Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities Paperback – December 30, 2009

Logo Design Love by David Airey provides insight into the process of designing a logo. The theories and best practices presented are concrete tips that easily apply to designing well beyond a logo.The book is divided into three main sections:The importance of brand identityThe process of designKeep the fires burningI found the second section to be the most useful. The design process is documented from start to finish. The designer-client relationship is explained in great detail. How do I select good clients? Which questions should I ask? How much money should I charge? How should I estimate project durations? Where can I get design inspiration? How can I create an attractive design? All of these questions and more are answered clearly.The book is written in a nice easy to read format with plenty of logos sprinkled throughout. You will find many great ideas and plenty of notable logos. But the real value lies in understanding why an idea is important, or what makes a logo useful. David does a wonderful job educating the reader.ApplicationWhat I really love about this book is the practicality. For somebody like me, with limited design exposure, the advice could be directly applied to my work. I have already benefited from Logo Design Love. When designing my personal site, I had elaborate plans for the logo. I first wanted to have an animated iPhone keyboard with the "m" remaining. I then thought of spelling macfam with an app icon for each letter (eg. Facebook icon for "f", or CliqCliq Colors icon for "c"). Sure, those ideas might be more interesting than the current pixel based "mf" logo. But Logo Design Love taught me a few things to guide me towards a simpler, more universal logo. Most importantly: the logo should easily translate to various mediums. The same logo on this page is used when you add my mobile site to your iPhone homescreen. David writes: "As much as you might want to see your work plastered across billboards, don't forget your design may also need to accommodate smaller, yet necessary, application, such as zipper pulls." My two initial logo ideas would have struggled fitting on a zipper! Simple is more effective, easier to identify with, and much more adaptable.I also drew inspiration from the chapter on the client-designer relationship. Just last week I met with a potential client looking for a website. I felt more prepared and confident in the meeting because of this book. The book provides great detail on gathering preliminary information from a client. I gathered more relevant information from my client than I would have before reading this book.These are only two examples of practicing what David Airey preaches in Logo Design Love. I have a few additional "long term" ideas in the back of my head. I highly recommend reading Logo Design Love. The book is well organized, well written and packs loads of useful information.

The favorite books on my shelf, in all subjects, are always small. Small does not mean scant. My favorite small books are always incredibly dense, and have dispensed with extraneous chapters, trivial pursuits, and needless diversions. David Airey's "Logo Design Love" is such a book. It is a comprehensive survey of the logo design process. It's easy to read quickly. It's lovely to hold. It has that "now this is a book I want to keep" feel to it, and is reserved on my shelf in my favorites section. Or "favourites" as David might put it.I know David from his blog. His personal, conversational tone on his blog bleeds right over to the book. Warm yet consummately professional. He tells you what you need to know about logo design, and refrains from abstruse pontificating that some other "Goliath" design books get mired in. That is very refreshing!If you are looking to break into the designing of logos and brands, there is no better book I'm aware of to do that succinctly, on budget, and on time, than Logo Design Love. Big things do come in little packages sometimes!Highly Recommended!Douglas Bonneville[...].

I've done some graphic and web design in the past as part of a different job, but I'm now changing careers and will eventually be doing mostly freelance design. There are a lot of books out there that show you great designs, or that discuss only the more technical aspects of design. But this book is unique in that it not only shows you brilliant works of design and branding, but shares the creative process behind them, focusing specifically on the critical task of creating brand identities that are lasting, relevant, and pleasing to any given client.This book is visually inspiring while also being a great read... the perfect blend of eye candy and rich information! I'm about halfway through right now, and even if this was the end of the book, I would think it was worth picking up. But just when I think it can't get any better, I read a few pages more and love it even more. David Airey just does a great job of demystifying some of the more daunting aspects of branding. Obviously I'm a beginner, but I have to believe that even seasoned designers who aren't as experienced in branding would find this very useful. Anyway, enough gushing. Get it. Love it.

A very practical guide to dealing with clients and designing logos. Really gives a look into Airey's process and his open view of the process is really helpful. You never feel as though you're not being let in on something. The writing style is very friendly.My only criticism is length. I felt like a bit more could have been elaborated on. However, the length really added to the friendly, open feel of the book, so I can't dock it too much.Overall, if you are looking for a quick read about modern logo design and have some questions on how to design logos, this book is perfect.