Book Review: LogoLounge3

As reference books go, one of my favorite series is the LogoLounge series, published by Rockport. The authors, Catharine Fischel and Bill Gardner have collaborated on the first two books in the series, LogoLounge 1 and 2. The newest is LogoLounge 3: 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers (LogoLounge)

Culled from the nearly 37,000 logos submitted to logolounge.com, The LogoLounge books have become a yearly snapshot of the best (and I mean best) of the logos being designed currently (or logos that have been around for a few years, such as Netscape's. This logo in the book was attributed to AOL, but my understanding is that it was designed by a Neutron LLC, a collaborative group headed by Marty Neumeier in 1996).

The book features "portraits" of several identities, in four-page spreads. Some identity portraits are unremarkable, from AOL, Travelocity and others, to the exceptional: The Bank of New York, Sprint and Cameo.

Also featured are one-page summaries of several designers and design firms. These are spread throughout the book, and punctuate it for interest.

From there the book breaks the chosen identities down into many categories( e.g. typography, people, animals, symbols, sports and food to name a few), and is my favorite and the most enjoyable part of the book. The breadth of creativity is superb, and provides ample reference and inspiration for designers and creatives developing and interested in identity development.

The book has a companion web site where you can search the 2,000 logos included in the book. But we'll ask you to buy it to find out how to get there.

Congratulations to the folks from LogoLounge.com on yet another superb volume for my reference library.

Disclaimer: The logo designed by Brian Sooy & Co. for Drum Foundry is included in Book 3 on page 169.

Tags: design, branding, books, reviews