Alina Wheeler’s Designing Brand Identity: an essential guide for the whole branding team is currently in its fourth edition. I don’t know why I haven’t picked it up sooner, given how closely the topic resembles Logo Design Love. I’ve been dipping in and out and thought I’d share a quick look inside (the third edition).
“The tools have changed. The fundamentals have not. The questions are the same whether you're on Facebook or in Shanghai: Who are you? Who needs to know? How will they find out?”
The book’s split into three parts:
- Basics: "The difference between brand and brand identity, and what it takes to be the best."
- Process: "This section answers the question "Why does it take so long?" and addresses collaboration and decision making."
- Best practices: "These highly successful projects created by branding firms and design consultancies inspire and exemplify original, flexible, lasting solutions."
The content is set out in a way that lets you read specific sections depending upon what’s most needed at the time. I didn’t go from front to back like reading a novel, but flipped to sections relevant to the tasks I was working on. There’s a definite text book feel (lists, diagrams, charts, quotes) — perhaps why Alina has been so successful getting the book included on design course reading lists.
You know that little "Customers who bought this item also bought..." section on Amazon? Ever since my book was published, Alina's has been a mainstay alongside. In fact, a potential client approached me a couple of days ago after reading my book. He bought it at the same time as this. I didn't think to ask if he'd also got in touch Alina. Should've.
There's so much relevant info, with most of it in post-sized chunks that I'm surprised Alina hasn't included more on her site, or launched a blog. A lot of the info goes into parts of the process that I hadn’t thought to include (in some cases didn’t need to) when working with clients — maybe because it’s targeted at teams more than independent designers. But it’s useful for both, even if I found that the layout made it difficult to stay focused on a specific area — perhaps down to my reading preference more than anything.
My publisher labelled the Logo Design Love book as beginner/intermediate. I’d put Alina's a step up.
Get a copy on Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk.
If you like Alina’s book you might also like my a href="https://www.davidairey.com/books/" title="design books">design books.