Toot! Toot!*: Jeff Fisher interview featured on FreelanceSwitch

An interview with designer and author Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives, is currently featured on the web presence FreelanceSwitch. In the piece, "Veteran Designer Embraces Identity Crisis and Casual Fridays," written by Kristen Fischer, the designer discusses his 30-year career and recently released book Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands.

FreelanceSwitch is an online resource for all independent creatives, offering advice, articles, podcasts, a job board, and a community forum for designers, writers, illustrators, photographers, web developers and others.

Kristen Fischer, an independent copywriter and editor, is also the author of the book Creatively Self-Employed, in which designer Fisher was featured.

Jeff Fisher has received nearly 575 regional, national and international graphic design awards for his logo and corporate identity efforts. His work is featured in nearly 100 books on the design of logos, the business of graphic design, and small business marketing.

Fisher is a member of the HOW Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, the HOW Design Conference Advisory Council and the UCDA Designer Magazine Editorial Advisory Board. His first book, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success, was released in 2004 by HOW Books, also the publisher of Identity Crisis!.

(* If I don’t "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

'Identity Crisis!' advance copy arrives

Amy Schell, my HOW Books editor for Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands (and Savvy Designer's Guide to Success), surprised me yesterday with the delivery of an advance copy of my book. It's an amazing feeling getting that first look at the actual product.

The book is exactly what I set out to write and the presentation of the content is incredible. Amy, book designer Grace Ring, and the entire HOW Books gang did a great job on this effort. I'm still repeatedly flipping through the book and checking it all out and I'm really pleased with the end result. I hope all contributors will be just as happy when the book is actually released.

Teaser spreads from the volume, lists of contributors and more information about the book may be found on the Identity Crisis! blog.

The book is to arrive at the F+W/HOW warehouse in late September and then it will be shipped out to booksellers around the world.

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

The W.O.W. of Identity Crisis!

In writing the book Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands I asked a variety of design professionals to contribute their "Words of Wisdom" (W.O.W.) about the process of redesigning a business or organization identity. Many were very gracious in contributing personal advice based on their past experiences.

The individuals providing input for the book included:

• Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka, Inc.

• Bob Domenz from Avenue - Marketing & Communications

• Tony Spaeth of identityworks

• Debbie Millman - known for her Design Matters podcasts (and many other things)

• Jack Yan of Jack Yan & Associates

• Robin Landa, author and branding & creative strategist

• Robynne Raye from Modern Dog Design Co.

• Mark E. Sackett of Reflectur

• ...and some guy named Jeff Fisher who writes about whatever seems to be on his mind at bLog-oMotives when he isn't running his own firm, Jeff Fisher LogoMotives.

All presented incredibly valuable advice to the design professional involved in identity re-design - and to the client having an "identity crisis." Unfortunately, you will need to wait until HOW Design Books releases Identity Crisis! in the fall of this year before you are able to take advantage of the great suggestions.

Keep up on the latest news about my upcoming book at my Identity Crisis! blog - where this post originally appeared.

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Identity Crisis! blog debuts

With the completion of writing for my upcoming book, Identity Crisis!: Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands, I have initiated an Identity Crisis! blog to specifically deal with news, notes and announcements related to the book. Identity Crisis! is scheduled to be released by HOW Design Books in October 2007.

The new blog will officially announce those whose work appears in the book in the near future. Books signings, scheduled speaking engagements and other Identity Crisis! related topics will find their way to the new resource as well. Occasionally, postings related to additional aspects of identity re-design and rebranding will be featured as well.

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Identity Crisis!: It's reality!

It's been just about a year since I started writing my new book, Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands. Yes, it was originally to be "100 redesigns that..." - but mid-project it was decided to reformat things a bit, limiting the book to 50 case studies that would be given even greater attention in the volume.

Writing a book is a frustrating, exhausting, exciting, and incredibly rewarding experience. "Herding" designers from around the world, in such a collaborative process, makes that process even more challenging and interesting.

For me, this project has meant many long nights, many weekends spent writing, too many emails to count, and working vacations - or even more work on business trips - to numerous locations over the past 12 months.

Today the proof of the book layout arrived via UPS. It was a great feeling to open the package and see the labor of the past year in a real book format. My editor Amy Schell has done a great job in fine-tuning the text, helping to select the redesigns that are included, and keeping me on track when necessary. Book designer Grace Ring has turned that text, and over 500 graphic images, into a book that should be an excellent resource for any designer taking on a rebranding effort or the client considering a design makeover for their business, organization or product. The book will feature solutions to the identity crisis issues of Mom-and-Pop businesses to major corporations - exhibiting the creative efforts of one-person design shops to some of the most recognized larger firms in the industry.

Over the next week I will be checking, and double-checking, the book content. Through that process many of those who have contributed projects for the book will learn that their work is in the final volume. I do appreciate both your contributions to the book and your patience through the process of writing, editing and designing the book. My pesky emails, questions about text content and requests for addition images have all been in the hope of creating a great book - and putting the work of the featured designers in the best light.

Following this next week, the book will be off to press, with a target release date of sometime in October. Once my review of the book is returned to HOW Design Books, for final edits and changes, I will make an official announcement of the designers, firms and projects that will be featured in the published book.

Thanks again to all who have contributed time, energy, words of wisdom, and case studies for Identity Crisis!. It's almost time for me to go into design book author "rehab" to recover from the process!

(Note: Thanks to UnBeige for the mention.)

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Jeff Fisher LogoMotives represented intwo new graphic design books

Yesterday my mail delivery brought me copies of two new graphic design books in which comments by me, or examples of my work, are featured. Today I am getting high off the fumes of printing ink as I flip through the fresh-off-the-press volumes

The first is Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 exercises to wake up your brain by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield. The book, from HOW Design Books, is a collection of over 250 brain- stretching creative exercises; feedback on exercises tried by designers, illustrators, photographers, professors and others; and interviews with industry professionals. Wendy Lee Oldfield interviewed me for the book about 17 months ago when I was speaking at the HOW Design Conference in San Diego. The result of that meeting is highlighted in the book, along with interviews of Terry Marks, Kevin Carroll, Denise Weyhrich, Brian Sack, Steve Morris, Mike Dietz, Peleg Top, John Sayles and Sheree Clark of Sayles Graphic Design, John Foster, and Von Glitschka.

The book is sure to be an instant hit with "creative types" around the world - and will most likely soon be found on the book lists of many design schools. Now, I just need to find the time to sit down and read it from cover to cover.

The second book in my mailbox yesterday was American Corporate Identity from David E. Carter. The design annual features the winning graphic design entries from the American Corporate Identity 22 competition. Four of my logo designs - for the Benicia Historical Museum, NoBox Design, Twisted Elegance Interactive and Just Out newsmagazine - are included in the volume. The designs were presented in a previous bLog-oMotives entry when the winning entries were announced by competition organizers.

Since 1998, when I first started entering the American Corporate Identity competitions, 24 logo designs and one marketing collateral package designed by Jeff Fisher LogoMotives have won the Awards of Excellence and been featured in the annual publications. The deadline for the next competiton will be in December of this year.

© 2006 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives