A guide to creating
iconic brand identities
Second edition
David Airey
Logo Design Love, Second edition
A guide to creating iconic brand identities
David Airey
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ISBN 13: 978-0-321-98520-0
ISBN 10: 0-321-98520-6
987654321
Printed and bound in the United States of America
About the author
David Airey is a graphic designer from Northern Ireland who
has been self-employed since 2005. Having honed his skills
working in the United States and the United Kingdom, he then
made the decision to specialize in brand identity projects—
an aspect of design he enjoys the most.
David’s design blogs—davidairey.com, logodesignlove.com,
and identitydesigned.com—are visited by more than 600,000
designers every month.
With a client list that includes the likes of Yellow Pages,
the Asian Development Bank, blinkbox, Rupp, and the BBC,
David is also author of the popular book Work for Money,
Design for Love.
iii
Contributors
A huge thanks to these kind people and design studios:
160over90 Lindon Leader
300million Maggie Macnab
Adrian Hanft Malcolm Grear Designers
Andrew Sabatier MetaDesign
Antonio Carusone Moon Brand
Believe in Moving Brands
Blair Enns Nancy Wu
Bravo Company nido
Bunch Pentagram
David Hyde Richard Weston
Gerard Huerta Roy Smith
Glad Creative Sagmeister & Walsh
High Tide smashLAB
ico SomeOne
id29 Stephen Lee Ogden
Ivan Chermayeff studio1500
Jerry Kuyper Thoughtful Studios
johnson banks UnderConsideration
Kevin Burr
iv
Contents
Introduction xii
Part I The importance of brand identity
Chapter one We’re surrounded 2
Chapter two It’s the stories we tell 6
None genuine without this signature 7
A logoless company is a faceless man 8
Seen by millions 9
Only if the Queen agrees 10
Symbols transcend boundaries 11
Identity design as part of our language 13
Rethinking the importance of brand identity 21
Chapter three Elements of iconic design 22
Keep it simple 22
Make it relevant 24
Incorporate tradition 28
Aim for distinction 29
Commit to memory 34
Think small 35
Focus on one thing 37
The seven ingredients of your signature dish 38
Remember that rules are made to be broken 39
Part II The process of design
Chapter four Laying the groundwork 42
Calming those nerves 42
Brief, not abrupt 43
Gathering preliminary information 44
More detail 44
v
A quick note on the decision-maker 45
Give your client time and space 45
But maintain the focus 45
Study time 46
Assembling the design brief 46
A mission and some objectives hold the key 47
Field research making a difference 50
Bringing the details to life 54
Culling the adjectives supplied by the client 56
Chapter five Skirting the hazards of a redesign 60
What are the reasons for rebranding? 60
Squeezing too hard 61
Answers often lie in focus groups 62
From corporate to familial 63
A little more fine-tuning? 66
Unifying the elements 70
Show some diplomacy 71
Chapter six Pricing design 72
Talk first, quote later 72
Chapter seven From pencil to PDF 80
Mind mapping 80
The necessity of the sketchpad 84
The Tenth Commandment 87
Defining insurance 91
Internationally recognized 94
No set time 95
Too many ideas 100
Form before color 101
The value of context 103
The pen is mightier than the mouse 106
Chapter eight The art of the conversation 108
Deal with the decision-maker 109
#1: Conspire to help 113
#2: Avoid intermediation 116
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#3: Take control 118
#4: Keep the committee involved 120
Under-promise, over-deliver 121
Swallow a little pride 126
Part III Moving forward
Chapter nine Staying motivated 130
Never stop learning 130
Be four years ahead 132
Make a difference 132
Step away from the computer 136
Do it for yourself 136
Create something new 136
Reflect on your beginnings 137
Show relentless desire 138
But don’t overwork yourself 138
Keep asking questions 142
Start as you mean to go on 142
Find common ground 142
Use your deadlines 143
Think laterally 149
Improve how you communicate 149
Manage your expectations 150
Always design 150
Follow your bliss 150
Step back 151
Chapter ten Your questions answered 152
Originality trouble 152
Measuring design’s return on investment 153
Rights of use 154
Communication breakdown 154
Sealing the deal 155
Overseas clients 156
How many concepts? 156
Friends and family 158
Revision rounds 158
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Setting a schedule 159
Researching the competition 159
Worst client project 160
Who owns what? 160
Handling the workload 161
Chapter eleven 31 practical logo design tips 162
