Brand Identity Designer Mark McCorkell

Logo Design Love: Book Review

Having not read many books in quite some time, I recently made a decision to start reading again. The first book I invested in was Logo Design Love by David Airey. Considering how much pleasure I get in reading David’s blog, it was the obvious choice.

I have been holding back from buying books because I never seem to find the time to read them. I received Logo Design Love on the Friday, and had it read by Sunday. That is how much I loved it!

I do not want people to read this review and think to themselves “Oh no! Not another kiss ass review!”, because that is not what this is. I’m writing this because the book was immense, and full of tips and advice that would otherwise have taken me years to learn by myself. David shared a wealth of knowledge from his years of experience working with clients from all around the world.

Some of the other reviews I read about Logo Design Love mentioned that the cover may have been a little flimsy and those people would have liked to have seen maybe a hard back cover. I disagree. Although the cover may be lightweight, one of the things that really set it off for me was the embossed logo on the front – David knew those little details would set it off. And one thing I haven’t seen anyone else mention is how gorgeous the composition was in the book. It was obvious to me from first opening the book that David poured a lot of thought into the reading experience.

A few of the stories David shared in the book really hit home with me, because I could identify with those same scenarios that I had been in over the past year. And I found myself almost getting angry thinking back over those nightmare client situations. One of which was the “design by committee”. I won’t delve into any more specifics in case by some chance a client of the agency stumbles on here and reads this. But in a nutshell, a lot of my work has been previously mauled by clients.

Logo design was always a passion of mine, and would have been my niche under the design umbrella. But over the past year some of that passion has been sucked out of me due to awful clients. Don’t get me wrong, I do love my job at the agency I’m working for. But… due to some of the clients I have had to design logos for (and their lack of respect for what I do), some of that spark that previously animated me was reduced. Until now.

This book has reminded me how much I love designing logos.

I intend on reading the book for a second time, and going through each of the chapters highlighting key points that stood out for me the first time. This book really is like a perfect guide on how to design logos that work. I cannot emphasize enough how useful some of the tips were that David shared. David would be an excellent mentor to have access to, and I think he would make a very good design lecturer. I love the style of logos David produces, and his development process which leads to those stunning identities.

A few of my favourite quotes:

David Airey:

“Designers who advertise a list of predetermined prices for x amount of concepts with x rounds of revisions are attempting to commoditize a profession that by definition cannot be commoditized.”

Paula Scher:

“It took me a few seconds to draw it, but it took me 34 years to learn how to draw it in a few seconds.”

David Airey:

“Iconic designs that stand apart from the crowd have just one feature to help them stand out. That’s it. Just one. Not two, three, or four. You want to leave your client with just one thing to remember about your design.”

Logo Design Love has prompted me to order more similar books straight away to keep the fire burning. I have already ordered and received Brand Identity Now, which I have here sitting on my desk to the left. I have been looking through some of Logo Design Love’s recommended books and have added some to My Wishlist on Amazon for ordering soon.

Can any of you recommend a good design book not in My Wishlist yet?

And more importantly, did you enjoy my review?

Related articles:

1. One client, one logo.
2. Trust thy Designer
3. Logo design and Flyer Artwork for Three
4. Design should be traumatic
5. I am a Designer… Not a Construction Worker