The Elements of Logo Design

A Visually Stunning Guide to Learning the Art of Logo Design

Designers looking to learn the art of designing logos need look no further than The Elements of Logo Design by world-renowned designer Alex W. White. Unique in its approach to explaining how to design marks, The Elements of Logo Design explores design unity, typography and its expression as frozen sound, how a logo fits into a greater branding strategy, and how to build a logo.

With more than four hundred examples culled from advertising, editorial, and web use, readers will gain a comprehensive understanding of universally shared graphic design principles. These principles are then applied to logo design specifically, relating the discipline to all other graphic design. Chapters include such topics as:

• Logic in design
• Relationships, hierarchy, and structure
• Differences and similarities in design
• Research and planning an identity
• How to build a logo using type, image, and space
• Letterforms, type, and fonts
• Type alteration
• Semiotics: icons and symbols
• Image-to-image relationships

With a foreword by Jerry Kuyper, who is widely recognized as one of the top twenty-five logo designers of all time, The Elements of Logo Design is a formidable resource for learning the art of branding and making marks.

Alex W. White is the author of The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type, Listening to Type: Making Language Visible, and Advertising Design and Typography. His books are used by professionals and as university texts the world over. He is chairman emeritus of the Type Directors Club and has taught graphic design and typography for thirty years at Parsons School of Design, Syracuse University, and the Hartford Art School. He is the chairman of the graduate program in design management at the Shintaro Akatsu School of Design at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He holds an MFA in Advertising Design from Syracuse University and a BFA in Graphic Design from Kent State University.

Jerry Kuyper has more than thirty years of experience directing and designing corporate and brand identity programs and has worked for such big-name branding companies as Lippincott, Siegal & Gale, Landor, and Saul Bass & Associates.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but the hardest thing to design is the perfectly succinct, indelible logo. Every now and then we get a glimpse of how logo design comes to life. Time will tell if the essence of logo design can be unlocked, but Alex offers us the closest thing to a key. Sequester yourself and practice practice practice.” —Rick Valicenti is the recipient of the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and the AIGA Medal, the highest honor of the graphic design profession.

“A logo is the most visible representation of a brand. Capturing the brand’s promise in a single enduring and memorable mark is no easy feat. I love how Alex frames this book to use existing creative constraints as opportunities to create the most distinctive, strategic, and powerful designs.” —Connie Birdsall is senior partner and global creative director at Lippincott, a global creative consultancy that helps the world’s leading companies succeed on the edge of change.

“This book covers all aspects of the creation of a brand’s visual identity. In an era where most web sites are viewed on a tiny screen, it is essential that a mark be simple, well-designed and memorable. This book addresses those issues for both students and professionals.” —Gerard Huerta is a designer of letterforms. He began his career at CBS Records and has designed many iconic logos. His work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art.

“There are books full of logo examples. This book stands out because it discusses graphic design principles and then shows how they apply to logo design. It has fresh insights and different thinking on the process of designing logos. I am delighted to welcome Alex’s thoughtful book to my library.” —Jerry Kuyper has more than thirty years of experience directing and designing corporate and brand identity programs and has worked for Siegel & Gale, Lippincott, Landor, and Saul Bass & Associates.