introduction

This book is an homage to the genius of literally thousands of designers. However, inventors, propagandists, counselors, forecasters, manifestors of dreams, and any number of other descriptions are truly much more accurate when describing these individuals. Consider the following as you experience the amazing work in this book, which only now enters the mainstream of the collective marketing conscience.

Before any of this work ever saw public light, it came to life in the mind of a designer. Before a logo ever graced the tail of an aircraft, the label on a shelf, or the center court of an arena, it was an all-consuming project that the designer was forbidden to discuss. It was the project they couldn’t share with their spouse or best friend. It was the center of discussion that could only occur with others who had signed the very same nondisclosure agreement.

To this day, I feel I have yet to deliver a strong response when asked what our firm is working on. It’s always a stumbling block as I find myself trying to recall which projects I can actually discuss. And I usually return to a project that we may have worked on months or a year before that is just now seeing the light of day.

Designers are in the midst of creating the future for others. They are hired because they have the uncanny ability to tell a very specific, very effective story using few to no words at all. Because they have the aptitude to summon meaning from a line. Because they can craft an image that brings relevance and direction to a product that has lost its way. Because they can forecast what the public will be yearning for tomorrow and not yesterday.

More than 30,000 logos were considered for this book, submitted by thousands of designers from more than 100 countries worldwide; of these, 2,000 were selected. LogoLounge.com and the LogoLounge books are committed to exposing you to the very best of identity design with context.

On the surface, the following pages provide a comprehensive overview of current design trends in their crowning moments. Upon further exploration, you’ll find that the curtain has been pulled back to reveal systems of discovery, false starts and the occasional never-before-seen proposed solutions.

This book, the eighth in the best-selling identity design series, comprises in-depth studies of such world-renown identities as USA Today by Wolff Olins and American Standard by Sterling Brands, alongside identity work by up-and-coming designers the world over, including VERG in Gold Coast, Australia; Koeweiden Postma in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Anagrama in Monterrey, Mexico; and many more.

These case studies are fresh to the design community, yet there is just enough distance from their introduction date that you get to see how the identity is really working.

As I reflect on the marks in this book, I can’t help but muse about the projects already in the pipeline that may soon make their way to public view. I am honored and delighted to present these works to you on behalf of their crafters, and I greatly anticipate the future they will create.

—Bill Gardner