1. Interview your client 162
2. Think clearly 162
3. Expect the unexpected 162
4. A logo doesn’t need to show what a company does 163
5. A symbol isn’t always necessary 163
6. Offer one thing to remember 164
7. Treasure your sketchpad 164
8. Leave trends to the fashion industry 164
9. There’s nothing wrong with using clichés 165
10. Work in black and white 165
11. Keep it relevant 165
12. Understand print costs 165
13. Preserve brand equity 166
14. Match the type to the symbol 166
15. Tag it 166
16. Offer a single-color version 166
17. Pay attention to contrast 166
18. Test at a variety of sizes 168
19. Reverse it 168
20. Turn it upside down 168
21. Don’t neglect the substrate 168
22. Know enough about trademark registration 169
23. Don’t be afraid of mistakes 169
24. Be flexible 169
25. A logo is just one small but important element 170
26. Remember, it’s a two-way process 170
27. Differentiation is key 170
28. Exercise cultural awareness 170
29. Aid recognition 170
30. Give context 171
31. Make people smile 171
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Chapter twelve Beyond the logo 174
The delicious dream 174
Cause and effect 184
It’s all in the details 192
You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy tea 200
Beneath the waterline 204
Recommended reading 218
Index Looking for something? 220
ix
x
xi
Introduction
Brand identity design. Who needs it? Every company in
existence. Who provides the service? You.
But how do you win big-name clients? And how do you keep
your work relevant in the ever-evolving design profession?
If you’re like me, one of your goals as a graphic designer is
to continuously improve your skills so that you can attract
the clients you want to work with. So it’s vital that you keep
learning and growing.
This book is about sharing with you everything that I know
about creating brand identities so that you can stay motivated
and inspired, and make smart and well-informed decisions
when procuring and working with your clients.
But who am I, and what reason do you have for heeding
my advice?
For almost 10 years I’ve been sharing design projects
on my self-named blog at davidairey.com, then later at
logodesignlove.com and identitydesigned.com. Readers have
been walked through the individual stages of not only my own
identity projects, but also those of talented designers and
studios around the world. I put emphasis on how to seal the
deal with clients, how to translate details of design briefs, and
how to help reach consensus with clients before they sign off
on an idea.
If my Google Analytics are to be believed, my websites
currently generate one million monthly page views, with
hundreds of thousands of designers visiting regularly. My
readers tell me how much they appreciate seeing “behind the
scenes” into the design process, and that it’s difficult finding
such insights elsewhere. They tell me the content I publish is
helpful and inspiring (and no money changed hands during
our conversations).
xii
If you search through the portfolios of the most successful
design studios, you’ll find plenty of examples of final design
work. Some portfolios might even show one or two alternative
concepts. For the most part, however, there’s very little of
what actually happens between designers and their clients:
the questions the designers ask to get projects started on the
right foot, how they generate ideas after creating and studying
the design brief, and how they present their designs to win
client approval. Those details are like gold dust to a designer.
And so, the idea for this book was born.
The first edition was published in 2009 and is available in 10
languages, with the English version reprinted a number of
times. Five years later, it became obvious to me where I could
improve on the content. The result is this new edition that
benefits from my additional experience, containing new case
studies from new contributors, and new insights from a wealth
of design talent.
When you finish reading this book, I hope you’ll be well-
prepared to go out and win your own clients and create your
own iconic brand identities. Had I known about everything
contained in these pages when I started my own design
business in 2005, I would definitely have saved myself a lot
of worrying and restless nights.
xiii
Part I
The importance of brand identity
Chapter one
We’re surrounded
Logos bombard us. Think clothes labels, running shoes, TVs,
and computers. From the moment we wake to the moment we
sleep, they’re an ever-present part of our daily routine.
