ivan Chermayeff, and partner Sagi Haviv, open-up their studio for the first time in the firm’s 55-year history. This excellent book reveals the creative process that led to some of the world’s most iconic visual identities.

There’s a preface from Isaac Mizrahi and a foreword from Steven Heller before the book gets down to business with a few pages describing the firm’s overall identity design process.

“Sketching by hand gives a designer an immediacy of artistic expression and intuitive extension of creative impulses that as of now using the computer lacks. We are looking for the most direct connection between an idea and the creation of a form. In the early conceptual phase, the computer’s preprogrammed functions often just get in the way.”

The remainder of the book is filled with almost 100 case studies detailing the design decisions behind trademarks we’ve all come to know, regardless of our knowledge of the design profession.

Library of Congress

“The solution that we came up with was a combination of an allusion to a library and a representation of the American nation: an open book and the American flag.”

National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

“It wasn’t until 1986, six long years after NBC first hired us, that the network took the number-one slot and the new peacock was released into the world.”

Chase Manhattan Bank

“The blue octagonal mark is abstract but not without meaning. It suggests a Chinese coin or, with the square enclosed in an octagon, a bank vault and by extension the notion of security and trust.”

National Geographic

“Beyond the basic signature and guidelines for usage, recommendations were made for the extensive use of the color yellow, especially for product packaging; the use wherever possible of appropriate and striking photography; a standard way to incorporate a message about the society and its purpose; and how, without restrictions on layout and design, the use of strong, clean contemporary design can help update perceptions of National Geographic.”

“This remarkable book testifies to the benefits of collaboration and sets a very high standard for the entire field to emulate.”
— MILTON GLASER

Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar — a landmark publication showcasing the worldwide visual influence of Chermayeff & Geismar.

Purchase direct from Print Publishing, or here:

on Amazon.com
on Amazon.co.uk

Looking for more? A few good books.

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

Related posts on David Airey dot com

• Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design (6)
• Champions of Design (6)
• Design by Nature (13)
• Remove the logo. Know the brand. (16)
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I recently created a number of identity design variations for Massachusetts-based startup TalkTo.

“You’re pretty awesome to work with. Incredibly organized, easy to communicate with, responsive with next iterations, and beautiful work. Easy to recommend you to others, happy to do it.”
— STUART LEVINSON, CO-FOUNDER

Visit the TalkTo website. Follow TalkTo on Twitter.

You’ll see all iterations over on the TalkTo portfolio page along with a few sketches.

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

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• New work: Digital Luxury Group (5)
• New work: Pinebank Asset Management (24)
• New work: Profinity Capital Management (41)
• New work: goTeach (49)
• New work: Ganze (47)

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and previously named IC-Agency, the Digital Luxury Group (DLG) is an agency providing online marketing services to companies active in the luxury industry (Tag Heuer, Audemars Piguet, etc.).

“Over the years, IC-Agency has made its mark as a key player in digital marketing for luxury brands. With the ambition of continuing to partner with the world’s top luxury brands, the company is developing strategic partnerships in Asia, America and the Middle East, and is now taking on its new corporate identity: Digital Luxury Group.”

I was tasked with creating the company’s new identity.

From the notebook

Following my last post, I’m keeping my client work a little more separate from my blog.

As such, you can view the full DLG portfolio entry here: Digital Luxury Group.

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

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• New work: TalkTo (15)
• New work: Pinebank Asset Management (24)
• New work: Profinity Capital Management (41)
• New work: goTeach (49)
• New work: Ganze (47)

Case studies in brackets.

