Student designers and those new to the profession often ask me for advice on topics related to branding and visual identity work.
These articles and resources were pieced together with the intention of saving everyone a little time.
Design history
AIGA Design Archives (dating back to 1924)
archives.design (curated by Valery Marier)
International Advertising & Design Database (founded by Het ReclameArsenaal)
The People’s Graphic Design Archive (founded by Louise Sandhaus)
Graphic Design History Resources (compiled by We Made This)
Typography
Type Specimen (by Mark Boulton)
Fonts Knowledge (by the Google Fonts team)
Fontshare (free fonts by Indian Type Foundry)
ILT (the blog by John Boardley)
Typography principles (by Obys agency)
Letterform Archive (founded by Rob Saunders)
Typographica (by Stephen Coles & Caren Litherland)
Fonts In Use (by Nick Sherman, Stephen Coles, & Sam Berlow)
Typography Cheatsheet (by Jeremiah Shoaf)
Free fonts (some interesting display fonts from Pixel Surplus)
Type foundries
Type Foundry Directory (by Matthew Smith)
Type Foundries Archive (by Marcel Häusler)
Type Foundry Index (by Mark Johnson & Thomas Drach)
Logo design
The secret language of logos (something I wrote and narrated for the BBC)
Canada Modern (a historical archive of trademarks from Canada)
Logo design: from concept to presentation (design wisdom from Sagi Haviv)
LogoBook (a comprehensive showcase of logos, symbols, & trademarks)
Logo Nature (a smaller online catalogue with some lovely examples)
The Logo Geek podcast (expertly hosted by Ian Paget)
LogoArchive Shop (meticulously created by Richard Baird)
Logo Design Love (since 2008, the blog that preceded the book)
PSD mockups
Freepik (by Alejandro and Pablo Blanes, and Joaquín Cuenca)
LiveSurface (an Illustrator plugin by Joshua Distler)
Mr.Mockup (PSDs by Noeeko)
Envato Elements (by Collis and Cyan Ta’eed, and Jun Rung)
Free outdoor advertising mockups (PSDs from Clear Channel UK)
Layers Design (part of supply.family)
Yellow Images (thousands of object mockups)
Trademarking
Trademark basics (by the United States Patent & Trademark Office | USPTO)
Intellectual property: Trade marks (by GOV.UK)
Trade marks (by IP Australia)
Global Brand Database (by the World International Property Organization | WIPO)
Design pricing
The dark art of pricing (by Jessica Hische)
Bill for it (by Eric Karjaluoto)
No more day rates (by Mike Reed)
Pricing strategy for creatives (by Jason Blumer)
Responding to spec work requests
Why I need to know your budget (by Mike Monteiro)
How to price your design services (by Chris Do)
Picasso and pricing your work (by Ellen Rohr)
It’s not always about the money (quoting Ivan Chermayeff)
Client contracts
Let’s simplify legal jargon (by Alan Siegel)
Contract Killer open-source contract (by Andy Clarke)
AIGA standard form of agreement for design services (by AIGA)
Researching
Focus groups are worthless (by Erika Hall)
Go to a dry cleaner and sit there (paraphrasing Bob Gill)
Advice on making ideas happen (collected wisdom on 99U)
Brand strategy
Branding: In Five and a Half Steps (by Michael Johnson)
Mistakes in brand strategy (by Stef Hamerlinck)
A blueprint for building brand strategy (by Nomad Studio)
Using strategy in logo design (with Marty Neumeier)
Resource center for brand strategy (another from Stef Hamerlinck)
Marks and Maker (the brand strategy website of Melinda Livesy)
Brand naming
Eight principles of naming (by Nick Foley & Matt Gordon)
Naming a business (by Seth Godin)
How to get a name right (by Naresh Ramchandani)
Brand New Name (by Jeremy Miller)
Flexible brand names (on Logo Design Love)
iwantmyname.com (helpful for domain searches)
WIPO Global Brand Database (search trademarks internationally)
Online Etymology Dictionary (the history of English words)
Onym (by Greg Leppert & Willem Van Lancker)
Royalty-free photos
Unsplash (by Mikael & the team)
Burst (powered by Shopify)
Pexels (by Bruno & Ingo Joseph, & Daniel Frese)
Morguefile (founded by Michael Connors)
Depositphotos (free photos & videos from the commercial firm)
ISO Republic (various CC0 photos & videos)
LOC Prints & Photographs Catalog (check each image for usage rights)
Icons & symbols
The Noun Project (founded by Sofya Polyakov & Edward Boatman)
Icons (free vector icons from Icons8)
Ionicons (a smaller resource courtesy of the Ionic team)
Simple Icons (SVG icons/symbols for popular brands)
Commercial printing
Paper Sizes (for international paper sizes, dimensions & formats)
Inker Linker (for finding recommended print companies, mostly US)
UK commerical printers (an old one of mine, still comes in handy)
Presenting design
An insider’s guide to the design presentation (by Michael Johnson)
The train is leaving the station (by Dave Trott)
Brand identity style guides from around the world (on Logo Design Love)
www.brandingstyleguides.com (huge resource, needs sign-in)
Ways designers screw up client presentations (by Mike Monteiro)
Showing sketches to clients (on when it helps and when it doesn’t)
Copywriters
Reed Words (London)
Asbury & Asbury (Bollington)
On life
A short lesson in perspective (by the late Linds Redding)
The School of Life (founded by Alain de Botton)
Anything else?
Recommendations (& corrections) much appreciated.
Last updated: January 2022
Independent since 2005
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