The average American sees 16,000 advertisements, logos,
and labels in a day, said Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., in his
book Brain Longevity.1
Don’t believe it?
To illustrate the constant presence of logos in our lives, I spent
the first few minutes of a typical working day photographing
logos on the products I interact with, beginning with my
morning alarm.
As I reach over to swipe off the alarm, there in front of me
is the Google wordmark and the Chrome symbol. They’re
basically the first things I see after waking, even if I’m not
paying much attention.
And so it begins.
The rest of the sequence tells its own little story, giving a very
brief glimpse into my morning routine, which isn’t to say that
there weren’t plenty of other logos around at the time—on
book spines and magazines, kitchen appliances, other food
products, toiletries, and labels on my clothes.
1 Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D. with Cameron Stauth. Brain Longevity: The Breakthrough Medical
Program That Improves Your Mind and Memory. (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1999.)
2
3
4
Try it yourself—maybe not as soon as you wake up. But what
about now? Look around. How many logos can you see?
According to SINTEF, the largest independent research
organization in Scandinavia, in 2013 a full 90 percent of the
data in the world had been generated during the previous
two years.2 Because humanity is now producing such a
vast amount of information, much of it visually branded,
we’re seeing logos that are increasingly similar to one
another. This poses a problem for companies that are trying
to differentiate themselves visually, but it also creates an
opportunity for designers who are skilled enough to create
iconic designs that stand above the crowd.
The Guild of Food
Writers
By 300million, 2005
Take, for instance, 300million, which was one of the United
Kingdom’s top creative studios before closing its doors in
2012. The team spent two weeks in 2005 creating and crafting
this logo for The Guild of Food Writers, making great use of
negative space to show a spoon inside a pen nib.
“What you take away is just as important as what you keep,”
said Katie Morgan, who was senior designer at 300million.
Seeing just one imaginative design like this is a testament
to the work of top studios similar to the 300millions of old,
as well as ideal inspiration for designers everywhere who
continually strive to produce excellent work. Let’s look at a
few more in Chapter 2.
2 ScienceDaily, May 22, 2013, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130522085217.htm
5
Chapter two
It’s the stories we tell
Why is branding important? Because people often choose
products based on their perceived value rather than their
actual value.
Think about the celebrity who drives an Aston Martin instead
of, say, a Skoda, which is continually ranked “car of the year”
in many European countries, and delivers much better mileage
at one-tenth of the price. Sure, Skoda is the logical choice, but
it’s Aston Martin’s identity that conjures images of luxury and
status, and that usually clinches the sale.
Aston Martin
Photo by Jon Large
With the right branding, businesses can increase their
product’s perceived value, establish relationships with their
customers that span ages and borders, and nurture those
relationships into a lifelong bond.
Of course, it always helps to have a good story to tell. Your job
as a designer is to find that story, and tell it well.
The rest of this chapter shares a few examples of designers
who hit the mark.
6
None genuine without this signature
Will Keith (W.K.) Kellogg invented wheat flakes and then corn
flakes, spawning a breakfast cereal revolution and helping
to develop an industry that has since become one of the
most successful on the planet. But we might never have been
familiar with the Kellogg name if W.K. hadn’t also been such a
smart business strategist.
Kellogg developed marketing campaigns that were years
ahead of the competition. He used modern, four-color print
advertising in magazines and on billboards at a time when
other companies were still thinking in black and white. And
to distinguish Kellogg’s Corn Flakes from those manufactured
by other cereal companies, he made sure all of his boxes bore
the legend “Beware of Imitations. None Genuine Without This
Signature, W.K. Kellogg.”
Kellogg’s signature
By W.K. Kellogg, 1906
Kellogg still uses the same trademark signature that it’s been
using since 1906 on the front of every cereal pack, but these
days the signature is a red, stylized version.
This consistency built a level of trust and repeat business with
consumers through the years, helping to establish Kellogg as
the world’s leading cereal manufacturer.
7
A logoless company is a faceless man
For thousands of years, humans have needed and desired
social identification. Think of the farmer who brands his cattle
to mark his ownership, or the stonemason who chisels his
trademark.
