Logo design by the book (and the Internet)

I find myself often being asked by other designers, on design forums and by email, to suggest books on the topic of logo design. The following is a list of volumes that I have found to be good resources. Rather than being books of nothing but logo design examples, the following books are much more about the process of designing logos and what makes a logo successful:

Blue is Hot; Red is Cool: Choosing the right color for your logo, by David Carter

Bullet-Proof Logos: creating great designs which avoid legal problems, by David E. Carter

Design-It-Yourself Logos, Letterheads, & Business Cards, by Chuck Green
(The book is now also part of the newer volume Design-It-Yourself: Graphic Workshop)

Designing Brands: Market success through graphic distinction, by Emily Schrubbe-Potts

Designing Corporate Identity: Graphic design as a business strategy, by Pat Matson Knapp

Global Graphics: Symbols - Designing with symbols for an International Markets, by Anistatia Miller, Jared Brown & Cheryl Dangel Cullen

How to Design Logos, Symbols & Icons: 23 Internationally Renowned Studios Reveal How They Develop Trademarks for Print and New Media, by Gregory Thomas

How to Design Trademarks & Logos, by John Murphy & Michael Rowe
(This 1988 book is out-of-print, but if you can find a used copy it's a great addition to a design library - especially for the designer just getting into logo design)

Logo Design Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos, by AdamsMorioka with Terry Stone

Logos: Making a Strong Mark : 150 Strategies for Logos That Last, by Anistasia Miller & Jared Brown

Logo Design That Works: Secrets for Successful Logo Design, by Lisa Silver

The Little Book of Logo Recipes: Successful Designs and How to Create Them, by David E. Carter

Identity Solutions, by Cheryl Cullen & Amy Schell

What Logos Do and How They Do It, by Anistasia R. Miller & Jared M. Brown

Logos Redesigned: How 200 Companies Successfully Changed Their Image, by David E. Carter

Redesigning Identity, by Catharine Fishel

Logo Lab, by Christopher Simmons

As I come across new books that may be helpful I will update this list.

Some good online references about identity design include:

Before and After Magazine - check out "How to design a logo of letters"

A Website About Corporate Identity

Identity Works

Logo Notions on CreativeLatitude.com

Corporate Identity Documentation

Ideabook.com: Step-by-step Logo

logolog: Clever Logos

Great Logos and Why

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

3 comments:

Dane said...

you can NOT belive how much you've helped me with this one article. we're in the process of redesigning our company's logo, and the name of the company is DW Green Co. the before & after magazine link had an article about designing initials. BRILLIANT!!!! Thanks SOOO Much!

jabbott said...

Wow, that is quite a list. Any chance you could put an asterisk or some other indication next to your favorites to give us some starting points? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Great Resource here, hopefully it will earn you a few dollars from amazon, you deserve it.