A-Side Studio (MARK)
Anagrama (Theurel & Thomas)
Andreas Neophytou (Outside Photographic)
Andrew Sabatier (Asterisk Investments)
Astronaut Design (Antarctic Voice)
Believe in (Believe in)
Bernstein Rein (Glacé Artisan Ice Cream
Bibliothèque (Flint, Boskke)
Chermayeff & Geismar (Conservation International)
Clinton Duncan (Fred International)
COOEE (NPT)
DBD International (Botanical Bakery)
Designers Anonymous (Ecopod)
Fabio Ongarato (K.P.D.O., ACCA, Social Traders)
Form (Recreation Awards, Virgin Galactic)
GBH Design (Virgin Galactic)
H&A (Black Light)
Heydays (ITI, Berg & Berg)
Hyperkit (Faye Toogood)
Landor (Miller & Green)
Lundgren+Lindqvist (Johanna Lenander)
Make (LM Wind Power, IVA)
Mash Creative (S/O/T/O, 2011 calendar, Royal Mail)
Moving Brands (Watermark)
Mytton Williams (Ink Copywriters, The Halcyon)
Nancy Wu (Offsetters)
Nathaniel Cooper (Glacé Artisan Ice Cream)
Project Projects (Museo Tamayo)
Pryor Design (Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Raw (Think Green)
Rudd Studio (Channel 4)
SomeOne (Wright Brothers, HomeSun, Eurostar, Newspaper Marketing Agency)
Studio Verse (Addition)
Tank Top (Eurosport)
The Click (Burlingham Woodland Walks)
Think Studio (Miriam Haskell)
Unreal (The People’s Supermarket)
venturethree (Little Chef)
Wallzo (McCormack Joinery)
Zerofee (Dezeen Watch Store)

A stunning collection of design talent.

Additional thanks to Blair Thomson for project suggestions along the way.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the features. You have subscribed, haven’t you?

Get updates on Twitter, Facebook, or grab an email/RSS subscription on the site: Identity Designed.

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Pinebank Asset Management is a mid-sized hedge fund focused on the high-yield credit markets (junk bonds). The company, formerly known as Brownstone Asset Management, recently underwent a name change as part of a reformulation of its partnership. I was hired to design a brand identity that captured “New York City unpretentious wealth,” and portrayed the company as “a safe and honest steward of capital, with some sense of art/culture away from just money.”

View the portfolio entry here: Pinebank Asset Management.

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

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• New work: TalkTo (15)
• New work: Digital Luxury Group (5)
• New work: Profinity Capital Management (41)
• New work: goTeach (49)
• New work: Ganze (47)

The design brief stipulated the need for a professional, stable, trustworthy appearance. One that was “cutting-edge, but not trendy.” The design needed to be simple, and without the use of “radical colours” in order to appeal to traditional investors.

View the portfolio entry here: Profinity Capital Management.

Published on David Airey, graphic designer

Related posts on David Airey dot com

• New work: TalkTo (15)
• New work: Digital Luxury Group (5)
• New work: Pinebank Asset Management (24)
• New work: goTeach (49)
• New work: Ganze (47)

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and as such, I’ve just launched Identity Designed — a showcase and forum for those involved in the design of brand identities.

There are five case studies to read, with plenty more lined-up:

• Believe in
• Wright Brothers
• Miller & Green
• Channel 4
• Offsetters

—

Update: 17 May 2011
There’s now a half-century of case studies on the site.

—

If you like what you see, grab the RSS feed, or get updates via email.

Obligatory Twitter and Facebook pages:

• on Twitter
• on Facebook

I do hope you enjoy.

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• Identity Designed half-century (9)
• To the commentators (27)
• Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design (6)
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• Identify (8)

Some worthwhile qualities designer Jerry Kuyper tries to achieve when creating identity standards.

Strategic
Focus on why it is important and what the company is trying to achieve, not just how to do it.

Visual
Demonstrations are often more effective than lengthy text.

Easy-to-understand
Develop content that is engaging and avoid unnecessary jargon.

Short
20 pages of useful information may be more effective than 50 pages. Don’t include filler, such as unnecessary information on how to create a business card, when templates are more effective.

Respectful
Understand who will be using the standards and don’t insult their intelligence.

Balanced
Identify the appropriate balance between structure and flexibility. Too much flexibility results in complete chaos, too much structure results in lifeless communications.

Digital
For interim standards, create pdf files that can viewed online, emailed or downloaded and printed the standards can eventually be established as an online identity resource. Most printed sets of guidelines are expensive, become outdated and out of print. (GE printed up 2,000 copies of their 400 page standards in 1987, none were available after the first year)

Scalable
Digital files that can be expanded or revised help to establish that identity management isn’t a static or one time event.

Good advice.

The qualities were originally published on Tony Spaeth’s excellent Identityworks. I recommend a visit for numerous examples of guidelines and standards manuals. A few more links here.

I lifted the colour variations image at the top from one of my favourite guideline manuals — Christopher Doyle Identity Guidelines 2008 (the link downloads a PDF file approximately 1MB in size). Doyle was worthy winner of a yellow pencil at the 2009 D&AD Awards for his efforts.

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