When you close your eyes and picture McDonald’s, what do
you see? Golden arches? For those products and services that
have a strong brand identity, it’s the identity that people often
think of first rather than the product itself. Think of Microsoft,
Apple, Ford, and Target. Chances are high that without even
showing you the logos, you’d have a fairly good picture of how
they look. Granted, a huge marketing budget is necessary to
achieve the recognition rates of these organizations, but it’s
still always important to “put on your best face.”
Iconic designer and Pentagram partner Paula Scher has been
producing well-known design work for decades, including
logos and identities for the likes of Citi, Microsoft Windows, The
Public Theater, and the New York Philharmonic. You’re probably
just as familiar, if not more familiar, with the corresponding
logos as you are with the products or services themselves.
Citi
By Paula Scher,
Pentagram
“Understand what
the client does.
Understand the
audience. Be able
to explain why you
designed something
a certain way and
be prepared to
inspire your client to
a level beyond their
expectations.”
Paula Scher
Pentagram was approached by Citigroup in spring of 1998
when the bank first announced its combination with insurance
giant Travelers, then the largest merger in the world. Working
with consultant Michael Wolff, Pentagram’s recommendation
was to unify the merged entity under a single, four-letter
name—Citi—and to adopt a logo that would transform
the Travelers’ red umbrella into an arc over the letter “t.”
(Not only is that letter Travelers’ initial, but it also is one of
the few letters that looks like an umbrella handle.)
8
The recommendation was initially met with resistance as
a corporate-wide solution, but five years after the launch,
consultants Landor Associates conducted a brand identity
analysis and concluded that the Citi logo had achieved such
a level of awareness that it was, ultimately, the appropriate
face of all its operations.
Seen by millions
By summer 2008, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series had
sold more than 400 million copies and was translated into 67
languages. So when New York design and creative firm id29
was chosen to create the campaign and associated identity
elements for the seventh book, it was clear that its work would
be seen by millions (or even billions).
“We came up with a
distinctive campaign
Harry Potter aesthetic based on a
By id29
central typographic
Designer, art director:
Doug Bartow
element that we could
Creative director: use across all different
Michael Fallone
Seen in Times Square, media, from printed
New York posters and bookmarks
to rich media and online
applications,” said Doug
Bartow, design director
and principal at id29.
Makes sense. Think about
the traffic passing through
Times Square. Most people
don’t have time to be
reading from billboards,
so a symbol is much more
fitting. Using a simple mark
to identify the campaign
allowed those taking even
the briefest of glimpses
to recognize news of the
book release.
The results were phenomenal, with Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows selling 8.3 million copies in the United States
within the first 24 hours of its release, said Doug.
9
Only if the Queen agrees
Moon Brand, a branding and communications consultancy
based in London, needed final approval from the Queen of
England on this design for The Royal Parks.
“The leaves we chose to use in this logo are from indigenous
British trees found in The Royal Parks,” said Moon Brand
director Richard Moon.
The logo tells the story of the parks
using their own language—leaves—
and deftly portrays the relationship
The Royal Parks between the park system and the
By Moon Brand, 1996 British crown with one clever picture.
Designers: This clarity helped the yearlong
Richard Moon,
Ceri Webber, project through to completion, with
Andy Locke deliverables including a new identity,
The sketch shows just as well as concepts for park maps,
one of dozens of ideas
Moon Brand rejected map casings, and wayfinding to be
before presenting placed throughout each Royal Park.
their preferred design.
“From the outset we Moon Brand was told that approval
wanted to represent
the royal crown with
from the Queen can take months, but
leaves, and had tried it came back within 24 hours.
to come up with
other ideas that were
as good but which
stuck to the rules
of the brief. But we
found them all to
be too trite, so we
abandoned them
and took the plunge
with the logo we
eventually submitted.”
Richard Moon
The whole contract,
including manufactur-
ing, installation, and
maintenance of the
maps and signs was
a little in excess of £2
million, of which Moon
Brand received about
10 percent.
10
